The Vatican Museums is one of the most important museum complexes in the world, housing incredible masterpieces from the Egyptian Age to the late Renaissance.

The Vatican Museums hold a treasure trove of art and history, as well as an inestimable patrimony of our culture and our civilisation. This volume focuses on the paintings to be found in the collection – including The Sistine Chapel.

Text in English 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.

By analysing the different colour theories that gradually took shape in the turbulent socio-political context that characterised the 20th century, Emotions of Color in Art reflects on a perspective that considers light, its vibrations and the world of emotions, while challenging the standardisation of the use of colour in the modern age (synthetic colours) and the digital era (RGB colours offered by various online palettes), a levelling that considerably reduces our ability to distinguish colours in the real world.

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.

Passage is a site-specific, two-channel video installation, which expands Nujoom Alghanem’s experimentation with contemporary Arabic poetry through the language of film. Taking her quintessential 2009 poem, The Passerby Collects the Moonlight, as a point of departure, this installation explores the universal experience of displacement. This Brechtian conflation of reality and fiction, culminating in a scene that depicts Falak arriving at the pavilion in Venice, prompts the viewers to consider the parallelism between the film’s three protagonists: the director, the actress and the fictional character. These three women of a similar age share the experience of similar dualities: the hidden and the revealed, fragility and power, belonging and displacement. The experience of passage and duality also permeates the design of the exhibition space, where visitors can enter and exit from either side of the pavilion. A large screen, diagonally positioned at the centre, divides the space into two symmetrical halves. The viewers are invited to engage both with Nujoom and Amal’s real process of creating the film and with the cinematographic portrayal of the fictional character of Falak. Text in Arabic.

The volume is dedicated to the Sacri Monti, the ‘Sacred Mountains’, of Piedmont and Lombardy – Varallo, Orta, Crea, Varese, Oropa, Ossuccio, Ghiffa, Domodossola and Belmonte – which have all been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2003. Made up of a complex of chapels in which episodes of sacred history are represented through paintings and life-size sculptures, the Sacri Monti are a complete expression of the Counter-Reformation age. Built between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century with the intent to educate and strengthen the religious sentiment of the faithful, they still fascinate for the decorative richness and the remarkable realism of the setting, as well as for the way in which they have been integrated into their surroundings. The texts and the rich iconographic collection highlight the extraordinary beauty and value of these jewels of history, art and nature.

Text in English and Italian.

Surrounded by flowers from a very young age, the decision to become a floral designer was anoabvious one for Hideyuki Niwa. To keep on challenging himself, Niwa often takes part in competitions and tries creating and photographing a new design every day to get a thorough understanding of the characteristics of flowers and their possibilities. His classic, linear style and minimalist expression with careful placement of plant materials, quintessential characteristics of the Japanese aesthetic concent wabi sabi, rightfully won him a Bronze Leaf in the 2010/2011 editio and he Gold Leaf in the 2012/2013 edition of Stichting Kunstboek’s prestigious International Floral Art. Text in English and Japanese. Also available: Ryusaku Matsuda, Contemporary Floral Art ISBN: 9789058562999 Naoki Sasaki, Japanese Contemporary Floral Art ISBN: 9789058562647

With an impressive career of over 40 years that has resulted in the installation of large-scale art projects in numerous public spaces, artist/sculptor Luk Van Soom needs no further introduction in Belgium and the Netherlands. This beautifully designed art book is a first retrospective on his life and career. In a series of discussions and interviews with the artist, author Johan Pas sheds some light on the influences, philosophy, thinking and themes that have been vital for Van Soom’s artistic development: the relation between life and passion, travel and art, etc. Together, these texts present a kaleidoscopic image of Luk Van Soom’s life and work that is just as multifaceted and compelling as his art. At the age of seventeen Van Soom took his first tentative steps as an artist. Now 40 years later, he has an impressive curriculum including many exhibitions, commissions and projects both in his home country and abroad. Moreover, he created more than 50 monumental works for the public space in Belgium and the Netherlands, among which some very well know sights, such as Walhalla (1993, Antwerp), The Man from Atlantis (2003, Brussels), The Wharfinger (2005, Zwolle) and Walking to Magdalena (2012, Ostend). Text in English and Dutch.

In order to have a great place, one must create architecture that embodies the best traditions of design through proportion, material selection, and architecture style. Classical details combined with clean lines and artful form brings the art in architecture, merging tradition with contemporary design concepts. Proportion, scale, and composition are key concepts in architectural design. Through massing studies and mathematical calculations, including the Golden Ratio, the architecture and decorative details seen in this highly illustrated book seamlessly join discipline and functionality with artistry. Rigorous studies and detailed, full-colour conceptual sketches and rich photographic detail bring each project to life, capturing the overall essence of the design. In the pages of this impressive volume, the second in a superb series, you will see project examples of classical Chinese architecture translated into the 21st century. Projects range from residential spaces to palace gates and entries; from boutique resorts and hotels to business and convention centres; from public to commercial enterprises. The arrival of digital age in architecture not long ago gave the architects and designers the tools to push the envelope in designs much further every time – whether it’s traditional, modern, or contemporary. The harmony of proportion and composition, axial symmetry, and unique details illustrated in many of the featured projects achieve a virtue of scale, historic durability, and integrated artistry.

Text in English and Chinese.

The baking industry has seen a developing momentum in recent years. The competition is stiff; it’s not just the quality of the food that attracts customers, so it’s often necessary to ensure the design of the bakery itself is both creative and eye catching, while still being functional. A well-designed store can not only increase sales, but also help develop a brand identity. This book includes fifty bakery designs from all over the world, including Spain, Greece, Canada, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Israel, the US, Germany, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, China, Japan, Brazil, Romania, Thailand, Austria, Lebanon, and France. The designers responsible exhaustively examine their projects in order to illustrate the design process.

The buildings of the past were constructed with readily available and local materials, such as stone, wood, or handmade bricks. Architects in the modern era, however, can choose from an ever increasing number of new materials, each one allowing for different advances in design. And yet the traditional materials have never been entirely supplanted; they still form an important part of the architectural range and are still used by architects the world over. The humble brick, for example, has remained a constant throughout the history of architecture, as has timber with its flexibility and warm tones. But today such elements can be used in conjunction with newer materials to highlight their natural beauty in many different ways: creating a stunning metal facade, wrapping a building with a cool, sleek stone finish, designing a wall with an eye-catching interesting texture, or adding depth or warmth to an internal design. Traditional metals are also finding new use, being employed to coat a structure in a light metal skin that reflects the sunlight, or embedded onto a building to add interest and texture. This book journeys through a curated selection of stunning examples from across the world, showcasing how each material is creatively used over a diverse range of building types and styles, and illustrating the myriad possibilities and forms available to the modern architect who chooses to rework these age-old materials into a brand-new decorative yet functional form.

Formed in 2008, Mercurio Design Lab (MDL) masterfully manages to express its design potential. Lead by Massimo, a rare architectural polymath who is motivated by a strong spirit of innovation, philosophy and experimentation, MDL seeks to elevate and balance the synergies of the Asian architectural context with indomitable Italian style and tradition. MDL considers its projects as artistic masterpieces and makes a special contribution to the architectural scene of the city through the creation of dramatic and futuristic buildings, always respecting three fundamental criteria: the functional, the aesthetic and the social. This richly illustrated monograph is a comprehensive review of MDL’s exceptional artistry and diversity and it’s another icon for IMAGES’ Master Architect series, an absolute must for all collectors of beautiful books on sophisticated global architectural culture.

The Victorian Era represents the cradle of our modern society – a time when social change and new technology heralded an industrialised economy. By the time of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, claims were proudly made of the progress since her accession to the throne. Steam ships had replaced sail, the railway system had superseded the stage coach, and the motor car had just begun to replace the horse. Not only did mass production create a new wealth of household products, ceramics, toys and games, but the arrival of cheaper printing and colour lithography made possible a profusion of printed material. The music sheets, colourful scraps, advertisements, greetings cards and children’s book illustrations that fill The Victorian Scrapbook – with such vigour – all give us an insight into the life and times of our forebears. Fortunately the thousand items gathered here have survived in remarkable condition, some by chance, others by having themselves been pasted down into contemporary scrapbooks. They all combine to celebrate a time when British ruled an Empire ‘on which the sun never sets’.

The Rococo style dominated the 18th century from the Régence (1715-1723) until the end of the reign of King Louis XV (1774). Despite its many achievements, people frequently describe it with adjectives meant to be disparaging: cloying, lovely, kitschy etc. However, its triumphant progress, which took off in France and spread all over Europe, as well as the coincidence in time and the relationship between the Rococo and the enlightenment can still be traced in contemporary art.

For the first time ever, this book extensively examines the enduring impact of this major European style on contemporary art. But the Rococo was far more than just a form of art, its ideas permeated all areas of society. Therefore, the selection of contemporary approaches presented here does not only show a formal connection with the Rococo period, it also reveals thematic similarities. In addition, it explores the current relevance of the style as a symbol of our own hyped up and disoriented age.

With works by Leonor Antunes, Cornelia Badelita, Karla Black, Thierry Boutemy, Glenn Brown, Alice Channer, Edith Dekyndt, Anke Eilergerhard, Katharina Grosse, Jeppe Hein, Rachel Kneebone, Alexej Koschkarow, Anri Sala, Markus Schinwald, Anj Smith and Pia Stadtbäumer.

Text in English and German.

At the age of 81, Yvon Lambert is one of the most influential collectors of our time. He was only 14 years old when he used his pocket money to buy his first work of art. In 1966, he opened his own gallery in Paris, which soon became a top venue for contemporary art. It was Lambert who introduced the minimal art, land art and conceptual art movements to a wider European audience at a time when they were still relatively new. Besides his work as an art dealer, Lambert has spent the past fifty years creating one of the most prominent collections of contemporary art. In 2011, he donated more than 600 of his works to the French state, which are now on display in a specially dedicated museum in Avignon. In the context of the art project Skulptur Projekte Münster 2017, the Pablo Picasso Art Museum in Münster brings the Lambert Collection to Germany for the first time. In particular, the exhibition features works of artists who have been part of the Skulptur Projekte programme since its early years. Some of their works include installations that still exist in the city today. Text in English and German.

In 2008, a discovery was made that brought the works of Marie Goslich to light. Part of her estate, long thought to have been lost, was rediscovered in a guesthouse in Geltow at the Schwielowsee lake. Some 400 glass plate negatives exist today, survivors of the chaos of both world wars. This book makes Goslich’s photos available to the public 100 years after their capture, celebrating her as a bold pioneer and a grande dame of German photojournalism and social critique. Born in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1859, Marie Goslich tried her hand at various things before beginning to work as a journalist and editor. Cited in Berlin’s residents register, these professional titles alone were remarkable for a woman of her time. To cap it all, she began training as a photographer at the age of 44 in order to be able to provide her articles with pictures. As a result, she is one of the first professional female photographers in the world. With social injustice being her main concern, Goslich wrote and illustrated many articles, some of which were quite radical, to address the causes of suffering and misery. Again and again, her works denounce the gap between rich and poor. They portray travelling people, street vendors, beggars, ragmen and tinkers. All of her pictures betray her empathy towards her subjects, giving her photos a very intimate and rousing effect. Text in English and German.

Upon the discovery of Tanzanite in Tanzania a specimen was entrusted to the stonecutter Manuel de Souza, who shared some samples with distinguished gemologists. While the prospector thought that he had found some sapphires, he was astonished to learn that he had unearthed something altogether extraordinary. The new gem immediately caught the eye of Tiffany & Co. Since 1968, the New York-based jeweller has pushed the stone into the spotlight. It launched a campaign that was successful enough to earn tanzanite the noble title of ‘gem of the 20th century’. Tanzanite gained further renown when in 2002 the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) named tanzanite, together with turquoise, the birthstones for December. Tanzanite’s transformations have ultimately placed it alongside the most precious of precious gems. In short, tanzanite’s age of glory has finally dawned. Needless to say, tanzanite’s allure has attracted the attention of a list of famous designers: Lorenz Bäumer (France), Ruth Grieco (Brazil), Catherine Sauvage (Germany), MVee (Hong Kong) and TTF (China). In Asia and elsewhere, tanzanite is seen as the source of happiness for the happy few. Tanzanite: Born from Lightning showcases hundreds of beautiful pieces of tanzanite jewellery, including superb creations made by Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Chanel, Chaumet, Chopard, Dior, Boucheron, Louis Vuitton, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, Wallace Chan and more.

Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850-1950 portrays the history of romantic love between men in hundreds of moving and tender vernacular photographs taken between the years 1850 and 1950. This visual narrative of astonishing sensitivity brings to light an until-now-unpublished collection of hundreds of snapshots, portraits, and group photos taken in the most varied of contexts, both private and public.

Taken when male partnerships were often illegal, the photos here were found at flea markets, in shoe boxes, family archives, old suitcases, and later online and at auctions. The collection now includes photos from all over the world: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Latvia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Serbia. The subjects were identified as couples by that unmistakable look in the eyes of two people in love – impossible to manufacture or hide. They were also recognised by body language – evidence as subtle as one hand barely grazing another – and by inscriptions, often coded.

Included here are ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass negatives, tin types, cabinet cards, photo postcards, photo strips, photomatics, and snapshots – over 100 years of social history and the development of photography.

Loving will be produced to the highest standards in illustrated book publishing, The photographs – many fragile from age or handling – have been digitised using a technology derived from that used on surveillance satellites and available in only five places around the world. Paper and other materials are among the best available. And Loving will be manufactured at one of the world’s elite printers. Loving, the book, will be up to the measure of its message in every way.

In these delight-filled pages, couples in love tell their own story for the first time at a time when joy and hope – indeed human connectivity – are crucial lifelines to our better selves. Universal in reach and overwhelming in impact, Loving speaks to our spirit and resilience, our capacity for bliss, and our longing for the shared truths of love.