This volume examines the relationship between modern sculpture and architecture in the mid-twentieth century, an interplay that has laid the ground for the semisculptural or semiarchitectural works by architects such as Frank Gehry and artists such as Dan Graham.
The first half of the book explores how the addition of sculpture enhanced several architectural projects, including Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion (1929) and Eliel Saarinen’s Cranbrook Campus (1934). The second half of the book uses several additional case studies, including Philip Johnson’s sculpture court for New York’s Museum of Modern Art (1953), to explore what architectural spaces can add to the sculpture they are designed to contain.
The author argues that it was in the middle of the twentieth century – before sculptural and architectural forms began to converge – that the complementary nature of the two practices began clearly to emerge: figurative sculpture highlighting the modernist architectural experience, and the abstract qualities of that architecture imparting to sculpture a heightened role.
Rediscover the inspiring work of the Belgian architect, Léon Stynen (1899‐1990). Unpublished texts and family photos from the giant of architecture with 990 projects to his name. A reaffirmation of modernism for what it is: a radical shift that continues to influence our times. The two casinos, in Knokke and in Ostend, the pavilions at Expo ’38 in New York and Expo ’58 in Brussels, the BP building in Antwerp, the deSingel arts centre in Antwerp, single‐family homes, and designs for cruise ships, cinemas, and furniture that are still in circulation today are all examples from a body of work that stand as enduring symbols for an avant‐garde that has passed the test of time. This book highlights Stynen’s versatility and profound influence. The man who succeeded Henry Van de Velde as director of La Cambre also worked with Le Corbusier, Camille Huysmans, Henry Van de Velde, Renaat Braem, René Guiette, Victor Bourgeois, Paul Delvaux, the CIAM, and many more besides. The book features extraordinary documents from the family archives.
The jewellery department at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris comprises some 3,500 pieces and is the only national collection of its kind in France. This book presents bijouterie and joaillerie masterpieces from this high-profile collection which ranges from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period and shines a particular spotlight on the 18th century and the age of Art Nouveau.
Daytime or evening jewellery and art jewellery pieces in the form of tiaras, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants, hair or tie pins, rings and stomacher brooches illustrate the boundless creativity of designers.
The greatest artists are represented: Sandoz, Vever, Falize, Boucheron, Lalique, Fouquet and Gaillard for Art Nouveau, Raymond Templier and Jean Després for Art Deco, Georges Braque, Jean Lurçat, Line Vautrin, Jean Schlumberger, Torun, Dinh Van, Jonemann and Claude Lalanne for the post-war period, and a number of contemporary designers. The collection also features pieces by the great jewellery houses: Cartier, Boucheron, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels and, more recently, JAR.
This richly illustrated book accompanies the display in the Galerie des Bijoux at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which features the collection’s highlights.
In what ways did the Jesuits deploy the Baroque visual language of the time to persuade the public of their vision on humankind, religion and society? In this beautifully illustrated book, which includes numerous artworks by Peter Paul Rubens and others, diverse authors rise to the challenge of finding answers to this complex question.
The setting is Antwerp in the 17th century. At that time, the city was the Jesuit Order’s headquarters in the Netherlands and a bastion against the Calvinism in the Northern Netherlands Republic. The fine arts were flourishing there like never before. Painters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck produced works for the Jesuits and participated in the Catholic community life organised by the order, with large groups of fellow believers. This publication takes a close look at the Baroque Saint Ignatius Church, now the Saint Charles Borromeo Church on Hendrik Conscienceplein, for which Rubens created magnificent ceiling paintings. The authors also show how more modest forms of art, such as religious folk prints, illustrated lives of the saints, schoolbooks, emblemata books and prayer books, were used to kindle the enthusiasm of as many believers as possible, both in their own country and in distant overseas territories.
Baroque Influencers – Jesuits, Rubens and the Arts of Persuasion presents written contributions from researchers affiliated with the Universities of Antwerp, Louvain and Stuttgart and various heritage institutes.
The art of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) is synonymous with the female nude, with the term ‘Rubenesque’ first coined in the 19th century to describe a voluptuous female body. Yet remarkably, there has never been a focused study of Rubens’ depictions of women, making this book, and the exhibition that it will accompany, a first.
Bringing together a diverse range of paintings and drawings from throughout the artist’s career and from a range of international lenders, the exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery (October 2023 – January 2024) will challenge the popular assumption that Rubens only painted one type of woman. Instead, it will present a more nuanced view of the varied and essential role that women played in the artist’s life and work, uniting and contributing to recent scholarly developments in subjects such as the identities of Rubens’ sitters, 17th century artistic theory and practice, and Rubens’ treatment of the human body.
Rubens evidently enjoyed painting the female figure, especially in its sensual and unclothed form. But his women are never mere bodies trapped by the male gaze, on the contrary; they are proud and complex heroines, full of character and gravitas. No other male artist has created such potent images of female power, assurance, determination, commitment, and beauty. Providing a catalogue for the works in the exhibition and featuring three introductory essays that contextualise Rubens’ work, this publication will both contribute to the existing corpus of scholarly literature on Rubens and introduce his masterpieces to new audiences, discussing them in the context of current debates around sexuality, power and feminism.
Will Ukraine ever be an EU member? Why don’t we have a European army yet? Does crisis make the EU stronger? The European Union has great influence on the lives of its citizens. That situation can prove to be controversial. Decisions made by the EU often lead to misunderstanding and resentment. Aside from these controversies, it is clear that the Union today, is the result of a myriad of choices by policy makers throughout the years. A better understanding of these choices and of the recent history of the EU allows us to better grasp its impact, and offers insight into why certain subjects are harder to place. Why Europe? offers a historical as well as thematical insight into the development of the European Union. Drawing from six questions that put main events, key figures as well as the defining moments of the past 70 years in the foreground, this book lays out the essence of European integration.
“Monet, van Gogh and Cezanne feature in a pleasurable Royal Academy show that demonstrates why the Impressionists remain the world’s favourite set of artists.” — Independent
Best known for their superlative oils on canvas, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and numerous other Impressionists and Post-Impressionists also regularly used paper as a support for works in watercolour, gouache, pencil, tempera and that most elusive of media, pastel. Their practice transformed the status of these works from preparatory studies, to be left in the studio and not shown in public, to works of art in their own right.
With insightful texts by acknowledged experts in the field, this sumptuous book brings together some 70 masterworks on paper by leading Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Their bold innovations challenged traditional attitudes, radically transformed the future direction of art and ultimately paved the way for later movements such as Abstract Expressionism.
Architecture writer Agata Toromanoff introduces Belgium’s 40 most influential contemporary architects and a selection of their most celebrated buildings in full colour photography. Belgian architects have been doing well for years and have international allure. This volume showcases works from the most famous Belgian architect-designers such as Vincent Van Duysen and EPRICUM to emerging architects such as Oyo Architects. Several pages are dedicated to each architect, outlining their influences and ideas and revealing the designs that have brought them fame. With this great reference work, you can discover the true extent of the creative achievements that lie within the careers of these architectural giants. Captivating biographies alongside breathtaking photos. A book that is both informative and beautiful.
Text in English, Dutch and French.
This book, illustrated with rare and original documents, tells the story of FARM PROD, a Brussels collective of cosmopolitan street artists. About 20 years ago, a few graphic communication students decided to share a working and living space by settling in an isolated farmhouse that would soon become a buzzing hive of creativity. This was the birth of one of the most original formations in urban art in recent years. From squats to artists’ studios, we follow the progress of a close-knit team capable of regularly reinventing itself to meet the challenges of an artistic career that moves from spontaneous art to official commissions, without ever losing its singular aesthetic, its sense of friendship or its taste for celebration.
Text in English and French.
They were reviled, ridiculed, and ignored. Today, the Zurich Concretists — along with Dada — are considered the most important art movement originating from Switzerland. Circle! Square! Progress! tells the story of the city’s avant-garde movement, which is rooted in the Bauhaus and renewed the formal language of art, shaped design and architecture, and also positioned itself politically. It traces its relations to the heroes of Constructivist–Concrete art, such as Johannes Itten, Piet Mondrian, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Theo van Doesburg, and Georges Vantongerloo, and looks at the influences that came from graphic art and advertising, jazz music and dance, colour theory, and mathematics.
Max Bill, Camille Graeser, Verena Loewensberg, and Richard Paul Lohse — a group incidentally thrown together rather than true conspirators — formed the centre of gravity of a milieu that wrestled with critics, institutions, and authorities. Lavishly illustrated, the book explores Zurich as the habitat of highly gifted people engaged in lively debates at bohemian cafés, drifting in jazz clubs, celebrating excessively at the legendary annual artists’ fancy dress ball, achieving fame and artistic triumphs with creative power and a sense of mission. It illuminates the Zurich Concretists’ successes of the 1960s, their at times extremely violent quarrels of the 1970s, and their disputes about the beauty of form.
Hannah Höch (1889–1978) moved between differing worlds: as an editorial assistant with a major Berlin-based magazine publisher, and as the only woman who could hold her own in the German capital’s vibrant Dada scene of the 1920s. Höch broke with the traditions of representation and vision. Her works dissected a world marked by the catastrophe of the Great War and an intense consumer culture, and reassembled it in revolutionary, poetic, and often ironic ways. Höch kept to her artistic means and her poetic-radical imagination, shimmering between social observation and dream world, even in the post-WWII period. Scissors and glue were the weapons of her art of montage, of which she was a co-inventor.
Cutting and montage also shaped film, still a new medium in the 1920s, which strongly influenced Höch’s art: she understood her assembled pictures as static films. This richly illustrated and expertly annotated book explores comprehensively for the first time Höch’s fascination with film and the visual culture of the modern industrial age. It demonstrates how montage evolved in a field of tension between artistic experimentation, commercial exploitation, and political appropriation. A text-collage on the history of montage, in which major protagonists of Modernism and Avant-garde such as Sergej Eisenstein, Raoul Hausmann, László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Ruttman, Kurt Schwitters, Theo van Doesburg, and Dsiga Wertow, have their say, rounds out the volume.
Decorating becomes a piece of cake! Besides containing basic recipes for different types of cakes, this manual is filled with useful tips and tricks to start decorating your own cakes with rolled fondant. Step by step, the author explains how to stack and mask cakes, how to paint on the surface of rolled fondant, and how to create the yummiest cake toppings. In other words, this book has everything you need to help you make irresistibly delicious creations!
This catalogue raisonné of printed works by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov comprises some 90 works from 1981–2023. Some of these are series and consist of several prints. This graphic part of the Kabakov oeuvre, recently acquired by the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, offers insight into the varied work of these two artists, comprising drawings, works with garbage, albums, paintings, and installations.
Through his photographs of swirling swarms of starlings – murmurations – photographer Erik Hijweege explores the impressive drama of the natural world. In this series of images, he captures flocks of starlings as they form and reform in the Dutch sky. Often they present as familiar shapes, such as fish, or swans, that can best be seen when captured in photographs. In the accompanying text, art historian Maartje van den Heuvel compares Hijweege’s images to the cloudy skies in 17th century Dutch painting. Nature journalist Koos Dijksterhuis explains why starling swarms occur, and explains the wonderful choreography of this breath-taking natural phenomenon. This work was exhibited at the Nature Museum Fryslan in Leeuwarden.
Text in English and Dutch.
The rose is generally seen as the most romantic flower. No other plant blooms for so long and profusely, and comes in so many different shapes, scents and colours. Roses deserve a place in everyone’s home, outside – in the garden or on the balcony – but certainly also indoors on the table. The Joy of Roses answers every question you may have about roses: from the history of the rose to applications in the home. The different types of roses are discussed in detail with descriptions of the flower, the scent, the thorns, the inflorescence and information about the best place for this specific species. The book also provides information about cultivators, which flowers go well with roses and their care. Anneke Beemer’s beautiful photos complete the book.
“Bram Demunter is a visual artist and a master of allusion. Visual intertextuality is one of the key elements of his pictures and one that is impossible to control.” – Till-Holger Borchert
The work of Bram Demunter (b. 1993) is intentionally associative in character. Drawing inspiration from the work of Flemish Primitives and contemporary artists, as well as from legends and myths, Demunter effortlessly combines a panoply of people, animals, flowers, rivers, hills and mountains in detailed compositions for his colourful paintings and drawings. This book offers an insight into Demunter’s vibrant oeuvre and his innovative visual language of colour, shape and meaning. With text contributions by Till-Holger Borchert, Bram Demunter and Tom Van Laere.
Text in English and Dutch.
The successor to the bestselling Cosmopolitan Living – 15 new city houses and apartments from all over the world, each one with a strong metropolitan feel.
Includes: Maddux Creative, London; Helena Clunies Ross, New York; Sebastiaan Van Maanen/Ramses Caesar, Amsterdam; Brent Buck Architects, New York; Messana O’Rorke, New York; Nadine Fabry, Düsseldorf; Ooaa, Madrid; Steven Van Dooren, Amsterdam; Pupil Office, Singapore; Hauvette & Madani, Cologny (Switzerland); Mathieson Kurraba (Australia); Studio Liu Sydney (Australia); Rodolphe Parente, Paris.
An old map does not only represent a geographical situation; it also embodies a veritable journey of discovery through world history. In this book, historian Anne-Rieke van Schaik immerses herself in the many stories behind the fascinating maps, prints, atlases, globes and instruments belonging to the Phoebus Foundation’s collection. These objects testify to glorious moments and dark interludes in the history of the Low Countries, from the never-ending battle against water and the Eighty Years War to colonial expansion and the struggle for Belgian independence.
Particular attention is paid to the Southern Netherlands, where pioneers like Gerard Mercator and Abraham Ortelius broke new ground in the sixteenth century. Their maps opened up new paths, both literally and figuratively. Not only were they innovative in their own time, but even today they continue to offer unique panoramas of the past.
With hundreds of beautiful images, Groundbreakers invites you to rediscover and redefine the horizons of your own world.
Examples of technoscientific innovation include advancements in biotechnology, advanced medical treatments involving gene and cell therapies, surgical robotics, nanotechnology, AI-based decision-making systems, the creation of innovative materials with unique properties, and sustainable renewable energy systems. These innovations have the potential to transform and disrupt industries, improve quality of life, and contribute to economic and societal progress. The purpose of this book is to guide the reader on how to create and capture value from technoscientific innovation, making extensive use of collaborative co-development deals. Based on the latest insights in managing technology ecosystems and business modelling, this book aims to map out the technology-based ecosystem, perform an economic power analysis of its agents, and develop a phased value creation and capture strategy to take the technoscientific innovation to market. This will form the basis for a discussion on strategically positioning the company in “pipeline” and “platform” technoscientific businesses, leveraging the firm’s differentiating intellectual property (IP) and complementary assets positions.
Published to accompany the once-in-a-lifetime Rembrandt exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Rembrandt’s powerful art left a lasting impression on his gifted pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten. The fascinating interplay between Rembrandt and Hoogstraten is on display in a unique way – you have never seen Rembrandt like this before.
This book delves into the depths of colour and illusion, exploring the powerful techniques employed by the master artists Rembrandt and Hoogstraten to create virtual realities on canvas. Through insightful analysis and breathtaking visuals, this in-depth examination reveals the secrets behind the magnificent illusionist effects that have captivated audiences for centuries. Rembrandt-Hoogstraten offers a profound exploration of the transformative power of colour and technique in the hands of two of history’s greatest painters.
Image © The Royal Caste, Warsaw – photo Andrzej Ring, Lech Sandzewicz
SCDA celebrates the acclaimed firm’s extensive portfolio of work across the globe — from Singapore and China to the United States. Through SCDA’s diverse array of projects, spanning mixed-use high-rises, hospitality venues, commercial and institutional developments, and residential masterpieces, the monograph showcases Soo K. Chan’s mastery of shaping unique spatial experiences that transcend conventional boundaries. At the heart of SCDA’s design ethos lies a meticulous attention to detail and a profound understanding of form, light, and scale. Whether it’s crafting inviting public landscapes or sculpting dynamic high rises, Chan’s architectural visions tell a compelling story of harmony between the built environment and its natural surroundings.
On 27 April 1867, a month before the opening of the sensational World’s Fair in Paris, Claude Monet officially requested permission to paint views of the city from the balcony of the Louvre. His painting sessions resulted in three paintings: a view of the church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a view of the tightly landscaped greenery of the Jardin l’Infante, and a depiction of the bustle on the Seine around the Quai du Louvre. This book masterfully brings those three works together, while reflecting on the development of the Impressionist cityscape during a turbulent period in the history of Paris. Artists such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot and Caillebotte each approached the depiction of Paris in their own unique way, portraying all kinds of facets of this city in transition.
Image © Kunstmuseum Den Haag
The works of Léon Spilliaert (Ostend 1881-Brussels 1946) fascinate for the mystery of their images. His drawings explore the solitude of human beings and of the sea’s immensity. He evokes the life of various locations around his hometown of Ostend, and of objects drawn from his everyday life. His striking self-portraits translate the anguished plumbing of his deepest depths. His creations reflect a spirit of reflection and spiritual meditation, which he exercises by surveying the symbols of nature’s timelessness. This publication presents 21 works, intimately revealing his searches and studies, and directly provided by his family.
The catalogue also provides an overview of the history of the discovery of Spilliaert’s oeuvre in Belgium and abroad, and situates his body of work within a wider context of the art of his time. It presents a unique interview with his grandson, as well as brief chapters retracing the singular artistic contributions of the presented works.
With texts by (the Spilliaert specialist) Anne Adriaens-Pannier, Edouard Derom and Jeffery Howe, as well as an interview with Spilliaert’s grandson, Johan van Rossum.
Magritte, Bacon, Ensor, Moore, Jordaens, Rubens … These were just some of the world-famous names on display at the MAS. The not-to-be-missed exhibition ‘Rare and Indispensable’ brought a unique selection of masterpieces from the Flemish masterpiece list and has been captured here in this accompanying catalogue. Works of art you normally would have to travel all over Flanders to see, or which were never even publicly accessible, could be temporarily admired in one museum hall. All in honour of the 20th anniversary of the ‘Flemish Masterpiece Decree’.
‘Rare and Indispensable‘ was an absolute must-see that took the visitor on an art-historical walk along several masterpieces from Flemish collections. Some 35 large and small museums, as well as churches, libraries and private collectors temporarily lended masterpieces from their collections. All of them works that have been included in the Flemish Masterpiece List since 2003.
Famous paintings by Hugo van der Goes, Rubens, Jordaens, Ensor, Magritte and Bacon, sculptures by Lucas Faydherbe and Henry Moore, as well as precious silver, medieval manuscripts and a rare piece of furniture by Pierre Gole, ébeniste du roi of the French king Louis XIV, were available to be admired in one place at the same time.
Curators Thomas Leysen and Ben Van Beneden, members of the ‘Topstukkenraad’ (Masterpiece council), selected all the masterpieces for this exhibition.