The first book to examine the rich jewelry traditions of the Batak people in Indonesia is a gorgeous tribute to a vanishing way of life. Batak jewelry is characterized by a wide variety of materials and forms, and has many functions: Jewels can be status symbols, badges of rank, attributes of membership of a certain age group, amulets and talismans, or simply ornaments. Men, women, small children, and even babies were once adorned with gold, silver, brass, bronze, or the gold-and-copper alloy known as suasa. Today, the Batak wear traditional jewelry only for celebrations like weddings, and these stunning works are rapidly disappearing, being melted down or sold.

Accompanying a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, this catalog presents a broad selection of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century French and Danish art from the celebrated Ordrupgaard museum near Copenhagen. Assembled for the most part between 1892 and 1931 by the Danish insurance magnate Wilhelm Hansen (1868-1936), the Ordrupgaard collection offers a spectacular overview of French painting from Eugène Delacroix through to Paul Cézanne, as well as magnificent examples from the Danish Golden Age.

Fully illustrated and including an essay by Dr. Paul Lang, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada, the catalog provides the opportunity to experience the highlights of the Ordrupgaard collection. It includes remarkable groupings of works that reflect various stages in the careers of painters such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Paul Gauguin, C.W. Eckersberg, and Vilhelm Hammershøi. While French Impressionist and Danish works are a focus, other-often contradictory-art movements of nineteenth-century France, including the Barbizon school and Realism, are also well represented.

Text in English and French.

The eight volumes in this boxset reveal the manifold creative talents of René Lalique, an exceptional artist, Art Nouveau jeweler, and later Art Deco glassmaker, as well as those of his successors and the many people who perpetuate these skills in the present day. Illustrating previously unpublished works, Lalique retraces the history of Lalique and its founding family. For Lalique is a famous name: René, ‘the inventor of the modern jewel’, as Emile Gallé described him at the close of the nineteenth century. After working from home as a designer for large firms, Lalique opened his own workshop, where he created objects in the round using previously neglected materials, such as horn, semi-precious stones, enamel, and glass. These already featured the themes that would recur throughout his career: Female, Flora and Fauna, with the addition of a fourth ‘F’, Form, with the advent of Art Deco. From a very young age René Lalique enjoyed drawing, observing nature closely and making sketches. Although his most detailed works were undoubtedly his jewelry designs, drawing was to remain an indispensable prerequisite to his creations. Lalique found an outlet for his creative genius in all sorts of everyday objects, including lamps, paperweights and tableware, magnifying their importance and rendering them wholly exceptional today. René Lalique also turned his hand to decoration and the creation of monumental works. Whether designing the stained glass for a chapel, an imposing fountain for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925, or objects for railway trains or ocean liners, he was always keen to create with glass and to play with light.

This is the first work to explore fully the history, art, and craft of the Japanese hanging scroll, or kakejiku, from its ancient Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese origins, through its introduction to Japan as early as the sixth century AD, to its role in the modern Japanese art world. It is proof of the scroll’s timeless qualities that it remains a fixture in traditional Japanese rooms, and continues to inform the design of modern interiors. Part 1 traces the scroll’s fascinating journey from an obscure religious artifact to a popular work of art, covering: the origins of the handscroll as a vehicle for Buddhist texts during the Nara period (710 784); the popularity of the vibrant picture scrolls of the opulent Heian period (794 1185); the rise of Zen-inspired hanging scrolls during the Kamakura period (1185 1333); their rich diversification during the Muromachi and Momoyama periods (1336 1600); and their incorporation into the “alcove,” or tokonoma of Edo period (1600 1867) households. Part 2 is dedicated to the scroll’s artistic features: the structure of both hanging and handheld scrolls; their complex array of classes and subclasses, formats, and dimensions; their exquisite and often costly materials; traditional handling and display; and methods of storage and preservation. Part 3 describes the age-old process by which scrolls are still made by Japanese craftsmen, including: material selection (tori-awase); backing textile and paper sections urauchi); careful assembly into the complete scroll (tsuke-mawashi); use of the drying board (kari-bari); and the finishing stage of mounting (shiage).
This comprehensive work will be of interest to all connoisseurs and collectors of East Asian scroll art as well as craftspeople engaged in the mounting and presentation of text and images.

First to translate two of the oldest accounts of Musashi’s career – the Bushû denraiki and the Bukôden – William de Lange presents a full biography of the most famous yet enigmatic of swordsmen. In doing so, he draws extensively on a wealth of additional and often neglected sources to reconstruct the meandering course of Musashi’s eventful life: his dramatic encounter with Sasaki Kojirô on Ganryû island, his multiple bouts with the famed Yoshioka brothers, and the remarkable gestation of his life’s influential work: The Book of Five Rings. In the course of this highly readable account, many of the convenient myths that have arisen around Musashi are debunked. The more controversial incidents of the warrior’s life that have been left hidden, perhaps deliberately, are uncovered: his troubled relationship with his father, his whereabouts during the battle of Sekigahara, the siege of Osaka castle, and the birth and death of an illegitimate child, which was an event that deeply influenced his art. The biography reveals how Musashi’s path through life was shaped by strong personal traits: his reckless valor in the face of danger, his sensitive intelligence in the fields of art and architecture, his generosity toward peers and pupils, and his defiant stubbornness in old age. The complex yet human portrait that arises is a far cry from the accepted one-dimensional caricature of this medieval swordsman.

Founded probably in the 5th or 6th century, the Cathedral of Genoa was later rebuilt in Romanesque style and devoted to St. Lawrence the martyr. Money came from the successful enterprises of the Genoese fleets in the Crusades. After a fire in 1296, the building was partly restored, the inner colonnades rebuilt and matronei and frescoes added. In 1550 the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi was commissioned by the city magistrates to plan the reconstruction of the entire building, but the construction of the cathedral didn’t finish until the 17th century.

Among the artworks inside the church are ceiling frescoes, paintings and altarpieces by Luca Cambiaso, Federico Barocci, Lazzaro Tavarone and Gaetano Previati, while sculpture include works by Domenico Gagini, Andrea Sansovino, Giacomo and Guglielmo Della Porta. Impressive are also the works of art and silverware kept in the Museum of the Treasury which lies under the cathedral. One of the most important pieces is the Sacred bowl brought by Guglielmo Embriaco after the conquest of Cesarea and supposed to be the chalice used by Christ during the Last Supper.

Contributors include: Gianluca Ameri, Beatrice Astrua, Michele Bacci, Piero Boccardo, Antonella Capitanio, Marco Ciatti, Marco Collareta, Anna De Floriani, Clario Di Fabio, Grazia Di Natale, Gabriele Donati, Lucia Faedo, Marco Folin, Maria Flora Giubilei, Henrike Haug, Karin Kranhold, Anna Rosa Calderoni Masetti, Roberto Paolo Novello, Linda Pisani, Stefano Riccioni, Giorgio Rossini, Philippe Sénéchal, Carlo Tosco, Gerhard Wolf, Photographs by Ghigo Roli.

Text in English and Italian.

In My Way: From the Gutters to the Stars, Berlin-based Tim Raue traces his journey from street kid to two-star Michelin chef and owner of the eponymous restaurant ranked #34 on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Head chef at one of Berlin’s best restaurants at the age of twenty-three, Raue earned the accolade Highest Climber of the Year in 1998, and, in 2007, was named Chef of the Year by Gault Millau. He earned his Michelin stars only two years after opening Restaurant Tim Raue in 2010. Raue illustrates his story with dozens of family photos, and with stunning images of Berlin, Singapore – the source of his culinary inspiration – and his extraordinary Asian-influenced dishes. His food is admired by New York Times food critic, Frank Rich, as well as Corey Lee, the three-star Michelin chef and owner of acclaimed restaurant Benu – who has incorporated one of Raue’s recipes into his own repertoire. In addition to 70 recipes from Raue’s kitchen, My Way includes 45 recipes for gourmet essentials such as broths, sauces and infusions. Taken together, Raue’s story, his food, and these brilliant color images make My Way a journey worth following. Contents: Finding yourself Creating yourself Recipes In My Way will be launched with a press conference on 28th February in New York 12:30am.

This book presents a personal collection of ancestor sculpture and protective deities, following the ancient migratory and trade routes of the Austronesian, Southeast Asian Bronze Age, and Hindu-Buddhist peoples. The author, Thomas Murray, has spent a lifetime studying this art through his endeavors as a peripatetic dealer, collector, and field researcher. The objects illustrated come from a swath of widely varied cultures from Nepal eastward to Hawaii, with the overwhelming majority from Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Murray’s eye is highly informed and based on an unusually large sampling of objects to which his experience and research have exposed him. The artworks documented represent some of the top examples he has acquired and retained over the course of a long career. They are characterized by sculptural balance and a harmony of line, as well as a rare quality of expressiveness. Each ranks high in terms of aesthetics and desirability within its own particular style as perceived by the art market and by other western aficionados.

As a child, photographer Martin Usborne was once left in a car. This was not for long, but he wondered if anyone would come back. Around the same age he fell in love with dogs – they could not speak, just as he felt he was silent in that car. Thirty years later the two experiences came together in this cinematic and darkly humorous project that looks at the way humans are able to silence the animals they love best. No dogs were harmed in the making of this project.

A remarkable private collection formed over the last thirty years is the focus of this richly illustrated book that introduces the reader to English silver spanning a century and a half from a little before the Tudor age (1485-1603) to the threshold of the Civil War (1642-51). This was a period when England changed out of all recognition. At the beginning it was still essentially a medieval country dominated by an autocratic king and a rich and powerful Church; by the end of the period the Church had lost virtually all of its power and, with the execution of Charles I in 1649, the monarchy itself was abolished. To a degree, this changing world is mirrored in the styles represented by the silver featuring in the collection. Besides setting the silver against its social and historical background the book examines the wide range of techniques used by silversmiths at the time to shape and adorn silver objects.

We are living in an age of accelerated change. The internet has washed away all limitations on time and space. Entrepreneurship has been democratized, and economies have globalized. Innovation has rendered entire sectors irrelevant in the blink of an eye. This is the reality any manager has to take into account in order to keep his company viable. Disruption@WORK taps into the roots of disruptive change, and offers a guide in recognising disruption, defining the ways in which it has already had an effect, and what awaits us in tomorrow’s board rooms. In doing this, Disruption@WORK provides a view on the factors we have to deal with in bridging the gap between the individual, his work and corporate strategy, in order to face the future of our companies.

In an ever-changing digital world, marketeers might feel like they are constantly chasing an evolution they can’t keep up with. And rightly so. Tesla cars can warn us of accidents before they have happened. Amazon has drone delivery up and running. Consumers are getting ready to embrace virtual reality, augmented reality and chatbots. Where do we go from here? To bridge the gap between the technology-addicted consumer and marketeers that are constantly chasing the facts, those marketeers can no longer rely on yesterday’s solutions. This book offers an aid to finding new ways out of the slump and in centralizing innovation in every marketing plan. Reviewing success stories and best practices forms an added dimension to this approach: by figuring out which methods worked in the past, why and how they worked, we can set out for even greater results – even in the ever-changing digital age.

“This book is like a private exhibition.” Belgian Newspaper De Volkskrant on Masterpiece
2019, 450 years after the Old Master’s death, will be celebrated as the Year of Bruegel, culminating in the exhibition ‘The Age of Bruegel’ at The Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA), Antwerp. In the run up to the numerous exhibitions and festivities that are planned for next year, Lannoo Publishers releases this glossy guidebook. It contains images of the Old Master’s paintings showing astonishing detail. It contains expert commentary by Till-Holger Borchert, director of all Bruges-based museums. Text in English and Dutch. Also available in the series: Masterpiece: Peter Paul Rubens ISBN: 9789401441612 Masterpiece: Jan Van Eyck ISBN: 9789401441629

The career of Y.G. Srimati – classical singer, musician, dancer and painter – represents a continuum in which each of these skills and experiences merged, influencing and pollinating each other.

Born in Mysore in 1926, Srimati was part of the generation much influenced by the rediscovery of a classical Sanskrit legacy devoted to the visual arts. Soon swept up in the nationalist movement for an independent India, she was deeply moved by the time she spent with Mahatma Gandhi. For the young Srimati, the explicit referencing of the past and of religious subjects came together in an unparalleled way, driven by the conscious striving for an indigenous agenda. This experience gave form and meaning to her art, and largely defined her style.

As John Guy demonstrates in this sumptuous volume, as a painter of the mid and late twentieth century, Y.G. Srimati embodied a traditionalist position, steadfast in her vision of an Indian style, one which resonated with those who knew India best.

The age of exploration was one in which a confident and wealthy Europe was ready to look at the world in different ways. By this time, the emerging European imagination could see the world as an imagined or designative concept. Textiles brought the colours of the other lands, and its mass printing and production brought a sense of fantasy and playfulness into European homes. Continuing Traditions follows the reflections on inter-relationships between textiles, trade and non-performing visual arts in India. The volume has been brought out in conjunction with a travelling exhibition in India called Safar-nama: Journeys through a Kalamkari Hanging , an exhibition of digital prints of an ancient painted fabric piece in the kalamkari tradition, which prevailed in the Coromandel Coast, and is now housed at the Museum of Printed Textiles of Mulhouse in France, along with ‘Continuing Traditions’, a show of contemporary artists and designers whose works can relate to it. After a long modernist interregnum in which the sole objective was to create a thing-in-itself, these works emerge as a postmodernist re-assertion of interrelationship between worldly phenomenon. Published in association with Akar Prakar.

Urdu poetry is a universe of lustrous pictures that presents in words of varying hue a delicacy of thought and depth of meaning. Every word, every simile and metaphor bears within itself a whole world of meaning, and this is the virtue of a great language that represents a celebrated civilization. This is the kind of poetry that can be rendered easily into English without hurting its poetic quality because it is free of the unnecessary ornamentation common to all eastern poetry. Like most Indians of the current age, Idrak Bhatty too has been nurtured in both eastern and western cultures. The accent of these poems has its own distinctive identity; their rhythm and idiom reflecting contemporary awareness. The audio CD includes a selection of poignant ghazals recited by Tom Alter, Uday Chandra and Chandar Khanna. Text in English & Urdu.

Judith Murray was born in New York City in 1941. She began painting at an early age, partly as the result of a childhood illness that kept her indoors. Over the years, her painting developed into her passion and her profession. Murray creates works that have both depth of field and shallow ground. Her paintings are rich and complex in nature, embodying the lushness of the natural world in her contemporary abstract language.

“I can never say I was born to dance,” she says with a subtle hint of pride. Yet for this very reason, Kumudini Lakhia went on to become one of the great modern innovators of North Indian classical dance. Such paradoxes compose the fabric of Kumudini’s life and personality-an upbringing in the waning days of the Raj characterized by a love for Indian art as well as British sensibilities, a temperament both warm and austere, and an ambitious energy as overwhelming as it is focused. Like her life, her art itself came to embody an element of paradox-contemporary choreography within one of the most ancient dance forms in the world. Her work, criticized thirty years ago as sacrilege, is now considered classic, and continues to inspire novel approaches to the dance form. Unlike many Kathak exponents in the 1940s and 50s, Kumudini did not inherit the narrowly focused life of a traditional dancer. Instead, she was exposed to the modern world-attending an elite boarding school, developing curiosities ranging from agriculture to architecture, and touring Europe by the age of 18. Though she studied Kathak throughout her life, her path to professional dance was shaped more by circumstance than tradition. Told through the refracted lens of writer and dance student, Movement in Stills offers a unique blend of biography and personal impression to depict the life and dance of one of India’s great performing artists.

“The most important portraits to me are the ones of people who have enriched my own thinking or awareness. Areas of philosophy, religion, psychological perspectives, poetry, music, art history, women’s roles and the inner life are important issues for me – and all have been nurtured by these people whom I have met through portraiture.” – Victoria Crowe. Victoria Crowe is one of Britain’s most vital and original figurative painters. Here, Duncan Macmillan explores the exceptional skill of this remarkable artist’s portraits and Victoria Crowe, herself, contributes many insightful accounts of her own thoughts and perceptions as each work developed. This book also tells Crowe’s own story – both professional and personal – through her art. She has developed an approach to portraiture that seeks to do more than record the outward appearance of a person: she aims to represent something of the inner life. With 80 illustrations, the portraits include the artist’s family, composer Ronald Stevenson, pioneer medical scientist Dame Janet Vaughan, poet Kathleen Raine, actor Graham Crowden, psychiatrist Professor Sir Peter Higgs and many others.

The book features about 60 paintings mostly on handmade paper and some on silk. Executed in Bikaner style, the works have clearly been impacted by Mughal traditions, particularly in terms of the detailed anatomical depiction, and the richness of the palette. There is an impressive collection in the art track of ascetics, priests, sufi saints, sadhus, maulvis, and pilgrims each lost in their meditative trance, as the artist observed them during his sojourns to Khumbh or at Ganga Sagar Math or at the famous holy Dargah shrine at Ajmer, the sketches made on site were developed into paintings later in the studio. Images of Radha and Krishna, inspired by Geet Govind, Hanuman along with Ganesha also appears in various other incarnations. The repertoire also encompasses 24 distinct avatars or godly incarnations based on studies of Bhagwat Puran.

The Artscape of Mahaveer Swami brings alive the richness in the art tradition of Bikaner, inspired by his religious and artistic upbringing, along with his rigorous training.

Contents: Preface -Martin Gurvich; Mode and Material; The Artscape of Mahaveer Swami: Reliving the tradition of Bikaner art -Sushma K. Bah; The Art of Bikaner-Geet Govinda; Sadhus; Avatars Hanuman; Asta Ganesha; Spiritual India; Biography of Mahaveer Swami.

Hinduism is neither an organised religion nor a proselytising one. It is often described as a way of life, which gently nudges its followers – through its scriptures, mythologies, rituals, and practices to question deeply, live fully, and grow wholesomely in compassion and universal acceptance. Hinduism believes whatever inspires one to stay truly unselfish, be it a vocation, an ideology, or a faith, can lead one towards greater self-realization and ultimate freedom. Living Hinduism by Samarpan encapsulates this essence of Hinduism in a language that can be understood and appreciated by all, especially the younger generation, who need to know and understand what it means to be a Hindu, in an age of strident opinions and changing values.

The culmination of five years’ travel with Indian pilgrims, Nostalgia for Eternity takes the reader into the depths of millennia-old spiritual and mystic traditions. It is a stunning visual poem about the timeless human search for transcendence and ultimate truth. Translated literally from the Greek, ‘nostalgia’ means homesickness; spiritually, it is the universal longing for existential peace and completeness – for a final resolution of all life’s conflicts and contradictions. ‘The truth is one,’ taught India’s ancient gurus, ‘the sages call it by many names.’ With breadth and insight unmatched by any other publication, Nostalgia for Eternity illustrates the worlds of pilgrims seeking that transcendent truth and illuminates the different paths that they travel. Through evocative, complex images we enter the secretive realm of Tantric worshippers of the Mother Goddess; and we walk with Sufi pilgrims across the deserts of Rajasthan. Meditative, richly layered photographs reveal the inner world of Bengali Bauls – mystics who worship the human being; and of Sidis – descendants of African saints whose religion merges African ancestor worship with Sufism. Richly annotated text reveals to the reader the deeper symbolic and mythological significance of the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and syncretic practices explored in the book.

Jaipur has drawn upon the arts to carve a niche for itself. This book tells the story of the visual arts, both commissioned and acquired, by the royal family of Jaipur over a period of more than two centuries, highlighting the dual roles of its rulers as patrons who commissioned works from their own court artists, and as collectors who acquired works from elsewhere. In the special case of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, it also encompasses the creation of art, as he was an accomplished amateur photographer. The book begins with paintings from the 18th century, from the period of the founder Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, up to that of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, under whose reign painting in particular flourished. It then captures the excitement of the late 19th century when the camera competed with, but also complemented, the artist’s brush under Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II. In the end, images leading to Indian Independence and its aftermath overseen by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II and Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, bring us up to the mid-20th century. Contents: Foreword by Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur; Introduction; Glories of the Suratkhana – Two Centuries of Painting at the Jaipur Court Sonika Soni; Painting Materials and Process; The Age of the Founders, 1727-1778, Jaipur and the Mughals, People at Court, Mughal Paintings and Jaipur Copies, Acquired from Elsewhere, Religious and Folk Paintings, Large Format Paintings; An Aesthete’s Court, 1778-1819,The Patronage of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, Illustrated Manuscripts, Krishna’s Dance, Other Jaipur Subjects, Influences from Elsewhere; New Directions, 1819-1880 A New Era, Illustrated manuscripts, The Court Atelier, Influences from Elsewhere, Large Format Paintings; The View from the Tasveerkhana – Photography at the Jaipur Court Mrinalini Venkateswaran, Photography Equipment; Early Photography in Jaipur, 1860-1890 Self-portraits, Nobles at Court, Women of the Zenana, Foreign Visitors, Royal Visitors, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh’s views of Amber & Jaipur, Views of Amber & Jaipur by the Maharaja’s Contemporaries, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh outside Jaipur, Bourne & Shepherd; Into the Modern Era, 1880-1950 Portraits of the later Maharajas, Capturing Ceremony, Painting and Design; Acknowledgements; Select Bibliography; Index.