As a blind person might see the world if the gift of sight were suddenly returned - this is how we might describe the effect of William Turner's paintings on the observer. John Ruskin, Turner's uncompromising 19th-century defender, alluded to this idea when he spoke of an "innocence of the eye" which perceived the world's colours and forms before it could recognize their significance.

But to develop such a style, William Turner (1775-1851) first had to overcome the legacy of late rococo academic teachings. He was simultaneously a romantic and a realist - and yet he transcended both styles. His landscapes, far in advance of their time, have been called forerunners of Impressionism, yet they also possess traits that influenced Expressionism, and many of his late compositions are undeniably surrealistic.

Turner's art cannot be bound by such classifications, and remains an oddity to art history even today. His work arises from a unique relation to the nature that it depicts: through his brilliant sketches, he found a rigorously open kind of painting in which nature sets free the use of colour. And through the workings of the natural elements - especially atmospheric light - Turner confronted nature at the point where nature itself is an image. This book opens up Turner's paintings for the eye, demonstrating that he was not simply illustrating nature, but that his pictures speak directly to the eye as nature does itself - through a world of light and colour.

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

The old days of posed wedding pictures are gone and a new exciting field of 'wedding reportage' has emerged. This new style is all about telling the story of the wedding day by getting up close and intimate, without becoming intrusive. The art of capturing a split-second moment in time requires anticipation, an eye for composition and a nose for the story. These are the key strengths for any reportage-style photographer and Wedding Photography Now! clearly explains how a good wedding photographer can become a great one. Many couples want two albums: one for friends and family and another private one for themselves. Wedding Photography Now! takes photographers through all the essential stages for creating very personal photo albums, from private portraits of the couple to risqué shots of the bride getting dressed on the day, and looks at how to liven up traditional portraits by using unusual techniques, angles, lighting, locations and post-processing techniques.

Michelle Turner is a leading documentary wedding photographer based in Maine, USA. Michelle frequently travels internationally to photograph weddings and combines photojournalism with creative portraiture to provide complete coverage of that special day. Her images range from the vibrant and colourful to the grungy and emotional.

Discover Venice in a splendid volume of masterpieces by artists such as Canaletto, William Turner, Paul Signac, and Claude Monet.

Thanks to its unique qualities — the beguiling interplay of light, water, and atmosphere — Venice was elevated to a magical “laboratory of perception” in the nineteenth century. Like many other artists, Claude Monet also sojourned in the city with its lagoons and islands, where he was inspired to create his famous Venice cycle in the autumn of 1908. His Venetian paintings mark a turning point in his work as he adopted an increasingly abstract pictorial vocabulary, demonstrating that Venice made a considerable, albeit little noted, contribution to the emancipation of painting, just as it was poised on the threshold of modernity.

This splendid volume, filled with large-format color illustrations, is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of Venice’s image in European and American painting of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the center of this well-informed exploration is Monet’s Venice cycle, supplemented by masterpieces by his predecessors and contemporaries, ranging from Canaletto to Turner to Paul Signac.

Artists featured:

Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, J. M. William Turner, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pietro Fragiacomo, Odilon Redon, Paul Signac, Claude Monet

135 illustrations

J.M.W. Turner was arguably the greatest landscape and marine painter ever. His output was prodigious: some five hundred and fifty oil paintings, over two thousand highly detailed and finely finished watercolours, and almost twenty thousand sketches, studies and rough watercolours. He excelled in every branch of landscape and marine painting, from elaborate history pictures and idealised scenes in the classical tradition, to tiny, jewel-like watercolours of contemporary life on land and sea made for subsequent engraved reproduction. This book takes us on a grand tour of the artist’s works.

The Author
Eric Shanes is a leading authority on J.M.W. Turner, and is himself a painter. He was the founding Editor of Turner Studies, a journal published by the Tate Gallery, London. He is a Vice- President of the Turner Society, and is currently its Chairman. He organised the Turner: The Great Watercolours exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of the painter in 2000-2001.
Eric Shanes has also written best-selling books on Constantin Brancusi, Salvador Dalí, David Hockney, Warhol and Pop Art and on the Impressionists in London. He has published widely on contemporary art issues, and is much in demand as a lecturer on art all over the world.

J.M.W. Turner was arguably the greatest landscape and marine painter ever. His output was prodigious: some five hundred and fifty oil paintings, over two thousand highly detailed and finely finished watercolours, and almost twenty thousand sketches, studies and rough watercolours. He excelled in every branch of landscape and marine painting, from elaborate history pictures and idealised scenes in the classical tradition, to tiny, jewel-like watercolours of contemporary life on land and sea made for subsequent engraved reproduction. This book takes us on a grand tour of the artist’s works.

Throughout his career, Turner has relentlessly pushed the medium of photography to achieve an extraordinary vision with an uncompromising thirst for bold color and composition. Yet Turner feels that "what really kept my name out there were these record covers." This book showcases 100 covers and their art in close to original size; many of the covers are rare and out-of-print, now collector's items, and connect to a who's who of musical legends—from Count Basie, John Coltrane, and Stan Getz, to Quincy Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Steely Dan. Turner's covers set new standards for this medium and transformed albums into art objects, sought after both for the music they contain and the cover art they display.

From Glam through Punk to New Wave, this collection of over 200 rare rock posters from the 1970s celebrates a decade's music and design. David Bowie's mask and lipstick were the essence of glam, the spirit of punk was embodied by the rips in the Sex Pistols Union Jack, while the Clash posing in front of Camden Lock shouted urbanism and decay. The posters speak directly to the viewer, communicating the style and content of the music. Many are now iconic images: the haunted, sunken-eyed Lou Reed on the front of Transformer, the lightning-struck face of David Bowie on Aladdin Sane, the power and anger in London Calling's smashed guitar, Adam Ant's white stripe and piercing eyes in King of the Wild Frontiers, and John Lydon's psychotic stare for Pretty Vacant.

These dazzling artworks are presented here together for the first time, accompanied by an entertaining and insightful commentary by pop-culture aficionados Alwyn Turner and Roger Crimlis. With the aid of personal interviews with stars, artists, photographers and fly-posting Mafiosi, they reveal the unknown story behind the posters featured and cart the music and times that inspired a generation.

This book is for anyone who has ever blue tacked a poster to their bedroom wall.

Bands featured include: Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop, Ian Dury, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Blondie, Adam Ant, Lou Reed, Malcolm McLaren, Brian Ferry, Alice Cooper, X-ray Spex, Bow Wow Wow, The Only Ones

Published to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the opening of Portmeirion. The first book to concentrate on all aspects of Portmeirion, the village, the gardens and the pottery.

Книга об английском пейзажисте Уильяме Тёрнере (1775—1851). Английские пейзажи принесли ему мировую известность. Тёрнер никогда не придавал никакого значения изображению людей. Персонажи его картин были всегда поглощены созерцанием природы, объединяя, таким образом, тех, кто любовался его живописью, и героев картины. Художник позволял человеку раствориться в среде. Основное впечатление в его картинах производят нюансы цвета и структуры, сочетания пастозных мазков и карандашных штрихов. Удивительная тонкость, прозрачность цветовых слоев, легкость и одновременно убедительность рисунка были очевидными лишь в оригиналах. Творения Тёрнера невозможно воспроизвести. Даже самые лучшие репродукции служат единственной цели — побудить читателя увидеть оригиналы. В жизни Тёрнер был странным человеком, многие считали его сумасшедшим. Он не поддерживал отношения с людьми, держал в тайне свой адрес. Увлекался поэзией, даже пытался писать стихи сам. Одно время он преподавал в Академии, но лекции его были скучными, и студенты почти совсем не посещали его занятия.

Издание состоит из шести глав, рассказывающих о жизни художника и об истории создания каждой картины, представленной в издании. В конце книги приводится хронология жизни и творчества мастера.