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Although this second-century monument located in the heart of Rome has been the object of hundreds of years of study, Trajan’s Hollow uncovers aspects of the column curiously omitted amidst all this attention, manifesting the lacunae in various paradigms of historical inquiry: this work rereads the column and its legacy through the simple act of prioritising the embodied occupation of its interior over the analysis of its exterior narrative frieze. By focusing on traces of workmanship (chisel marks, seam lines, tool dimensions), material attributes (provenance, behavior, constraints, change in qualities over millennia), and the experience of habitation (interior atmosphere, circulation, functional details), the project develops an alternative understanding of the historical artefact and of its role in contemporary design.

Monuments represent power: explicitly and simply, but not universally. In Estonia, the classical notion of a monument is a strange one. Its presence is marginal, its tradition non-existent and its form tormented by an apparent cultural displacement. The statue on a square never claimed the central position so common in Western Europe. This semantic void directs attention to other, less exceptional pieces of architecture. Sometimes a stairway marks a politically charged location, or a pavement becomes symbolic. Instead of explicit meanings inscribed in marble and bronze, an implicit charge is revealed that might be weaker yet more relevant, for what is only implicit cannot be openly questioned. Weak Monument explores the blurred line between a monument’s explicitly political form and the architecture of everyday. It juxtaposes classical monuments with seemingly insignificant architectural objects and public space in a collection of images and drawings, archival as well as newly commissioned ones, alongside essays and brief texts. Contributors include such eminent guests as Tom Avermaete, Professor of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology; Margrethe Troensegaard from Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford; Eik Hermann, Estonian theorist and philosopher; and Toomas Paaver, Estonian architect and political activist.

Published to accompany the Pavilion of Estonia, 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, 26 May – 25 November 2018.

Text in English and Estonian

The area centred around the Grand Palace bordered by the Chao Phraya river on the west and Khlong Khu Muang Doem on the east is undoubtedly Bangkok’s cultural centre. Known as Rattanakosin Island, it is home to most of the city’s most important temples – Wat Pho, Wat Rajabhopit, and Wat Mahathat, to mention just a few – as well as Museum Siam and the recently renovated National Museum. To the south of this iconic area is the famous flower market, while to the north is the tourist mecca of Khao San Road. Exploring Old Bangkok takes the visitor around all the most important sights as well as explaining the meaning of lesser-known landmarks such as the Pig memorial or the Monument to the Expeditionary Force. The guide also includes iconic sights on the west bank of the river such as Wat Arun and the royal barge museum. With the opening of the magnificent metro station, Sanam Chai, access to this centre of culture and Thai art has never been easier. Alternatively, visitors can reach the area via the ever-popular tourist boats and maybe take a khlong trip from Tha Chang. Exploring Old Bangkok also features two fascinating walks and a pull-out map with suggestions of where to stay and where to eat.

Katya & The Prince of Siam is the story of an ultimately tragic love affair and marriage between a beautiful young Russian girl from Kiev and an eastern prince, HRH Prince Chakrabongse of Siam, one of King Chulalongkorn’s favourite sons. It tells of their meeting in St. Petersburg, their elopement to marry in Constantinople and their journey and arrival in Siam. At first an outcast in Thai society (no son of the King had ever married a foreigner before), Ekaterina Ivonovna Desnitsky, or Mom Katerin as she became known, gradually gained love and respect. In 1908 they had a son, Prince Chula and for the next ten years enjoyed a happy life in Bangkok society as well as making various trips abroad and throughout Siam. However, following the Russian Revolution and trip abroad on her own, the marriage became strained and ended in divorce in 1919. More tragedy was to follow, leaving Prince Chula, aged 12, to face an education in England alone. Making use of much hitherto unpublished archive material such as letters, diaries and photographs, the book gives a fascinating insight into the life in both pre-revolutionary Russia and the Siamese court.

Bianca Brunner is a young Swiss photographic artist whose work has gained considerable international recognition and acclaim. Following a degree in visual communication at the School of Art and Design Zurich in 1997 she continued her artistic education at the London College of Communication and the Royal College of Art London. In 2005 she was selected to participate in the travelling exhibition ReGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow, concieved by the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne (Switzerland) and shown also in Milan (2005), New York (2006) and Pingyao (China, 2006). She has been featured also in several group exhibitions in London, Madrid, Germany, Belgium and Italy. Her work is represented in the permanent collections of the Aperture Foundation (New York City), the University Art Collection (London) and the Museé de l’Elysée (Lausanne, Switzerland), and has been published in several books. Brunner has also been awarded several prizes in the UK and Switzerland. Bianca Brunner: Gap in the Real is the first monograph on Brunner’s work, presenting around 50 of her recent images. The majority have not been published before and will be shown for the first time in a solo exhibition at the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur (Chur, Switzerland) in autumn 2010. Text in English & German.

This volume represents an important tool for getting to know every aspect of Leonardo da Vinci’s work: his pictorial technique, his scientific and technological investigation, his study on anatomy, his Codices, and every suggestion produced by his genius. All works and paintings are accompanied by descriptive and technical sheets, and ample space has been given to images and details, to the updated report on his most controversial works, to those of recent critical acceptance, and to the masterpieces that have animated the international debate such as The Encarnate Angel, the Salvator Mundi, and La Bella Principessa (Portrait of Bianca Sforza). The narrative captions reveal the most curious aspects of the history of each painting. Thanks to the direct contribution of collectors and museums the photographic reproductions of paintings and works reflect the last restorations.

Text in English and French.

The significant and rapid trend toward small office design globally is testament to increasing economic imperatives, where often commercial rentals are pushing business into innovative ways to manage and minimise their space and resources. Fast-evolving technological advances are also making it possible for people to work from home, where their home office environment needs to be not only stylish, but also conducive to productivity, and ergonomic to support and encourage good health and well-being. Also, there are those who seek to start their own business and are looking to establish a creative, professional and inspiring home office environment. Big Design for Small Workspaces combines form with function, and presents innovative interior designs for offices with compact floor plans of up to about 3230 square feet (300 square meters). This book showcases a selection of richly photographed, sleek and modern solutions, and presents insightful design concepts and appealing examples of imaginative and resourceful spaces, with informative commentaries describing aspects such as furnishings and materials, workstation layout, including the use of vertical space to its fullest advantage, and multipurpose areas. This book will provide an essential source of inspiration for architects, interior designers, small business owners, the homeoffice renovator, and anyone looking to create a smart small office environment.

London Secrets unlocks the city’s most fascinating secrets. Janelle McCulloch strips away bricks, mortar and tarmac to uncover parts of the capital that even born and bred Londoners may never have seen. In the shadow of the Gherkin, Cheesegrater and Walkie-Talkie skyscrapers are medieval churches, crypts and the curios of Postman’s Park – proof that altruism can exist in the Square Mile. In St James’s, a stone’s throw from the glitz and glamour of Soho are hidden squares and shops dating from a gentler age – purveyors of fine wine, gentleman’s apparel and bowler hats. The cobbled mews of Marylebone and Hampstead Village reveal unexpected treasures, rarely seen interiors and a rural idyll amid the urban hum. While the esoteric collections at the Horniman, Sir John Soane’s Museum and exotica of Leighton House make you feel you are in an entirely different country altogether. The author reveals the traditions and quirks that have survived to this day, from the freedom of the City of London allowing you to herd sheep through the town, to the “market ouvert” of Bermondsey Market, original home of the London wheeler-dealer. Lavishly photographed and researched, London Secrets will shed a whole new light on this most vibrant – and surprising – of cities.

Pure Luxury: World’s Best Houses is a celebration of residential living at its finest, and best. Satisfying our natural and abiding curiosity about how other people live, and our endless quest to add a special something to our own homes, this latest volume in IMAGES’ 100 Houses series showcases contemporary architectural trends. The beauty of residential architecture lies in its infinite scope for innovation and the comfort of it inhabitants, be they at rest, at play, or hosting guests. Among the awe-inspiring projects in this book are an opulent villa set in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool projecting over LA, an idyllic rural retreat set in luxurious valleys and stunning beach houses around the coast. The diversity of the locations extend from Mexico and Brazil to Thailand and Italy. Featured architects include: Damien Murtagh, Lockyer Architects, ISJ Architects, Saucier + Perrotte, SAOTA, Okada Architects, Original Vision, Koutsoftides Architects, Drozdov Partners and Carlos Bratke Architect.

In recent years, guest houses have become exceptionally popular and attractive for people who live in the city but want to escape from the hustle and bustle. This book contains 42 case studies of guest houses. The book provides a professional analysis of the projects, accompanied with pictures of the projects. This book offers a good reference to anyone interested in guest houses, be it guest house owners or architects.

Way Beyond Bigness is a design-research project that studies the Mekong, Mississippi and Rhine river basins, with particular focus on multi-scaled, water-based infrastructural transformation. The book proposes a simple, adaptive framework that utilises a three-part, integrative design-research methodology, structured as: Appreciate + Analyze, Speculate + Synthesize, and Collaborate + Catalyze. To do such, Way Beyond Bigness realigns watersheds and architecture across multiple: scales (site to river basin), disciplines (ecologists to economists), narratives (hyperbolic to pragmatic), and venues (academic to professional). The research critiques and recasts Oxford Dictionary’s two very different definitions for a ‘watershed’: 1) “An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas” and 2) “An event or period marking a turning point in a situation in a course of action or state of affairs” and its two very different definitions for ‘architecture’: 1) “The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings” and 2) “the complex or carefully designed structure of something.” The book highlights the author’s comprehensive work of over more than a decade, including in depth field research across the Mekong, Mississippi and Rhine, along with a diverse body of academic and professional collaborations, ranging from the speculative to the community-based.

Collage is one of the most popular and pervasive of all art-forms, yet this is the first historical survey book ever published on the subject. Featuring over 200 works, ranging from the 1500s to the present day, it offers an entirely new approach. Hitherto, collage has been presented as a twentieth-century phenomenon, linked in particular to Pablo Picasso and Cubism in the years just before the First World War. In Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage, we trace its origins back to books and prints of the 1500s, through to the boom in popularity of scrapbooks and do-it-yourself collage during the Victorian period, and then through Cubism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. Collage became the technique of choice in the 1960s and 1970s for anti-establishment protest, and in the present day is used by millions of us through digital devices. The definition of collage employed here is a broad one, encompassing cut-and-pasted paper, photography, patchwork, film and digital technology and ranging from work by professionals to unknown makers, amateurs and children.

Contents:

Collage Over the Centuries, an introductory essay by Patrick Elliott; Collage Before Modernism by Freya Gowrley; On Edge: Exploring Collage Tactics and Terminology by Yuval Etgar; catalogue of exhibition works; a Chronology of Collage.

Yoshitoshi (1839 – 1892) was the last virtuoso of the Japanese woodblock print, and the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, published between 1885 and 1892, were his crowning achievement. This series – mainly illustrating stories from history and legend, unified by the motif of the moon – is charged with paradox. In order to carry forward the tradition of ukiyo-e, Yoshitoshi drew stylistic inspiration from the very forces that were rendering it obsolete – namely, Western art and mass media like photography and lithography. As if they realised they were witnessing the end of an era, the artist’s public responded enthusiastically to his innovative series – many of the individual prints were sold out on the morning of their publication.
This magnificent facsimile of One Hundred Aspects of the Moon reproduces each print at its original size, facing an explanation of the subject. A thorough introductory text, augmented with many comparative illustrations, traces Yoshitoshi’s career and the genesis of this series. Printed and bound to the most exacting specifications, this volume will be a must for aficionados of Japanese prints.
This creative collaboration between artist Naoko Matsubara and poet Penny Boxall celebrates in words and colours the beauty and variety of the human hand.
The series of dynamic woodcuts at the heart of this book was initially inspired by the artist’s wonder at the busy hand movements of her baby son and grew into a wider celebration of hands in all their extraordinary variety – hands engaged in music, sport, prayer, or creative acts. The woodcuts convey a sense of joy and energy, whether exploring the symbolism of gestures, playing with form and colour, or expressing a mood or emotion.
Penny Boxall’s new poems were specially written to accompany the woodcuts. In their clarity and playfulness, their range of mood and their deceptive simplicity, they form a remarkable creative synergy with the art works.
During the coronavirus pandemic the subject of hands – and the idea of touch or its absence – has taken on a new significance. Many of the images in the series have taken on powerful new meanings: healing hands, hands finding ways to occupy hours of furlough, or hands clapping in support of those working to keep us safe.
We are particularly delighted that this elegant book has been designed by Yoshiki Waterhouse, Naoko Matsubara’s son, whose baby hands were the original inspiration for the series.

The Ashmolean Museum houses one of the most extensive collections of wood engravings in the world. The collection effectively began with the gift in 1964, by Arthur Mitchell, of over 3,000 prints, including a large group of wood engravings. During the 1980s and 1990s, it expanded remarkably with acquisitions of large groups of prints, often as gifts from the artists, resulted in a succession of monographic exhibitions on some of the most important wood engravers. They included John Farleigh (1986), John Buckland Wright (1990), Clare Leighton (1992), Monica Poole (1993) and Anne Desmet (1998). A key point in this period of expansion was the acquisition of a comprehensive body of work by Gertrude Hermes and Blair Hughes-Stanton in 1995 from the artists’ family, which resulted in a memorable exhibition organised by Katharine Eustace. More recently, the Ashmolean has formed a close partnership with the SWE, and has been keeping the collection up to date by acquiring work by members, both at the Society’s annual exhibition and privately.

This book is a photographic odyssey through the lands of the First World War. For more than ten years the photographer traveled from the dust of the Namib deserts to the frozen heights of the Vosges to create a unique collection of images that document how time and nature have transformed these places of horror and killing into landscapes of great beauty and tranquillity… If anyone wants the reason for these photographs then they need look no further than the thoughts of a veteran leaving the shattered fields of the Somme who wrote: “No, they would not be lonely, I saw that bare country before me… the miles and miles of torn earth… the litter, the dead trees. But the country would come back to life, the grass would grow again, the wild flowers return. They would lie still and at peace below the singing larks, beside the serenely flowing rivers. They could not feel lonely, they would have one another. And… though we were going home and leaving them behind, we belonged to them, and they would be a part of us for ever.” (P. J. Campbell).

Text in English, French, and Spanish.

This beautifully illustrated book showcases the Hindu and Jain temples of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka built prior to the invasion of peninsular India by the Delhi sultans at the end of the 13th century. Unlike temples in many other parts of India, those of the Deccan are well preserved, with their wealth of figural and decorative carvings miraculously intact. They demonstrate the development of Indian sacred architecture and art over a span of more than 600 years.

Focusing on some 50 historical sites, the Temples of Deccan India begins with artificially excavated “cave” shrines dedicated to various Hindu deities, before proceeding on to examine free-standing Hindu and Jain monuments sponsored by successive rulers of the Deccan. Attention is paid to the beautiful sculptures found on temple basements, walls, brackets and ceilings. Carved in crisp relief, and sometimes even in three dimensions, these carvings are among the greatest glories of Indian stone art. 

Among the featured highlights are the cave temple on the island of Elephanta, with its stupendous representation of three-headed Sadashiva; the colossal, monolithic Kailasa temple at Ellora, a technical feat unsurpassed in the entire history of Indian architecture; the magnificent columned pavilion at Hanamkonda, now currently being reconstructed; and the temple at Belur, with its exquisitely carved female figural brackets. Specially commissioned plans of temple layouts accompany 300+ photographs. and clarify the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan during the centuries covered here. Maps locate the temple sites, while passages of text illuminate the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan from the 7th to 13th centuries. Educational, accessible and beautifully illustrated, this book will be of interest to anyone fascinated by Indian architecture.

When you step into the headquarters of the Republic of Fritz Hansen in Allerød, northwest of Copenhagen, you are breathing in the spirit of a company that has made design history. The showroom, which is a mecca for design and architecture students, displays pieces that have become icons: the Series 7 chair, the Swan lounge chair, the Lissoni sofa.

Again and again, the Danish furniture maker has teamed up with big-name visionary designers including Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm and Piero Lissoni. With these influxes of fresh energy and an unwavering commitment to the core values of Fritz Hansen-creativity, the finest craftsmanship, and careful attention to even the smallest details-the company has succeeded in placing its product into humanity’s collective consciousness as well as the offices of the President of the UN General Assembly, the Crown Plaza Hotel in Bangkok, the Banquet Hall of Oxford’s venerable St. Catherine’s College, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and in private homes all over the world.

With over 150 breathtaking photos, this thoughtfully-designed coffee table book tells you about the history of an exclusive brand, the marvellous pieces of furniture that has made it so revered, and provides examples of how a single piece of furniture can beautify an entire room or building and spur the imagination of the people who live there. After closing this book, you’ll have a wealthy of new creative ideas and realise that before sustainability became a trendy buzzword, Fritz Hansen was already practicing it in its purest sense, true to its motto: “Crafting Timeless Design.”

“This book takes in his introduction to wine – at the age of three! – through his continued travels and championing of New World wines when they were less fashionable.” — Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun

“You can feel Oz Clarke’s expansive, chatty presence in every sentence” — Telegraph

“Frankly, it’s the best and most entertaining wine read I’ve had in years.” —Tom Doorley, The Irish Mail

“You can never have too much of his captivating enthusiasm and rich knowledge and this is him at his best.” — Waitrose magazine

“A rollicking good read.” — Sommelier India

There have never been so many delicious and original wines in the world, and to discover them, all you need is a glass in your hand and Oz Clarke – the ideal wine companion. With his inimitable sense of adventure and fun, Oz explains how his fascination with flavour led him to abandon a promising acting career and follow his heart from Chablis to ‘the lost Himalayan valleys of Yunnan’ in pursuit new taste experiences and wine thrills. He found them! Oz Clarke On Wine takes us on a fast-paced, witty romp around the grape varieties key to the world’s major wine styles, then explores the vineyards and regions where a vast trove of wine treasure lies waiting for discovery. Oz’s passion for sharing, his deep wine knowledge, and his ability to conjure up the wine world’s most beautiful landscapes, make this book the most unputdownable wine read this century.

Includes:

In 2019 Ali Kazim, one of the most exciting contemporary artists working in Pakistan today, became the first South Asian artist-in-residence at the Ashmolean Museum. Drawing inspiration from the objects in the Eastern Art collections, and their contextual history, he saw his time in the Museum as an opportunity to reimagine the objects in his own work and practise. Thus, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue will focus mainly on Kazim’s engagement with the Ashmolean collections and the works created between 2019 and 2021. Widely exhibited and collected internationally (including the British Museum, V&A, Metropolitan Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, etc.), Kazim lives and works in Pakistan. The exhibition and book provide the Museum an opportunity to engage wider diverse audiences, while also presenting the works of a contemporary multidisciplinary artist who reflects and draws strength from the Ashmolean collections.

Forever immortalised as the author of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen actually produced her first ‘books’ as a teenager. Taking their names from the inscriptions on their covers – Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third – these brilliant little collections include the stories, playlets, verses, and moral fragments she wrote likely from the ages of 12 to 18.

As a young author, Jane Austen delighted in language, employing it with great humour and surprising skill. She was adept at parodying the popular stories of her day and entertained her readers with outrageous plotlines and characters. Kathryn Sutherland places Austen’s earliest works in context and explains how she mimicked even the style and manner in which this contemporary popular fiction was presented and arranged on the page.

Volume the Third, written when Austen was 16, includes two stories: Evelyn and Kitty, or the Bower (or ‘Catharine’). The manuscript is also held at the British Library. This volume includes text written by her niece, Anna Lefroy, who contributes an addition to Evelyn.

None of her six famous novels survives in complete manuscript form. This is a unique opportunity to own likenesses of Jane Austen’s notebooks as originally written – in her own hand.

Learn more about the other books in the In Her Own Hand series: Volume the First and Volume the Second. All three volumes are also available in the In Her Own Hand series boxed set.

Crete was famous in Greek myth as the location of the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was confined in a palace at somewhere called ‘Knossos’. From the Middle Ages travellers searched unsuccessfully for the Labyrinth. A handful of clues that survived, such as a coin with a labyrinth design and numerous small bronze age items. The name Knossos had survived – but it was nothing but a sprinkling of houses and farmland so they looked elsewhere. Finally, in 1878, a Cretan archaeologist, Minos Kalokairinos discovered evidence of a Bronze Age palace. British Archaeologist and then Keeper of the Ashmolean Arthur Evans came out to visit and was fascinated by the site. Between 1900 and 1931 Evans uncovered the remains of the huge palace which he felt must be the that of King Minos, and he adopted the name ‘Minoans’ for its occupants. He employed a team of archaeologists, architects and artists, and together they built up a picture of the Bronze Age community that had occupied the elaborate building. They imagined a sophisticated, nature-loving people, whose civilisation peaked, and then disintegrated. Evans’s interpretations of his finds were accurate in some places, but deeply flawed in others. The Evans Archive, held by the Ashmolean, records his finds, theories and (often contentious) reconstructions. 

The Buddhist monument of Borobudur was built in the eighth and ninth centuries on the island of Java. It is one of the most famous and studied religious buildings in the world, but it is also one of the most enigmatic. Since it was rediscovered by the West at the start of the nineteenth century, its ruins – swallowed up by the tropical jungle, suggestive of an ancient civilisation with a glorious past – have constantly been a source of fascination. Its unusual structure in the form of a tiered pyramid, its huge size, and the delicacy of its low reliefs, which include some 1,300 carved narrative panels, have ensured that Borobudur has taken its rightful place among the masterpieces of the world’s architectural heritage. However, given the absence of reliable historical documentation, a wide variety of hypotheses have been advanced to shed light on the secrets of its form, iconographic repertoire, and symbolism.

Text in French.