Celestial mechanics have fascinated mankind in all known cultures. Many artists throughout history have been captivated by the spectacle we observe above us day and night. Swiss photographer Guido Baselgia has expanded the focus of his work on the sky, with the stellar and solar movements and phenomena as we see them from earth. In his most recent work Light Fall, Baselgia makes traceable the trajectory of celestial bodies invisible to the human eye and shows astounding occurrences of light and shadow. Taken in Norway, the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in Argentina, in Ecuador, and the Swiss Alps, the images visualise the geometry of astrodynamics and celestial mechanics. His photography also capture the phenomenon of umbra, planet earth’s shadow thrown into space. The new book Guido Baselgia – Light Fall features 80 stunning tritone plates. Complemented with essays by German scholar Andrea Gnam and Swiss photography critic Nadine Olonetzky, they offer a window into the light phenomena that leave us awestruck today as much as they did our ancestors. Text in English and German.

Built in 1913 for a local politician and engineer and beautifully situated on the shore of Lake Zurich, this handsome villa today is home to the Jacobs Foundation and the Johann Jacobs Museum. It was acquired in the 1980s by the Jacobs family, who had been in the coffee, tea, and cocoa trade in Bremen since 1895 but eventually sold the business to an international conglomerate in the 1990s. The Johann Jacobs Museum focuses on the history and present of global trade routes. Its exhibitions and educational program revolves around cultural hybrids that develop sometimes intentionally, sometimes incidentally along the main routes and byways of trade.

This new book tells the story of the Jacobs House and offers an introduction to the goals of the Jacobs Foundation and the museum. It also documents the building’s extensive reconstruction by Basel-based architects Miller & Maranta, who have made major changes to its structure with equal measures of radicalism and sensitivity while entirely preserving its character and style.

Text in English and German.

Markus Raetz is one of the most renowned contemporary artists in Switzerland. Initially educated and working as a primary school teacher, he became an artist in his early twenties. Since the 1970s, his work, including solo exhibitions, has been on the international stage. Raetz works with a variety of materials and media. The phenomenon of perception is his main focus, rather than how something is represented. Prints form a major part of his work. Markus Raetz.The Prints 1951-2013 covers his complete body of work in this genre.; the Catalogue Raisonné is complemented by a separate volume, with essays on his work and artistic development. Exhibitions: Museum of Fine Arts Bern, early 2014 (date TBC). Markus Raetz is represented with works also in the permanent collections of museums such as: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (Main); San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla CA; Tate Gallery, London; MoMA, New York; Musée national d art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Schaulager, Münchenstein near Basel; Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Text in English, German and French.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is adored worldwide as a revolutionary painter and loved for his collages, or papiers découpés, the icons of his late work. His paintings and drawings for a long time overshadowed his achievements as a sculptor. Yet his Back Series, four bas-reliefs showing a nude, created between 1908 and 1930, are widely recognised as a milestone in modern sculpture. Starting out from the naturalistic depiction, Matisse gradually transformed it to reach a radically abstracted figure. Each of the four original plaster casts represents a decisive moment of this artistic process. This transformative process has parallels in Matisse’s painting and drawing. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich marking the artist’s 150th anniversary, this is the first book to explore the relation between metamorphosis and feedback in both main fields of the artist’s work. Documents of his diverse sources of inspiration for his sculptures – photographs of nudes, examples from African and ancient art – as well as images featuring Matisse at work as sculptor, round out this volume. It is a welcome addition to any art library, highlighting the lesser known side of this modern master. Published to coincide with the exhibitions ‘Matisse – Metamorphoses’ at the Kunsthaus, Zürich between 30 August and 8 December 2019, and ‘Musée Matisse’, in Nice between 15 February and 15 May 2020.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is adored worldwide as a revolutionary painter and loved for his collages, or papiers découpés, the icons of his late work. His paintings and drawings for a long time overshadowed his achievements as a sculptor. Yet his Back Series, four bas-reliefs showing a nude, created between 1908 and 1930, are widely recognised as a milestone in modern sculpture. Starting out from the naturalistic depiction, Matisse gradually transformed it to reach a radically abstracted figure. Each of the four original plaster casts represents a decisive moment of this artistic process. This transformative process has parallels in Matisse’s painting and drawing. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich marking the artist’s 150th anniversary, this is the first book to explore the relation between metamorphosis and feedback in both main fields of the artist’s work. Documents of his diverse sources of inspiration for his sculptures – photographs of nudes, examples from African and ancient art – as well as images featuring Matisse at work as sculptor, round out this volume. It is a welcome addition to any art library, highlighting the llesser known side of this modern master. Text in French. Published to coincide with the exhibitions: Matisse-Metamorphoses at the Kunsthaus Zürich between 30 August and 8 December 2019, and ‘Musée Matisse’ in Nice between 15 February and 15 May 2020.

Swiss artist, architect, designer, typographer, and theorist Max Bill (1908-94) was one of the most important exponents of concrete and constructive art and a key figure in the history of 20th-century European applied arts and design. Educated by such eminent teachers as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Bill immediately displayed a genius for work in fields as diverse as painting, sculpture, architecture, typography and design from the outset of his career in the 1930s. In the 1950s, he teamed up with Inge Scholl and Otl Aicher to found the legendary Ulm College of Design in Ulm, of which he became the first director. In his work, Max Bill carried on the Bauhaus legacy, both as an artist and a teacher, and made a decisive and lasting contribution to 20th-century cultural life.

The new edition of this authoritative and much sought-after monograph displays Bill’s wide-ranging work and sets him in the context of his cultural milieu by featuring works by his contemporaries, such as Kurt Schwitters, Wassily Kandinsky, and Donald Judd. Accompanying essays investigate Bill’s influence on other artists and the lasting importance of his oeuvre in the present.

Text in English and German.

Minoru Onoda was born in Japanese-occupied Manchuria to a Japanese family in 1937. Before the outbreak of World War II, they moved to Himeji in Japan, which remained the artist’s residence until his passing in 2008. Following his artistic education at the Osaka Institute of Fine Arts and at Osaka School of Art in the 1960s, Onoda joined the Gutai, Japan’s first post-war radical artistic movement. Gutai challenged what the movement considered a reactionary understanding to initiate new notions of art, and redefined the relationships among body, matter, time, and space. Enchanted by concepts of repetition, Onoda produced panels with amalgamations of gradually increasing dots with relief, creating organically growing shapes, progressing to infinite circles and ultimately moving to a monochrome style in painting. When Gutai disbanded in 1972, he opted for a conceptual style in which the proliferating dots disappeared. The Western world has received Minoru Onoda’s art almost exclusively in the Gutai context, for example in the 2013 exhibition Gutai: Splendid Playground at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. This overdue first-ever monograph on Minoru Onoda introduces him as an artist in his own right. Apart from investigating his relations with Gutai, it explores his creative process with a particular focus on his sketchbooks.

For two decades, Swiss photographer Serge Fruehauf has documented fascinating architectural details cast in concrete. But his focus lies not only in the beauty of the built environment, but also in the surprising and sometimes absurd puzzles created by later interventions: stairways that lead to dead ends, disfigured garden walls that have long outlived their purpose. With Serge Fruehauf – Extra Normal, Joerg Bader has selected the best and most interesting of more than one thousand images in Fruehauf’s most recent series. Taken throughout Paris, Geneva, Grenoble, and Lyon, Fruehauf’s photographs form a critical reflection on architectural modernity mitigated by the photographer’s love of the spaces he has photographed, and his deep sympathy for the architects and planners who were drawn to concrete as a versatile and multifaceted building material in the latter part of the twentieth century. Despite its promise, the buildings or clusters of buildings that have come out of the modern methods of construction with concrete appear today as bland monstrosities or grotesque hybrids of traditional and modern architecture. Fruehauf’s photographs are joined by a preface by scholar and curator Martino Stierli, which offers an insightful discussion of how Fruehauf’s work highlights these structures as allegories of the current cultural situation. Text by English, French and German.

Sonja Sekula (1918-63) was born and educated in Lucerne, but emigrated to the United States in 1936 together with her family. In 1941, she began studying art at the Arts Students League in New York and made the acquaintance of André Breton and his friends among the surrealists. Her automatic paintings and texts soon captured the interest of Peggy Guggenheim and Marcel Duchamp, and in 1943 she was invited to show her work at Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery. In the late 1940s Betty Parsons Gallery featured Sekula’s paintings in a number of group and solo exhibitions. Mental health problems dogged her throughout her life and forced her to return to Switzerland, where she committed suicide in 1963.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Sekula’s art in context of the work of her friends and fellow artists from the period. Richly illustrated, it offers a chance to rediscover an immensely talented artist who has been unjustly neglected.

The Image Archive of the main library at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH-Bibliothek) is home to a vast collection of photographs. It includes material collected by professors and other staff at the ETH, images created and collected by institutes and chairs within the ETH, but also the entire archives of companies or other institutions, such as Switzerland s legendary former national airline Swissair (1931 – 2001), or private collections bequeathed to ETH-Bibliothek. The aim of the new book series Pictorial Worlds. Photographs from the ETH-Bibliothek’s Image Archive is to build a bridge between analytical treatment of historical image sources and the interest in individual photographs for any possible reason. One of the collections held at the Image Archive has been put together by Swiss entrepreneur Adolf Feller (1879 – 1931) and his daughter Elisabeth (1910 – 1973). Unique in size, scope and period covered, it comprises 54,000 postcards from 1889 – 1980. It documents comprehensively what can be called the ‘Golden Age’ of picture postcards before World War I, with its enormous diversity of motifs, radical changes of style in design and of the era when postcards had their heyday as a communication medium. The collection’s main focus is on images of individual sites, places and landscapes in 140 countries. Around 15,000 motifs are from Switzerland. The period best represented in the collection is from 1893 – 1930. The World in Pocket-size Format is a documentation of this magnificent collection. The book is also an illustrated history of this means of communication that has had its time of utmost importance in human relationships. Text in English and German.

Carleton Varney turns his decorating vision towards the water in his most recent tome, Decorating on the Waterfront.
Here, he gathers stunning images of new design projects in this collection of inspirational stories that use motifs and colours from years by the shore. Growing up on the Massachusetts coast influenced his penchant for bright cheerful colour schemes and warm polished interiors that exude luxury living today. Varney continues to live near the ocean and decorates for clients on the waterfront from Palm Beach, Florida to the shores of Lake Huron, Michigan. This book brings into focus Varney’s career-long journey to bring elements and inspirations from the world around us to life at home.

What Remains is the photographic research undertaken by Alberto Gandolfo in January 2017, which takes its cue from news stories from the most recent Italian past, focusing on family members and people close to the victims of tragic episodes, engaged in long battles in pursuit of the truth. We know the news stories, we remember how the faces of the tragically disappeared people were, but we know little or nothing about those who remain, about those people whom, in addition to experiencing great pain resulting from the loss of a loved one, inherit battles and take charge in seeking justice. Making their faces visible is the means to maintain high attention on the evolution of specific and very particular events, bearers of anonymous and silent revolutions, in which we are all necessarily involved. Text in English, French and Italian.

Using Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps as the focus, we may understand how the three figures depicted are set in contrast: by social class, age and appearance. These differences are underpinned by the clothing that they wear, and on closer examination, it is apparent that the fabrics described in paint are directly comparable to those of the historic collections of Novara. In their insightful and detailed analysis, the authors of this volume present a comprehensive overview of the development of fashion and fabrics, from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, when Italy’s textile industry was at its peak. Text in English and Italian.

This volume celebrates Luigi Pericle, painter, but also thinker, literate, scholar of theosophy and esoteric doctrines, revealing his extraordinary history, made of profound research and great encounters. From well-known collector Peter G. Staechelin to Sir Herbert Read, trustee of the Tate Gallery; from the museologist Hans Hess, curator of the York Art Gallery, to the famous German artist and director Hans Richter – everyone was attracted by his charisma, his versatile personality, his ‘clairvoyant’ art. With Luigi Pericle, the history of informal art of the second post-war period unexpectedly opens to philosophy, to alternative spirituality, to the mysteries of the cosmos, against the background of the space age. Essays by: Marco Pasi, Luca Bochicchio, Chiara Gatti, Michele Tavola, Andrea Biasca-Caroni, Valeria Malossa, and Giovanni Cavallo. Text in English and Italian.

Since easel painting began, the figure of Eve has been found in the work of painters from Masaccio to Rubens, taking in Michelangelo, Bosch and Brueghel along the way. In the 12th century, the image of the first woman emerged as being the common theme which brought painters and sculptors together around issues relating to the body. The first woman, or the only woman in an artist’s world, Eve is the intrinsic representation of the nude. So many artists, from Gauguin with his exotic Eve or Bonnard with Marthe-Eve, succumbed to this portrayal of nudity as either shameful or as an ideal, inherently primitive. The catalogue presents nearly 70 works from Symbolists, Nabis, Fauvists, Cubists and Surrealists: Gauguin, Bonnard, Rodin, Sérusier, Denis, Redon, Matisse, Dufy, Picasso, Douanier Rousseau, Arp, Giacometti and Chagall. It endeavours to trace the story of Eve, the source for the figurative body, at greater length and in more depth, through essays by Jean Louis Schefer and Véronique Serrano, as well as focus pieces by Gilles Genty, Laurence Madeline, Aline Magnien and Elisabeth Pacoud-Rème. Roberto Mangú’s contemporary view talks of the need that present-day painting, and art in general, has for the presence of Eve, in terms of her unchanging qualities.

Angelo Turconi has spent fifty years roaming the Democratic Republic of Congo. This passionate, curious and compassionate photographer continues to this day to document the daily life of the Congolese, with a particular focus on their cultural heritage and artisanal and artistic traditions. His photographs capture the power of ancestral ceremonies and the joy of popular celebrations, presided over by the traditional chiefs who still occupy a prestigious position. They reveal the social structure of this central African community by observing the work of artisans, farmers, conveyors of goods (riding their impressive cargo bikes) and market traders. More than just a witness, Angelo Turconi calls himself an emissary of memory. It is the subject of memory that seems to haunt the pages of this book. By drawing on the power of customs that have not yet been dulled by globalisation, his photographs take us on a journey to a world apart: one that is recognisably contemporary and yet connected to references and traditions that seem to come from outside of our world. Text in English and French.

François Hannes is passionate and driven by beauty. He loves the good life. He thrives on the tranquillity of a landscape and nature, but finds the dynamics of the urban environment equally inspiring. Uncompromising in his designs, he aims for extremes and these are a feature of his highly individual and original work. His designs are calm and thoughtful and the different elements seem to naturally co-exist. They are exciting and bold, creating inspiring interiors with unique style and flair. Hannes’s style of working and design is increasingly recognised and respected both nationally and internationally. His creativity, focus, drive and architectural insight make him a first-class designer. Sennah Studio designs and creates interiors where living well and finding enjoyment in personalised comfort are paramount. Text in English and Dutch.

Once upon a time there was… a castle. This is how the intriguing fairy tale, created by the British theatre company and artists’ collective WildWorks on the theme of Gaasbeek Castle and its highly unusual occupants, begins. But is it really a fairy tale? WildWorks is no traditional theatre company: its members focus on a place and the people who “live” there. They came to Gaasbeek, got a feel for the atmosphere, had a good look around, spoke with different people and delved into the archives. Afterwards, they incorporated all these impressions into scenic installations, the aim of which is to reveal the soul of the castle. With sights, smells, sounds, objects and performers they immerse visitors in a world halfway between history and fiction. Other dimensions are added to this world through the music of Jeroen D’hoe and costumes designed by Tim Van Steenbergen. This book provides an in-depth look at the special approach used by WildWorks and, through dozens of photographs, magnificently illustrates their visually stunning work in the castle. Text in English and Dutch.

The impressive Château de Chenonceau is the jewel of the French Loire Valley. The fairytale type castle has had a particularly rich history and has always been inhabited and curated by intelligent, strong-willed women such as Catherine Briçonnet, Diane de Potiers, Catherine de Medici and Louise de Lorraine – hence its nickname ‘Ladies’ Castle’. Through the ages the spaces have been imprinted with the souls of those who built, inhabited and loved the castle. Every part of Chenonceau’s interior and exterior – not in the least the castle’s impressive gardens – exudes peace, harmony and elegance. Since 2015 Jean-Francois Boucher has been appointed floral scenographer of the estate. Together with his small team he creates new floral compositions for the castle’s rooms every week. These ‘staged’ flowers emphasise the history of the estate just like any other piece of art or furniture does. Their designs blend in perfectly with the interiors and are in beautiful harmony with the room’s colour codes, perfumes and functions. Sometimes they even wink at poetry, art or the historical events that took place in these spaces. The Bouquets of Chenonceau is a magnificent coffee table book that will please both lovers of history and fans of floral design. Text in English and French.

Edward van Vliet is an international design company specialising in conceptual interior and product design for the corporate sector. The company has a strong focus on hospitality, urban residential, and office sectors. With proven expertise in design and consumer behaviour, Edward van Vliet throws down the gauntlet to the status quo, bringing a fresh mindset to the process of destination design. Specialising in designing premium tailored experiences and products for leading brands, Edward van Vliet delivers unique concepts worldwide which are consistent with the location, culture, and experience desired.

Foreword in English, Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese.

This monograph showcases the trajectory of an empire built by the sheer dint of its driving success. Archgroup has gained international recognition as a comprehensive service provider in the architectural segment, with special focus being on its prolific and vital role dominating the skyline of the UAE’s world-class destination, Dubai. The firm’s work has now become synonymous with epithets such as ‘tallest’, ‘highest’ and ‘longest’ across the Gulf region.

Inside, the richly illustrated pages chronicle close to 100 projects by Archgroup, both built and in progress. Each work provides insight into the values, design-thinking and process-orientated approach that is the firm’s signature, making this volume a valuable resource that goes beyond the study of the built form to talk about the firm’s inimitable ethos that guides its design candour.