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.
Aerial photography had a special place in the business of the legendary former Swiss airline Swissair. Walter Mittelholzer (1894-1937), aviation pioneer and one of Swissair’s founders, trained as a photographer before turning to aviation. The airline had a specialised subsidiary, Swissair Photo AG, producing well over 100,000 pictures between 1931-2001, when Swissair ceased operations, and still exists as an independent enterprise, BSF Swissphoto. The photographs show landscapes, towns and villages, and mountains, but also industrial plants, infrastructures, and individual buildings in Switzerland and abroad. Swissair – Aerial Photography features around 300 striking, beautiful and informative images, revealing changes in landscape and settlements over nearly a century. It is also an inventory of lost elements making a landscape, untamed rivers, orchards, receding glaciers or vanished historical buildings that shows how an idyllic agricultural country turned into one of the most densely inhabited places over a few decades. With an introductory essay that explores the content of the collection now held at ETH Bibliothek and what can be read from these images today, Swissair – Aerial Photography provides an illuminating look at the history of aerial photography in Switzerland. Text in English and German.
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) is one the most influential architects of the 20th century. In the Scandinavian countries, his influence is arguably most pronounced in the writings and art of the Danish experimentalist Asger Jorn (1914-1973). Their collaboration on Le Corbusier’s pavilion for the 1937 Paris World Exhibition sparked Jorn’s lifelong fascination with the great architect and with architecture more broadly as an inherently public form of art. At the same time, Le Corbusier began revealing his work in visual art and started to move from a rational, technological approach towards a more poetic, materialist approach to architecture. Published in collaboration with the Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, What Moves Us? focuses specifically on the reception of Le Corbusier in Scandinavia, with the relationship between Jorn and Le Corbusier as a thematic thread. The book first highlights the architect’s change of direction and subsequently takes readers through his influence on the young artist. The book’s distinguished contributors explore the relationships that emerged among their artistic theories and practices, including Jorn’s later critique of Le Corbusier. Essays also explore the wider influence of Le Corbusier on Scandinavian architecture and urbanisation and consider Le Corbusier alongside the Danish architect Jørn Oberg Utzon and the Aarhus Brutalism movement.
Roger Eberhard, Swiss-born and American-educated photographer, conceives his works as series, taking-up impulses and inspirations for new projects from any possible source, such as a story he learns about or media reports catching his attention. He is particularly fascinated by people in the landscape, or rather the absence of mankind from a place leaving it again to nature and weather. But he has also done series of portraits of people in their given environment. Some series he has created in collaboration with other artists. In late 2008 Eberhard set out for a campaign searching for the visually lyrical backstage of the United States. His road-trip stared in Reno, Nevada, and led him through the states of Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming to Denver, Colorado. From there he continued his journey to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and finally across Arizona back to Nevada. The resulting series Wilted Country is published for the first time in this book. The resulting, highly atmospheric photographs show the enduring impact humans have on their landscape and simultaneously offer an evocative tour through the past and present of the American West. The images are accompanied by essays by Anthony Bannon, director of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY, and by the young German novelist Benedict Wells. Text in English & German.
In Tailored Interiors, the follow up to Storied Interiors (2018), interior designer Patrick Sutton presents seven beautiful and bespoke residences that have been specially crafted for his clients and their lives. Taking a deep dive into Sutton’s distinctive approach to design, acclaimed author Vicky Lowry tells the story of each home and how listening to his clients has inherently shaped the design.
The seven residences, located in Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Wyoming, run the gamut from a crisply furnished, minimalist countryside retreat and a classic yet contemporary seaside estate, to a historic house given new life with striking furnishings and seductive colours, and a property in Jackson Hole with a pared-down aesthetic rather than the typical trappings of the American West. While Sutton’s objectives for every project are similar—discovering the “story” to help him craft a home that is influenced by the location, history, and his clients—he is adept at working in a variety of styles, with an approach that remains fluid and open-minded.
Each project in Tailored Interiors is illustrated with gorgeous photography and accompanied by a narrative about the client, their aspirations, and Sutton’s compassionate approach to the design. It is through vision and empathy that Sutton creates such rich, meaningful, and liveable interiors and helps his clients achieve their dreams.
Nomos is an association of architects based in Geneva, Lisbon and Madrid. They collaborate on projects of all scales, from furniture to master plans, with a special focus on the cultural context and the environment. Primarily using drawing to shape their ideas, they explore new ways of creating community through buildings that seek to transform constraints into opportunities. They approach each project with enthusiasm, care and curiosity, always striving for sustainable beauty.
Text in Spanish and French.
Georg Baselitz’s collected writings brings together more than 30 texts by, and interviews with, the artist – spanning the period 1961 to the present – including conversations with Michael Auping, Henry Geldzahler and Donald Kuspit. Known for his rebellious approach to Abstract Expressionism, Baselitz here discusses the impression his paintings convey, the act of painting, his biography and much more. The texts shift between these personal pieces – some of which have never before been published in English – to interviews conducted by a variety of respected critics and art historians. These conversations present a different voice as Baselitz responds to careful and critical questions about his work.
Giovanni Bellini, ‘one of the great Italian poets’ in the words of Roberto Longhi, and Andrea Mantegna, he who ‘sculpted [the image] alive and real in his painting’ in the sonnet by Ulisse degli Aleotti, were two giants in the history of Western art – extremely distant in character, certainly, yet connected by deep family ties. Nicolosia – Jacopo Bellini’s daughter and thus half-sister to Giovanni – married Mantegna in 1453. This marriage engendered one of the most fascinating pictorial dialogues of the Quattrocento, as they both developed the motif of The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Now we see this pair of works exhibited side-by-side for the very first time, half a millennium after they were painted. This volume narrates an extraordinary event, down to the last detail, through a riveting analysis of the paintings themselves and of the relationship between the two artists.
The texts and interview included in this catalogue shed new light on Cybèle Varela’s contribution to Latin American and international artistic discourses, including Pop Art, Narrative Figuration and Video Art. Questions of identity, social and political issues and transnational experiences are central to Varela’s multifaceted production, from the 1960s to the present day. Text in English, German and Portuguese.
Pieter Brugel the Elder – Fall of the Rebel Angels argues that many of the hybrid falling angels are carefully composed of naturalia and artificialia, as they were collected in art and curiosity cabinets of the time. Bruegel’s much noted emulation of Hieronymus Bosch was thus only part of his wider interest in collecting, inspecting, and imitating the artistic and natural world around him. This prompts an examination of the world at the time that Bruegel painted the Fall of the Rebel Angels, locally, in the urban and courtly centres of Antwerp and Brussels on the eve of the Dutch revolt, and globally, as the discovery of the New World irreversibly transformed the European perception of art and nature. Painted as a tale of hubris and pride, Bruegel’s masterpiece becomes a meditation on the potential and danger of man’s pursuit of art, knowledge and politics, a universal theme that has lost nothing of its power today.
Tina Modotti was at the centre of key events of the early 20th Century: the cultural ferment of the Mexican renaissance, the Cuban revolution and the heroic period of the Communist International, during which her political commitment was expressed through bold, daring actions. The book paints a vivid multifaceted portrait of this extraordinary woman and includes around a hundred photographs in which her quest for formal perfection is combined with her talent for resolutely and passionately capturing the pulse of life.
Text in English, Italian and French.
“Turning the pages of this encyclopedia of golden parties, a nostalgia emanates from the clichés and plunges us into the evening of the stars at the Oscars…” — Harper’s Bazaar France
“With his new collection of photographs, Dafydd Jones offers a sensational dive into the excitement of the awards season in the 1990s.” — Vanity Fair France
“… a rare collection of candid moments that reveal the deepest aspects of the personalities of the world’s most famous people.” — Vogue Greece
“These images, taken before the turn of the century, give us a snapshot into the rise of America’s future movers and shakers, when mobile phones were in their infancy, Facebook had yet to be created, and the hit TV series Succession hadn’t even occurred to a twenty-something Jesse Armstrong.” — The Independent
Hollywood: Confidential is the latest collection of beautifully timed photos from bestselling society photographer Dafydd Jones. Formerly of Tatler and Vanity Fair, Jones is a serial capturer of intimate moments during high-society functions. As famous Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter puts it, when it comes to party photographers, ‘Dafydd Jones is the sniper’s sniper – the best of the best.’
On numerous occasions in the 1990s and 2000s, Jones turned his lens to the faces of Hollywood with all his usual impudence, as they mingled and danced at private events in the Hollywood Hills, Oscar-night parties and awards ceremonies. The result is a rare thing – photographs that convey the underlying personalities of the world’s most public personas.
Following on from England: The Last Hurrah and New York: High Life / Low Life, this is an essential portrait of celebrity culture from behind the scenes, featuring the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, Tom Cruise, Prince, Winona Ryder, Tony Curtis, Oprah, Nicholas Cage and more.
Praise for Dafydd Jones:
“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Mr. Jones goes about his business with cheery zest and a wicked eye.” – New York Times
“Some carefully tended public images are punctured with such rapier precision that one can hear the hiss as they deflate.” – Mitchell Owens, The World of Interiors
“Sublime vintage photographs…”– Hermione Eyre, the Telegraph
“Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline.” – Country & Townhouse podcast
“The New York book is an evocative historical document, brimming with nostalgia and menace.” – Hannah Marriott, The Guardian
“The best party photographers, and their numbers are few, are like snipers… Dafydd Jones is the sniper’s sniper – the best of the best.” Graydon Carter, foreword from New York: High Life / Low Life
“Dafydd’s brilliant evocation of a time and a class only seem more potent today, when we know that so many of the moneyed twits in his ’80s portfolio ended up running the country, as they always have” – Tina Brown, The New Yorker
Building Toys: An Architect’s Collection documents over 100 architectural building toys from the author’s collection, from the mid-1800s to the present, from the U.S. and abroad. Each toy has an immersive two-page spread celebrating its unique features with photos of packaging graphics, component parts, assembly diagrams, and a built example designed and constructed by the author.
Well-researched background information on designers and company histories provides intriguing facts which complete each toy’s description. When taken together, these stories reveal a microcosm of western commercial and industrial history, illustrating trends in design, advertising, and material production techniques.
The book is organised by toy material (natural wood, metal, plastic, etc.), creating six “chapters.” It includes a two-page introduction which reflects the author’s role as architect, photographer, and collector. There are approximately 250 pages giving a dynamic visual portrayal of a seldom seen world.
The story of Ladurée started in 1862 when Louis Ernest Ladurée opened a bakery in the heart of Paris at 16 rue Royale. In 1872, following a fire, the little bakery became a pastry shop and the decoration was then done by Jules Cheret, a famous painter and poster-designer of the time. Jeanne Souchard, Ernest Ladurée’s wife, then had the idea of combining the Parisian café with a pastry-shop, thereby creating one of Paris’ first tea-rooms.
In 1993 Ladurée was bought by Francis and David Holder and becomes one of the best-known gourmet addresses in Paris, a veritable institution with its famous “macaron” as its emblem. In 1997 Ladurée opened a tea-room/restaurant on the prestigious Champs-Elysées, followed by another in the Printemps department store and on the Left Bank as well as the beginning of their international adventure with branches in London, Geneva, Monaco and Tokyo.
In this book Philippe Andrieu, the Pastry Chef at Ladurée, reveals 100 of the most famous Ladurée recipes, adapted for the general public. From the Strawberry Cake with Rose Choux Pastry to Pistachio Financiers and the world-famous macarons in all their variety, this icon of French “art de vivre” is brought to life in a palette of pastries the colour of powder pink, light green, bright purple, and lemon yellow.
“I went to Noma and interviewed René (Redzepi). We were talking about art and food but the restaurant was closed. Everybody asked me how was the food, what did you eat – and he basically gave me some marmite. The best marmite I’ve ever had.” – David Shrigley
“This is not a coffee table book….notions of ‘taste’ get a grilling, while there are some fruity artist interviews….that make for entertaining accompaniments.” – Melanie Gerlis, The Financial Times
“This comprehensive and expansive explorations of art restaurants marries the nourishment of senses, both visual and taste, along with the meeting of minds.” – Chris Corbin, Corbin and King group
“A new and unique book.” – Layla Maghribi, The National News
This is the definitive guide to Art Restaurants — a new way to appreciate food. Christina Makris, collector of art and a Patron of The Tate and RA, takes the reader on a tour of 25 of the world’s greatest art restaurants, from New York to Hong Kong and Cairo to London.
Makris traces their stories, details the art highlights, and meets artists, restaurateurs and chefs including Vik Muniz, Julian Schnabel and Tracy Emin. A captivating guide to where great art and memorable food meet.
Restaurants featured include: Abou el Sid, Cairo; Bibo, Hong Kong; Casa Lever, New York; Chateau la Coste, Aix en Provence; Colombe d’Or, St Paul de Vence; Currency Exchange Café, Chicago; del Cambio, Turin; Dooky Chase, New Orleans; Gunton Arms, Norwich; Hix Soh, London; Kronenhalle, Zurich; Langan’s, London; Lucio’s, Sydney; Michael’s, Santa Monica; Mr Chow, London; Osteria Francescana, Modena; Paris Bar, Berlin; Red Rooster, New York; Scott’s, London; Sketch, London; The Ivy, London.
Including interviews with: Ai Weiwei; Antony Gormley; Beatriz Milhazes; Bill Jacklin; Conrad Shawcross; Damien Hirst; David Bailey; David Hockney; David Shrigley; Gary Hume; John Beard; John Olsen; Julian Schnabel; Maggi Hambling; Michael Craig-Martin; Michael Landy; Peter Blake; Polly Morgan; Sanford Biggers; Tracey Emin; Vik Muniz.
Illustrated with 200 barn sketches, diagrams, and maps, this book takes you on a journey through the St Croix River Valley. It grounds you in the geography, geology and biology of the region and introduces you to its original inhabitants, the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, European explorers, fur traders and loggers and the settlers that followed them. It is a celebration of regional diversity and architectural expression through a single type of building — the barn.
The architect Paul Tissier (1886-1926) turned his short life into a multi-faceted artistic adventure. A student at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he founded the Association symphonique, he became president of the famous Quat’z’Arts ball. His talent as a watercolourist and draughtsman made him a witness to the ruins of the 1914-1918 war. Whether in the devastated regions or on the Côte d’Azur, he developed a unique catalogue of modular houses inspired by the region, combining traditional architecture with modern design. In 1923, Tissier was entrusted by the Société des grands hôtels de Nice with the organisation of exceptional festivities based on themes such as Russia, the Far East, Ancient Rome and Latin America, as well as underwater kingdoms and many other fantasies revolving around childhood, fashion and cubism. With his wife Gisèle, he was responsible for both the scenography and the staging: splendidly coloured painted canvases, extravagant costumes, spectacular dances, processions, naval jousts, fireworks and illuminations… A shooting star, Paul Tissier created almost 100 festivities across Europe in three years, before suddenly passing away. This first monograph draws on the 400 set elements and 2,000 graphic documents that survive in his archive, taking us to the heart of the excesses of the Roaring Twenties.
Text in French.
By retracing the salient moments through the words of its protagonists, this book illustrates the DesertX project: the first Ducati specifically designed for off-roading. A bike built to transform our wildest travel dreams into reality, DesertX is not just enjoyment, performance and the timeless appeal of legendary Dakarian feats. It is also a design challenge, creative rather than solely engineering-based, that harnesses all the Borgo Panigale manufacturer’s technological passion and developmental drive.
Text in English and Italian.
With Macromancy, the British photographer Mark Pinder (*1966) presents a photographic essay on the state of the nation that spans three and a half decades. In it, he examines the social, political, and economic changes that Great Britain (and the North East of England in particular) experienced in the years when traditional industries such as coal mining, engineering, and shipbuilding were declining, as well as the social and political tensions that resulted from this, which have led to the situation in which Great Britain finds itself today.
This volume presents a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of the documented production of NewLamp, a Roman company that, in the relatively brief period between 1969 and 1973, created no fewer than 55 lamp models, veritable masterpieces of lighting art. Characterised by their innovative and highly original geometries and forms, these objects have left an indelible mark on the history of design.
Over the course of more than 15 years, Paolo Borromeo has conducted extensive research, engaging in an intriguing investigation. He has meticulously traced the complex history of NewLamp, overcoming numerous challenges along the way to reveal the secrets that for 50 years has surrounded the work of the company, founded by the visionary entrepreneur and designer Mario Vento. From humble beginnings, in just two years the small company managed to win the Europremio for furniture (1971), a prestigious and internationally recognised award.
Contributing to the success of this entrepreneurial project were some of the greatest Italian designers and architects of the time, including Gianfranco Fini, Fabrizio Cocchia, Gianni Colombo, and Giuseppe Ravasio.
Text in English and Italian.
In mythology, art history and religious iconography, the apple has been imbued with every imaginable human desire. It has been a symbol of love and beauty, of temptation, of immortality, peace, death and poison, of sin and redemption. From Adam and Eve to the trials of Heracles, to the art of Cézanne and Magritte, to Newton’s theory of gravity, the death of Alan Turing and the growth of Steve Jobs, the apple resonates throughout western culture. It is Snow White, William Tell, it is The Beatles and the Viking gods, it is even the American frontier.
Now, Barnaby Barford offers a celebration of this fruit, exploring its impact on the history of humankind. Apples have become a recent feature of Barford’s eye-catching installations, whether ripe and healthy or in a state of decay. The Apple is Everything guides the reader through Barford’s work and ideology.
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.
As Khilen Shah states in his foreword to this remarkable book, modern architecture misses the soulfulness and artistry of the buildings and structures of earlier days, which is why it is all the more important to preserve what we have – in reality and in art. This book is an attempt to preserve in memory some impressions of Mumbai’s architectural beauty. It also seeks to correct the image of Mumbai in the minds of both outsiders and those who have lived there, encouraging them to think beyond the city’s slums.
The book is intended to showcase Mumbai as a city worth seeing and savouring. Artist Matt Rota brings a unique creative style to this endeavour, which perfectly blends the human and cultural element of the city with its architectural beauty. The result is a sumptuous production that would suit a library shelf or a coffee table, whether in India or abroad.