“This is as thoughtful, erudite, and well-considered a tome on Califorrnia wine as you’d expect from someone like Elaine, and much care has been taken to represent the newer guard of California winemaking, its major players, and how the area collectively got to this point in its winegrowing evolution…” — 1 Wine Dude

A concise, complete, smartly delivered and cohesive book for serious readers and students of wine. Focusing on the world’s fourth largest producer of wine – California – the book takes readers on a journey through the golden state’s wines, paying due attention to famous regions such as Sonoma and Napa as well as introducing readers to exciting up-and-coming regions to explore.

The book is divided into three major sections. The first presents the key ideas that help make sense of California wine as a whole, including the history of California wine in brief, how the topography delivers California’s overarching climatic and soil conditions, and the basics of vineyard and winery factors relevant to the state such as the role of the AVA.

The second section takes each major region in turn and looks into its history, growing conditions and varieties, as well as discussing the most significant and interesting producers. A final section looks at current themes in Californian wine and discusses the future of the industry across the state.

• Explains all the state’s AVAs, examining the development, growing conditions and varietal trends for each.
• Profiles the main producers and individuals shaping the wine industry today.
• A useful reference on California that also provides alternative insights and insider knowledge.
• Author Elaine Chukan Brown is a prolific commentator on the wines of California and a speaker at events around the globe.
• Supported by colour maps and photos.

Richard Mayson’s award-winning Port and the Douro, first published in 1999, has become a classic over the last 25 years. In this comprehensively updated fifth edition he reminds us why Port is a drink that continues to fascinate wine-lovers and win new fans. The last 50 years, since the end of the dictatorship in 1974, have seen vast transformations in the Port world, from labour-saving technology in field and cellar, to advances in sales reach, especially since Portugal’s formal entry into the EU in 1986, and ongoing changes in the way the industry is managed and regulated. To begin with, Mayson provides a history of Port, from the beginnings of viticulture in Roman times to the present day. The vineyards and their vines as well as the quintas where they are cultivated are thoroughly explored, followed by an explanation of Port production, both traditional and modern. A short introduction to Port types prepares the reader for a detailed assessment of vintages from 1960–2023; notable vintages (both exceptional and poor) dating back as far as 1844 are also included. The structure of the Port trade remains in flux, and so the chapter on the shippers reflects recent changes in fortune and ownership. Douro wine, which pre-dates its fortified cousin and has seen its revival accelerate over the last 20 years, receives an entire chapter to itself. Finally, for those wishing to visit the region, there are some ideas on what to do and where to stay. Peppered throughout with anecdotes, potted biographies of those who shaped the industry and insights into quirks of the trade, this extensive and engaging guide to Port is an essential book for any wine enthusiast’s library.

Richard Mayson has had a fifty-year relationship with Portugal. During those years Portugal has changed greatly, as have its wines. The cooperatives and wine merchants of the 1970s produced patriotically Portuguese blended wines with little sense of place. Dão, Bairrada and Vinho Verde all existed as demarcated regions but were not fulfilling their potential. Alentejo was unrecognised as a region and unfortified Douro wines were merely a curiosity. The last half century has seen a proliferation of new regions and smaller wine producers growing grapes and making wine expressive of Portugal’s many recognised terroirs.

The Wines of Portugal begins by detailing the history of Portuguese wine, noting particularly how the long-standing relationship with Britain was instrumental in creating a market for wine. The grapes, including the country’s many indigenous varieties, are analysed in terms of their performance in Portugal’s various terroirs. Mayson then goes on to present the regions in four broad categories: wines from the Atlantic littoral, mountain wines, plains wines of the south and the island wines of Madeira and the Azores. A chapter on rosé wine examines how brands such as Mateus kick-started the post-war wine industry, while another explores sparkling wine, for which most DOCs include a provision and which has experienced a recent revival in interest. The producer profiles feature Portugal’s leading growers, from the historically important to drivers of change and interesting newcomers.

This thorough study from an acknowledged expert in Portuguese wine is an essential addition to any wine-enthusiast’s library.

This book aims to tell the story of social history through Money. Money and Art have shared a long history. Both words are metaphors derived from Latin terms used over 2,000 years ago. The word Money derives its modern meaning as the general term for all means of payment from its use as the word for coins in the pre-modern period. Particularly since the introduction of paper money, the word was applied to coins because of the name of the place where coins were made in ancient Rome, the temple of Juno Moneta (Juno the Warner), from this name the word moneta came to mean mint in Latin, and later the product of a mint, i.e. coins. The word Art acquired its modern usage, meaning works of art, both singularly and collectively, from the Latin ars meaning a skill, and it has so been used in English to describe any form of skill, but gradually from the nineteenth century, the word came to signify the product rather than the skill, particularly in relation to painting, graphic works and sculpture. This eclectic collection of stories brings together a multitude of perspectives through collections from the Ashmolean and around the world — from Art Nouveau bank notes and global portrayals of prosperity to activist Money Art. Deep dives into compelling stories reveal humour, hidden surprises and a tension between the power of money and the playfulness of art.

Gertrude Vernon, or Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, was an English woman who married a Scot. The American artist John Singer Sargent excelled as a painter in Europe. His portrait of Lady Agnew was painted in London but has found its definitive home in Edinburgh. All these contexts converge in a supremely beautiful painting which is one the icons of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Created in the 1890s, it proved to be a seminal work in the lives of the artist and his subject and has enjoyed a rich afterlife, inspiring artistic and written responses. This book offers a fascinating biography of this most accomplished, evocative and admired of portraits, placing it in the context of Sargent’s career and how he worked, discussing the life of the sitter and unveiling the picture’s rich critical history.

Issam Kourbaj was born and grew up in Syria before settling in Cambridge in 1990. Following the uprising in Syria in 2011, Kourbaj has been a constant creative witness to the continuing conflict in his home country, his art increasingly addressing the endemic pain and suffering that accompanies displacement and forced migration everywhere. Published to accompany two substantial solo exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge and The Heong Gallery, Downing College, Cambridge, Issam Kourbaj explores the life and work of an artist characterised by collaboration and endless curiosity. Kourbaj’s art is expressive and alive, suggesting even in the darkest hours the potential for change and renewal.

“How can we grasp the remarkable artistic breadth of Issam Kourbaj? Here is an art so full of invention and purpose that its images and ideas reverberate well beyond the walls of any gallery. Kourbaj’s achievement is to make us look, pause and imagine. Engaging with his acute and powerful work makes us consider our responsibility for the conditions of others on our shared planet” – Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle’s Yard

Andrew Holmes is renowned for his hyper-real coloured pencil drawings. His subject matter is the fixed and mobile service infrastructure that sustains the city of Los Angeles. The gleaming trucks, automobiles, and motorcycles that traverse the highways, and the industrial armature of storage tanks, service stations and truck stops to be found beyond the city’s edge are, for Holmes, the greatest artefacts of a society based on oil. Over the past 50 years, he has captured scenes from this uniquely American landscape in painstaking detail. Together they evoke a lost civilisation. Gas Tank City presents 100 of Holmes’s Los Angeles drawings, along with commentaries by art historian, Thomas E Crow, architects Mark Fisher and Cedric Price, and Holmes himself.

London is full of strange and beautiful sights. It is a place for traditions and rebels, for the establishment and every alternative subculture. This book celebrates the diversity of the city. It invites you to see Little Ben or the fake 10 Downing Street, and answers both conventional and unusual questions. What, apart from Rolling Scones, will you see at God’s Own Junkyard? Where does an old-school gentleman buy his wine and umbrellas? Why did Robbie Williams feud with his next-door neighbour? How has the city commemorated the Queen Mother and Princess Diana? In which park do 100-year-old naked ladies cavort on the banks of the Thames? Where did Lenin and Julian Assange campaign for their beliefs? And which bridge rolls itself up?

“As a result, the book should provide fresh, in-depth insight into this seminal Rollie.” — Robb Report

“The latest release from Rolex is one for die-hard fans and to many many’s surprise, it’s not a watch.”— HypeBeast

“We haven’t gotten our hands on a copy of Submariner yet, but the prospect of Foulkes writing combined with access to Rolex’s archives has me excited.” — Hodinkee

“This book is not just for those who love watches but also for anyone fascinated by stories of innovation, design, and cultural influence.” — The Subdial

For the first time, Rolex has authorised a wide-ranging account and full history of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner watch, in the first of a series taking a deep dive into the watches of the iconic brand. Oyster Perpetual Submariner. The Watch That Unlocked The Deep, written by author, editor, and watch expert Nick Foulkes, is published by global design authority, Wallpaper*, which brings its sharp, cinematic eye to the project, creating new and original photography in collaboration with Rolex to run alongside testimonies from renowned witnesses to the Submariner’s illustrious 71-year history, including marine biologist Sylvia Earle, photographer David Doubilet, and aquanaut Dr Joe MacInnis – further highlighting the role this iconic timepiece continues to play in the exploration and protection of the marine environment.

Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1684) was one of the best still-life painters of the 17th century. His work, which is enchanting to the eye, has always enjoyed international fame. Throughout his painting career of nearly 60 years, de Heem continued to search for new and better ways to depict his subjects. He trained several pupils and had countless followers and imitators, in the Netherlands as well as abroad, and throughout the centuries. The fact that he was active in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands enhanced his success and fame. He worked successively in Leiden, (presumably) in Amsterdam, in Antwerp, in Utrecht and again in Antwerp.

De Heem is perhaps best known for his exuberant floral still lifes, which, however, were mainly created after 1660. By then, already for decades, he had painted still lifes of many themes and motifs, and in a variety of sizes, modest as well as luxurious. In Antwerp he had developed the large, rich still lifes which earned him part of his renown.

This comprehensive monograph written by Fred G. Meijer, contains the complete catalogue of de Heem’s oeuvre. Volume 1 includes an introduction, a biography and description of the development of his work. Volume 2 contains the catalogue raisonné of all paintings now known by de Heem, as well as several appendices.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) remains arguably the most powerful artist in the Western canon. Painter, sculptor, architect, poet, he redefined both the possibilities of the imagination and the image of the artist. In 1550, he became the first artist to be the subject of a biography within their own lifetime, presented by Giorgio Vasari as the divinely inspired culmination of the history of art. Dissatisfied with Vasari’s treatment, Michelangelo encouraged his close friend and fellow-painter Ascanio Condivi to publish a rival biography. Condivi’s Life is an impassioned, intimate portrait, giving an unparalleled picture of the master’s life, work and personality. This compelling narrative of genius and its struggles in the treacherous world of Papal politics and Italian wars remains one of the most fascinating and influential texts in art history. This edition reproduces the long unavailable translation by Charles Holroyd and has 49 pages of illustrations covering the span of Michelangelo’s achievement.

Richly illustrated in full colour, this book surveys Michael Landy’s earliest work, including lesser-known sculptures – such as Sovereign shown at Freeze in 1988 – to large-scale installations Market, Closing Down Sale and Scrapheap Services.

Other works discussed in detail include the infamous Break Down, where Landy destroyed all 7,227 of his possessions in a department store on Oxford Street, London; Semi-detached, where Landy constructed a full-scale model of his family home at Tate Britain, London; and the project H2NY where Landy made 168 drawings based on a Jean Tinguely sculpture.

With over 800 colour illustrations and four newly commissioned texts, this volume provides a comprehensive insight into Landy’s work

British Conceptual artist John Stezaker (b. 1949) is known for his distinctive, often deceptively simple, collages. He has been making art since the 1970s, but achieved prominence relatively recently.

In 2011, he had a retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and, in 2012, he won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, even though he does not take photographs.

Stezaker says collage is about ‘stuff that has lost its immediate relationship with the world’ and involves ‘a yearning for a lost world’. A collector, he works from an archive of out-of-date images — mostly old film stills, vintage actor head shots, and antique postcards. These images come in standard sizes and are highly conventionalised — all variations on themes.

Art critic David Campany says, Stezaker ‘is drawn to that very slim space between convention and idiosyncrasy.’

In addition to collages, Lost World includes poignant found-object-sculptures: a selection of antique mannequin hands, offering a repertoire of gestures. There’s also a film, Crowd, presenting hundreds of film stills of crowd scenes, each for one frame only, in a bewildering blur.

This book is a photographic journey on the origin and life of “Africa Hall” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – a building declared in 2015 “Monument to African History” and recently renovated – which was donated in 1961 by Emperor Haile Selassie to the United Nations. Africa Hall was designed by Arturo Mezzèdimi, a young self-taught architect, to serve as the UN’s continental headquarters and was the birthplace, in 1963, of the Organization of African Unity, now African Union.

The building came to life with an inspiring story of reconciliation at a crucial moment in African history, when the continent was emerging out of the colonial period and making headway into a new era of independence and envisaged unity. Through its architectural composition and the embedded artworks, it embodied a Pan-Africanist vision and its rising ideals.

Edited by the grandson of the architect and representing Italy’s contribution to the renovation project, the book sits at the crossroads of photography, architecture, history, and art and comprises an amplitude of independent essays, contributions and recollections from authors of diverse profiles. Through impacting images and short articles, it addresses events of historical relevance on a global scale, for the entire continent of Africa, at a national level for Ethiopia, and locally for the city of Addis Ababa, concluding with an introduction to the life and work of its architect.

Mark Fisher was the creator and designer of a new art form: the travelling rock show. His exuberant stage sets framed artists from The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Jean-Michel Jarre to Elton John and Tina Turner. There were thousands of concerts and hundreds of bravura settings, from the 2000 London Millennium show to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as well as permanent structures, such as the 2,000-seater theatre and stage machinery for KÀ by Cirque du Soleil, in Las Vegas, and the Dai Show Theatre, in China. Each of these projects first found expression in Fisher’s sketchbooks and on his drawing board. This book spans his entire career, with details of every major project and more than 100 drawings – some of which are virtually performances in their own right.

“In 1977, I went on the road with the Floyd, and that was really the moment I ran away and joined the circus.” – Mark Fisher

With Road Work, Andrew Holmes continues his pilgrimage through the seductive litter of modern life. Cities are conventionally viewed as static objects, but a third of Los Angeles is on the move; it is a kaleidoscope trapped in a grid, where what you see is what you drive past. Road Work presents 500 of Andrew Holmes’ Los Angeles Polaroids, capturing the machines that deliver people and goods to different parts of the city each day. These vehicles are seen at the airport, at a truck stop, always in a parking bay, set classically against azure skies, frozen like statues in a Renaissance garden. Everything has equal status. Nothing transgresses the grid. The work is even, chrome and rust are its soul. Along with commentaries by David Greene and Holmes himself, Road Work includes lyrics by Chuck Berry and others, and extracts from a variety of road novelists and writers.

Artist Daphne Wright is fascinated with the collections of the Ashmolean Museum and the history of seeing they present. Her latest project grows out of a lifetime’s engagement with this theme. Much of Wright’s existing body of work is steeped in a deep understanding of the iconography and history of Western art, as represented in the Ashmolean’s extensive collection. This book establishes connections to the Ashmolean’s rich collection of 17th century Dutch Still Life paintings. These genre paintings portray a range of subjects from arrangements of flowers to fruit, fish and game. Sometimes the paintings include a symbolic reference to the transience of life, in the form of fruit that has begun to rot or flowers that are losing petals. In Fridge Still Life, the exposed body of a fridge, containing upon its shelves a raw chicken and bundle of asparagus, is topped with a vase of wilting tulips. This is a contemporary re-telling of a still life painting, with its various familiar elements, such as a brace of hanging pheasants, a bowl of fruit and a vase of blooms, with can connote status or vanitas. Wright has explored the transitory nature of life throughout her practice. In previous work, Wright has used plants and animals, with their shorter life spans, to stand in for the human. Wright’s work also resonates strongly with the Ashmolean’s extensive and celebrated cast collection. Prominent amongst the plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculptures are the gods and heroes of Homeric legend. These idealised images of men still form the basis of our ideas of masculinity today. With Sons on Couch Wright is seeking to capture the elusive moment of transition into manhood. The athletic figures in the cast court may have been updated to social media influencers, but the pressure young men face today to achieve a perceived ideal body type remain the same.

Originally published in 1999, and long out of print, this revised and updated version of Techniques of Drawing gives an overview of historical materials and drawing practices in Europe and Asia, using examples from the Ashmolean Museum, including highlights of the collection and lesser-known works. This up to date edition expands the text and illustrations to include non-western art, including Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Persian works of art, also including some more modern western art works than the first edition, which only covered western art from the 15th to 19th centuries. Expanding the scope of the book to include global perspectives, and the 20th century, involves new sections such as ‘Brush and Ink’ which includes Chinese landscape drawings, Japanese botanical works, as well as illustrating the famous Mughal Indian drawing by Abu’l Hasan in the Ashmolean collection. The book also includes a new section on gouache (opaque watercolour) which will be important for discussing Chinese, Indian and Persian paintings on paper. 

The virus, the war, the climate, inflation, poverty and loneliness make people feel insecure. In these troubled times, there is more interest than ever for what is truly important in life: happiness, hope and love. What does science teach us today? Are we still allowed to strive towards happiness? And how do we do that? Leo Bormans asked the same question over and over again to a hundred professors all over the world: established names and young up-and-comers. Every scientist briefly summarises their recent research after which they formulate their insights in one single sentence: the essence. To this they link at least three concrete pieces of advice: for our own lives, for our friends and for society. With contributions from the most prominent experts in positive psychology, such as: Prof. Martin Seligman (University of Pennsylvania), author of more than 20 international bestsellers and the founding father of positive psychology; Richard Easterlin (University of Southern California), one of the most respected and renowned authorities in happiness research, Prof. Sir Richard Layard (The London School of Economics), one of the most influential voices in the global study of happiness and well-being; and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (Oxford University), editor of The World Report on Happiness (UN).

In 1967, a 17-year-old aspiring photographer named Ed Caraeff found himself front row at the Monterey Pop Festival, California. Caraeff had never seen Hendrix before, nor was he familiar with his music. But Caraeff had his ever-present camera and as Hendrix lit his guitar, he snapped a photo. That picture – Hendrix burning his guitar at Monterey – has become one of the most iconic images of rock and roll. A photo that defined Hendrix as an artist, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine not once, but twice, and launched Caraeff’s photographic career. Timed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival, Burning Desire reveals never-before published images from the magnificent, Hendrix-dedicated archive that Caraeff has compiled. From onstage to backstage, Jimi Hendrix was as electric in front of the camera as he was when he strummed his guitar. In Burning Desire, Caraeff showcases more than 100 images, including rare shots and contract sheets, and discusses his experiences with this incredible musician. Contents: Monterey International Pop Music Festival: June 18, 1967 Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967 Anaheim Convention Center: February 9, 1968 Ackerman Union Ballroom: February 13, 1968 Hollywood Bowl: September 14, 1968 Whiskey-A-Go-Go: October 1968 Newport ’69: June 20-22, 1969

Expressing one of many Luba sub-styles, the tall, standing male figures created by master carvers of the Hemba culture in southeastern Congo since at least the mid-1800s arguably rank among the noblest sculptural depictions of the human figure in sub-Saharan Africa. With their serene gaze and meditative expression, they exude a tranquility and dignity that befits these idealised likenesses memorialising esteemed leaders of the past. Infused with a life-force or vital energy, these spirit-invested objects were able to communicate between the living and the dead. Thanks to their inner power they had the capacity to impact the material sphere by allowing the ancestors to positively influence the well-being of their surviving relatives. In this publication, through the perceptive lens of art photographer Luigi Spina, we discover nine of the most accomplished Hemba creations whose classical style has triggered comparisons with some kouroi sculptures of ancient Greece. Spina’s photographic interpretations help us understand why these proportionally balanced and symmetrically conceived ancestral figures have earned the admiration of African art lovers around the world. These personal readings of the beloved Hemba commemorative portraits also confirm why these sensitive renderings of the human anatomy deserve inclusion in the universal history of artistic creativity and a place in André Malraux’s ‘Museum Without Walls’. Text in English and French.

This monograph, edited by noted Italian art critic Bruno Corà and published on the occasion of Art Basel 2018, presents the genesis, critical analysis, and exhibition history of the Combustioni Plastiche [Plastic Combustions] cycle by Alberto Burri. These works span a quarter of a century, from 1953 to 1979, and were created using industrial sheets of different kinds of plastic, with different melting points. They are visceral and technically innovative hybrids, part painting and part sculpture, ranging in size from a few centimetres to larger works installed in places of worship and stage designs for theatre performances. They illuminate Burri’s longstanding exploration of the beauty that can be found in mass produced materials, and function as a lens through which we can reassess Burri’s entire creative career. Historical photographs by Claudio Amendola and Ugo Mulas, newspaper articles, and in-depth essays offer a complete analysis of this extraordinary cycle of works. The catalogue will be presented during Art Basel 2018.

Luca Blast Forlani leads the reader through a range of urban spaces, places that, notwithstanding passing of time, have still retained their own identity. Although on the surface apparently empty and desolate, they each have a history and a story to tell; the details of identity caught in the lens, the clues of a life discarded but not entirely forgotten. These images are poignant, emotive and thought-provoking; the use of light and shadows, close-up details and wide-angle shots, footprints of the past, captured in the silence and the dust, like a long-forgotten conversation, a whisper of lives remembered. Text in English and Italian.