Книги по живописи

A Frenchman in Tahiti. Gauguin’s search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature

After starting a career as a bank broker, Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) turned to painting only at age twenty-five. After initial successes within the Impressionist circle, he broke with Vincent van Gogh and subsequently - when private difficulties caused him to become restless - embarked on a peripatetic life, wandering first through Europe and finally, in the search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature, to Tahiti.

The paintings created from this time to his death in 1903 brought him posthumous fame. In pictures devoid of any attempt at romantically disguising the life style of the primitive island peoples, Gauguin was able to convey the magical effect that both the landscapes and life of the natives - their body language, charm and beauty - had on him. Wearying of his reputation as a South Sea painter, Gauguin finally determined to return to France, but died of syphilis on the Marquis Islands before his departure.

About the Series:

Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

* a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
* approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
* a concise biography

A Frenchman in Tahiti

After starting a career as a bank broker, Paul Gauguin (born 1848) turned to painting only at age twenty-five. After initial successes within the Impressionist circle, he broke with Vincent van Gogh and subsequently, when private difficulties caused him to become restless, embarked on a peripatetic life, wandering first through Europe and finally, in the search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature, to Tahiti. The paintings created from this time to his death in 1903 brought him posthumous fame. In pictures devoid of any attempt at romantically disguising the life style of the primitive island peoples, Gauguin was able to convey the magical effect that both the landscapes and life of the natives — their body language, charm and beauty — had on him. Wearying of his reputation as a South Sea painter, Gauguin finally determined to return to France, but died of syphilis on the Marquis Islands before his departure.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Ingo F. Walther (1940-2007) was born in Berlin and studied medieval studies, literature, and art history in Frankfurt am Main and Munich. He published numerous books on the art of the Middle Ages and of the 19th and 20th centuries. Walther's many titles for TASCHEN include Vincent Van Gogh, Picasso, Art of the 20th Century, and Codices Illustres.

Ця чудова книга демонструє десятки найвідоміших творів Поля Ґоґена та пропонує новий погляд на стосунки митця.

Цей яскравий огляд життя та творчості Поля Ґоґена включає понад п’ятдесят експонатів із колекції Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek у Копенгагені, включаючи картини, різьблення по дереву та кераміку, а також океанічне мистецтво та роботи Гогена на папері з постійних колекцій Музеїв образотворчого мистецтва Сан-Франциско. Кожен твір відтворено у вишуканих деталях, що дає чудову можливість насолодитися новаторським використанням Гогеном кольору, лінії та форми.

Есе досліджують стосунки Гогена та розкривають боротьбу, поблажливість, пробудження та зради в його особистому та професійному житті. Інші есе дають нове уявлення про подорожі Ґоґена до далеких куточків Французької колоніальної імперії в Тихому океані та досліджують його культурну самобутність, сексуальність і духовність.

Красиво розроблена, щоб доповнити надзвичайну творчість Ґоґена, ця книга пропонує освіжаючий погляд на митця, чиє життя та творчість продовжує захоплювати донині.

Einzige lieferbare Monografie zu Leben und Werk des großen französischen Erneuerers der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts auf dem deutschen Buchmarkt.

Das Werk von Georges Braque (1882–1963), dem bedeutenden Wegbereiter der Moderne, ist viel komplexer und aufregender, als dies die bisherige kunstwissenschaftliche Literatur oft vermuten ließ: Die starke Betonung der Verbindung des Künstlers mit Picasso und die Gleichsetzung seines Werkes mit dem Kubismus haben seine Bedeutung nur unzureichend beschrieben, auch wenn seinen bahnbrechenden kubistischen Arbeiten eine außerordentliche Stellung eingeräumt werden muss.
Der retrospektiv angelegte Band bietet eine profunde Neubewertung des gesamten Œuvres von Georges Braque. Mit über 80 Gemälden und zentralen druckgrafischen Arbeiten wird die Einzigartigkeit seines malerischen Abenteuers umfassend veranschaulicht: Braque im Umkreis der Fauves, Braque – der Methodische, Braque als Erfinder des Papier collé , Braques Anleihen bei der Dekorationsmalerei, in der er ausgebildet wurde, Braque als Meister des modernen Stilllebens und nicht zuletzt Braque – der »lyrische Konstrukteur«.

A new, multifaceted examination of Georges Braque’s complete oeuvre, whose complexity has yet to receive its due.

Georges Braque (1882–1963), one of the major pioneers of modernity, produced work that is much more complex and compelling than art historians have often led us to believe: the strong emphasis on his close association with Picasso and the equation of his work with Cubism have not done sufficient justice to his relevance, even though his pioneering Cubist works ought to be accorded extraordinary status.
This retrospective offers a profound re-evaluation of Braque’s complete oeuvre. Featuring about eighty paintings and key prints, this volume takes a comprehensive look at his unique adventures: Braque among the Fauves; Braque, the methodical artist; Braque as the inventor of the papier collé; Braque’s appropriations from decorative painting, in which he was originally trained; Braque as master of the modern still life; and last but not least, Braque, the “lyrical constructor.”

Master of Horror. Discover HR Giger’s arsenal of fear

Discover HR Giger’s inimitable universe in this definition introduction to the master that gave expression to the collective horrors and fantasies of our time. From his childhood fears to Alien, Giger personally guides us through his multifaceted career with intimate autobiographical essays, detailed reproductions and designs, and a foreword by Timothy Leary.

Swiss artist HR Giger (1940–2014) is most famous for his creation of the space monster in Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror sci-fi film Alien, which earned him an Oscar. In retrospect, this was just one of the most popular expressions of Giger’s biomechanical arsenal of creatures, which consistently merged hybrids of human and machine into images of haunting power and dark psychedelia.

The visions drew on demons of the past, harking back as far as Giger’s earliest childhood fears as well as evoking mythologies for the future. Above all, they gave expression to the collective fears and fantasies of his age: fear of the atom, of pollution and wasted resources, and of a future in which our bodies depend on machines for survival.

From surrealist dream landscapes created with a spray gun and stencils to album cover designs, from guillotine-like sculptures to self-designed bars, Giger personally guides us through his multi-faceted universe in this definitive introduction to a master of horror. Detailed reproductions and designs and a foreword by Timothy Leary complement Giger’s intimate autobiographical texts.

The artist:

HR Giger (1940–2014) was a Swiss painter, sculptor, and designer, who combined surrealist influences and dark fantasies to create his very own biomechanical universe. He first received acclaim in the 1960s with his airbrushed fantasies of post-apocalyptic creatures and landscapes and rose to fame through high profile movie work, most notably the creation of the monster in Alien, which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. HR Giger was named in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2013.

About the series:

Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. 

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:
- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Throughout his long career, Morandi focused on still lifes and landscapes that captured the simple beauty of light and form. While his contemporaries struggled with the intellectual turmoil and aesthetic experimentation of the twentieth century, Morandi remained faithful to the subjects that fascinated him most: bottles, vases, and jugs, and the view out his studio window in Bologna. This richly illustrated volume brings together more than one hundred of his most important works. Grouped according to technique paintings, watercolors, drawings, and etchings each aspect of his work is given thoughtful consideration by scholars who explore Morandi's genius for composition, his serene palette, and his expertise as a draftsman.

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), an Italian painter and printmaker renowned for his simple yet stunning still lifes, is also famous for his legendary reputation as a recluse, an artist who resided in a world bound by the walls of his Bologna studio.

Giorgio Morandi: The Art of Silence is the first and only study in English to cover Morandi's career in its entirety as well as in the sociopolitical and cultural context of Italian art. Janet Abramowicz, Morandi's former teaching assistant, takes the reader through half a century of Italian art history and its most significant movements - Futurism, Pittura Metafisica, Valori Plastici, Strapaese, Novecento - most of which have received scant attention from English-language scholars.

Abramowicz shows how Morandi worked in close proximity to mainstream contemporary European art and tells the story of his relationship to the Fascist politics and patrons of his time, illustrating how his connections to this period were muted after the fall of the regime in post-World War II Italy in an effort to establish the artist as apolitical. Morandi was the only Italian modernist to emerge from Fascism unscathed.

An important new addition to scholarship on twentieth-century Italian art history, this book features many rare and previously unpublished images and will fascinate admirers of Morandi and his quietly transcendent work.

A magnificently illustrated study of the greatest painter of the early Renaissance.

Vasari famously wrote that Giotto "recovered the true method of painting, which been lost for many years before him," and indeed he is traditionally considered a founder of the Italian Renaissance. Producing a series of commissioned works for the church and upper classes in his native Tuscany and surrounding regions, Giotto changed the course of European art by breaking away from the rigid, stereotyped figures of the Byzantine and Giotto medieval traditions. His innovation was to give his characters natural movement and expression. His great fresco cycles, such as the lives of the Virgin and Christ in the Scrovegni (or Arena) Chapel, Padua, are populated with realistic depictions of three-dimensional figures; secondary characters, both comic and tragic, display the range of the painter's wit and invention. And Giotto's treatment of perspective was just as revolutionary as his approach to the human form. The dramatic power of his scenes is heightened by the convincing illusionistic spaces in which he places them.

In this authoritative survey of Giotto's life and work, Professor Francesca Flores d'Arcais draws on an impressive range of sources, from fourteenth-century documents to the most recent art - historical investigations. Her research leads her to important re-attributions of Giottesque paintings and to new conclusions regarding the execution and dating of both famous and lesser-known works. This second edition also includes a discussion of the earthquake of September 29, 1997 that damaged the frescoes of the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi - some of which are attributed to the artist in the early phase of his career - and the restoration effort that followed.

More than three hundred illustrations, most in full color and some on double gatefold pages, reproduce all of Giotto's important frescoes in exquisite detail, as well as his moving crucifixes and jewel-like polyptychs. These illustrations are based on new photography of Giotto's paintings, many of which have recently been restored to their original brilliance, making this the definitive monograph on the greatest of trecento masters.

Giotto di Bodone. A central figure of the Early Renaissance

According to legend, he was discovered by Cimabue as a boy, sketching his father’s sheep. Giotto di Bodone (1266-1337) was the most famous and influential painter of his generation in Italy. As the pioneer of modern painting, his impact was so enormous that his artist colleagues in Florence, however capable, were left struggling to keep up. His services were engaged by numerous high officials and princes, including the Pope and his cardinals, King Robert of Anjou, and the Scaligeri and Visconti. All these works, including the large secular cycles, are lost. Amongst his surviving works, his masterpieces are undoubtedly his decoration, from 1303 to 1305, of the private chapel built by the financier Enrico Scrovegni for his family in a former Roman amphitheatre in Padua, the fresco cycle in the Upper Church of Assisi, and the frescos in side chapels of Santa Croce in Florence. The simplicity and strength of his forms, as well as the humanism he infused in his works, set him apart from his Byzantine contemporaries and at the forefront of Italian painting in the early years of the Renaissance.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Norbert Wolf graduated in art history, linguistics and medieval studies at the universities of Regensburg and Munich, and earned his PhD in 1983. He held visiting professorships in Marburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg-Erlangen, and Innsbruck. His extensive writings on art history include many TASCHEN titles, such as Diego Velázquez, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Caspar David Friedrich, Expressionism, Romanesque, Landscape Painting and Symbolism.

Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) a exercé ses talents de miniaturiste à Florence, Rome, Turin, Naples, mais aussi à Paris. Ses natures mortes à la manière hollandaise mêlent fleurs, fruits et légumes, insectes et oiseaux. Cet ouvrage présente des compositions conservées principalement au Cabinet des dessins et des estampes des Offices et à la Galerie palatine de Florence.

"Vers 1855, un célèbre café historique, le Caffé Michelangelo, vit l'éclosion et l'épanouissement d'un mouvement artistique qui, malgré sa courte vie, a marqué l'histoire de l'art italien. Il a fleuri et s'est éteint en l'espace d'une génération d'artistes tout en laissant des traces profondes sur les générations suivantes, au moins jusqu'aux premières décennies du XXème siècle.

(...) Dans ce groupe de jeunes artistes se détache la figure de Giovanni Fattori (Livourne, 1825 - Florence, 1908), considéré comme le représentant principal de ce courant qu'une critique hostile de l'époque gratifia du nom péjoratif de "Macchiaioli", nom qui leur fut attribué dans l'histoire de l'art italien pour caractériser la période 1855-1870.

(...) Giovanni Fattori a manifesté un grand intérêt pour l'histoire contemporaine, immortalisant dans ses premières peintures les grandes batailles du Risorgimento. Ses thèmes de prédilection étaient la Toscane, les paysages agrestes, les hommes au travail dans les champs, les animaux attelés, la mer, la région côtière ou Maremma, avec ses gardiens de troupeau à cheval.
Dans ces superbes portraits, nous saisissons toujours une touche subtile de mélancolie, reflet de l'état d'âme de l'artiste lui-même, qui préfigura le malaise existentiel de l'homme du XXème siècle."
Francesca Giampaolo

Beau choix de 65 oeuvres - huile, crayon graphite, eau-forte, fusain -, bien représentatif des thèmes chers à l'artiste.
La plupart des reproductions sont à pleine page ; les huiles sont reproduites en couleurs.

Explores the life and work of the Russian artist and stage designer Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962).

A contemporary of Picasso, Matisse and Kandinsky, Goncharova is now recognised as one of the leading Russian artists of the twentieth century. This book traces the development of her art from its impressionist origins, through a provocative phase of 'primitive' style paintings on peasant themes to highly innovative abstract works that rivalled the most daring experiments of the Cubists and Futurists. As a woman artist, she was galvanised by gender issues and addressed these directly in her work. In both her paintings and her behaviour she questioned accepted conventions and scandalised Russian society. Arrested in 1909 on the grounds of the 'pornographic' content of her paintings, accused of heresy against the Orthodox Church in 1914 because of her religious work and branded a Futurist because she walked about in public with a painted face, her large-scale retrospective in Moscow in 1913, in which she exhibited over 700 works, demonstrated to public and critics alike that she was, unquestionably, one of the greatest painterly talents that Russia had ever produced.

In 1914 Diaghilev, the director of the famous "Ballets Russes" invited Goncharova to make designs for The Golden Cockerel which was staged at the Paris Opera. The staggering success of this production opened up new creative horizons for her and she remained in Paris to become one of Diaghilev's 'resident' designers. Her work of this period reveals her gifts not only as a superb stage designer but also as a designer of women's fashions for the haute-couture industry of Art Deco Paris. Her work is now in the collections of museums and galleries across the world and is so highly sought that she has achieved the highest sale price ever recorded at auction for a woman artist.

Contents: Life and work in Moscow, Impressionism and Symbolism, Goncharova and gender, Neo-primitivism, Abstraction, futurist books, life and work in Paris, designs for the stage, fashions and textiles, graphic work, and later paintings.

Dr. Anthony Parton is a specialist in Russian avant-garde art of the early 20th century. He is the author of Mikhail Larionov and the Russian Avant-garde, editor of Women Artists of Russia's New Age and has contributed many scholarly essays on the subject of Russian modernism to exhibition catalogues, journals and reference works. He is a lecturer in the History of Art at Durham University.

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), one of Spain's most revered and controversial painters, is known for his intense, chilling, and sometimes grotesque paintings depicting the injustice of society with brutal sincerity.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
• approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
• a concise biography

An artist both of and before his time

The Old Master who ushered in the modern era

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828), one of Spain’s most revered and controversial painters, is known for his intense, chilling, and sometimes grotesque paintings depicting the injustice of society with brutal sincerity. A court painter to the Spanish crown, he captured, through his works, a snapshot of life in Spain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Coming at the tail end of the Old Masters period, Goya, with his audacious, subversive, and highly influential works, can be considered the first painter of the modern era. His influence can be seen in the works of artists as varied as Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

* a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
* approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
* a concise biography

Unflinching Eye. Goya, the vivid witness to beauty, grandeur, and war

From his royal court portraits to horrific scenes of conflict, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes remains one of Spain’s most revered and startling artists. With key works from throughout his career, this vivid introduction explores Goya’s mastery of form and light and varied, daring subjects.

From court portraits for the Spanish royals to horrific scenes of conflict and suffering, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) made a mark as one of Spain’s most revered and controversial artists. A master of form and light, his influence reverberates down the centuries, inspiring and fascinating artists from the Romantic Eugène Delacroix to Britart enfants terribles, the Chapman brothers.

Born in Fuendetodos, Spain, in 1746, Goya was apprenticed to the Spanish royal family in 1774, where he produced etchings and tapestry cartoons for grand palaces and royal residences across the country. He was also patronized by the aristocracy, painting commissioned portraits of the rich and powerful with his increasingly fluid and expressive style. Later, after a bout of illness, the artist moved towards darker etchings and drawings, introducing a nightmarish realm of witches, ghosts, and fantastical creatures.

It was, however, with his horrific depictions of conflict that Goya achieved enduring impact. Executed between 1810 and 1820, The Disasters of War was inspired by atrocities committed during the Spanish struggle for independence from the French and penetrated the very heart of human cruelty and sadism. The bleak tones, agitated brushstrokes, and aggressive use of Baroque-like light and dark contrasts recalled Velázquez and Rembrandt, but Goya’s subject matter was unprecedented in its brutality and honesty.

In this introductory book from TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 we set out to explore the full arc of Goya’s remarkable career, from elegant court painter to deathly seer of suffering and grotesquerie. Along the way, we encounter such famed portraits as Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, the dazzling Naked Maja, and The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid, one of the most heart-stopping images of war in the history of art.

About the authors:

Rose-Marie Hagen was born in Switzerland and studied history, Romance languages, and literature in Lausanne. After further studies in Paris and Florence, she lectured at the American University in Washington, D.C.

Rainer Hagen was born in Hamburg and graduated in literature and theater studies in Munich. He later worked for radio and TV, most recently as chief editor of a German public broadcasting service. Together they have collaborated on several TASCHEN titles, including Masterpieces in Detail, Pieter Bruegel, and Francisco de Goya.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance 
- a concise biography 
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions