Chisenhale Gallery launches the second title in its Chisenhale Books series, Nikita Gale: IN A DREAM YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS. Marking the finale of Gale’s Chisenhale exhibition, her first artist’s book contains an intergenerational conversation with conceptual artist Barbara Kruger and a short meditation by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hilton Als. These feature alongside contributions by artist and Chisenhale Gallery alum P. Staff and Dr. Bénédicte Boisseron, author of Afro-Dog: Blackness and the Animal Question. Through the lens of a multifaceted practice, Gale examines themes of invisibility and audibility, interrogating the dynamic between performer and spectator, structure, and decay. Produced with great care, this extraordinary book is reflective of the artist’s practice. Four visual essays, hand-annotated by Gale – ‘Absence’, ‘Ruin’, ‘Silence’, ‘Dog’ –  explore themes central to the work. Nikita Gale: IN A DREAM YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS deploys throw-outs, gatefolds, five different types of papers, and a subtly disruptive design to delve into Nikita Gale’s art. 

The art of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) is synonymous with the female nude, with the term ‘Rubenesque’ first coined in the 19th century to describe a voluptuous female body. Yet remarkably, there has never been a focused study of Rubens’ depictions of women, making this book, and the exhibition that it will accompany, a first.

Bringing together a diverse range of paintings and drawings from throughout the artist’s career and from a range of international lenders, the exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery (October 2023 – January 2024) will challenge the popular assumption that Rubens only painted one type of woman. Instead, it will present a more nuanced view of the varied and essential role that women played in the artist’s life and work, uniting and contributing to recent scholarly developments in subjects such as the identities of Rubens’ sitters, 17th century artistic theory and practice, and Rubens’ treatment of the human body. 

Rubens evidently enjoyed painting the female figure, especially in its sensual and unclothed form. But his women are never mere bodies trapped by the male gaze, on the contrary; they are proud and complex heroines, full of character and gravitas. No other male artist has created such potent images of female power, assurance, determination, commitment, and beauty. Providing a catalogue for the works in the exhibition and featuring three introductory essays that contextualize Rubens’ work, this publication will both contribute to the existing corpus of scholarly literature on Rubens and introduce his masterpieces to new audiences, discussing them in the context of current debates around sexuality, power and feminism. 

The practice of using lacquer to form Buddhist sculptures dates back several hundred years with the earliest known sculpture associated with the late sixth-century Sui dynasty (581-618 CE) shortly after Buddhism came to China. Very few of the often life-size or larger sculptures remain. For the first time in this volume, Buddhist lacquer sculptures and their place in Buddhist practice are discussed holistically by scholars from a range of disciplines. Research on scientific, art historical and historical aspects of the sculptures opens a window into the sculptural lacquer techniques used in their creation. These proceedings, and their companion symposium, coincided with the exhibition, Secrets of the Lacquer Buddha. This is the sixth in an ongoing series of publications of Forbes symposia proceedings. All six volumes are published by Archetype Publications in association with the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution.

In 2024, Dulwich Picture Gallery will present Soulscapes, a major exhibition of landscape art that will expand and redefine the genre. Published to coincide with this revelatory exhibition, this book features over 30 contemporary artworks, spanning painting, photography, film, tapestry and collage from leading artists including Hurvin Anderson, Phoebe Boswell, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kimathi Donkor, Isaac Julien, Marcia Michael, Mónica de Miranda and Alberta Whittle, as well as some of the most important emerging voices working today. Soulscapes explores our connection with the world around us through the eyes of artists from the African Diaspora and considers the power of landscape art through the themes of belonging, memory, joy and transformation.

Each copy of Soulscapes includes a special edition print by Kimathi Donkor depicting the painting On Episode Seven, 2000, and is only available with this book. The print measures 177 x 221mm., including a 13mm. border, is housed inside the rear cover of the book, and is visible through a bespoke die-cut window.

This star I give to you is the first publication on the work of London-based artist Freya Douglas-Morris, presenting a body of paintings exploring the poetry, beauty and magic of landscapes and the natural world.

The book documents the artist’s first solo exhibition of the same name at Alexander Berggruen, New York, in 2023, and showcases the eight large oil paintings on canvas and five oil paintings on copper that were on display. This star I give to you includes a conversation between the artist and British publisher Matt Price, a foreword by New York-based writer and Associate Director at Alexander Berggruen, Kirsten Cave, along with studio notes by the artist on each of the reproduced works.

A graduate of the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, London, Douglas-Morris has exhibited internationally in China, Taiwan, The Bahamas, Austria, Italy, France and America.

Shadows of Boulder Hill presents a group of 50 powerful paintings in oil on linen by artist Tang Shuo (b. 1987 in Guangxi, China) that delve into his childhood experiences in rural southern China. This, Tang’s first book, documents the concurrent exhibitions of these works at Fabienne Levy’s galleries in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2023.
Shadows of Boulder Hill marks a significant point in Tang’s career; in 2023 he incorporated narrative threads into his paintings for the first time, depicting young lovers, recluses, and wanderers lost in imagined and remembered landscapes of lush vegetation and wildflowers. A selection of the fascinating true stories from Boulder Hill that inform Tang’s practice, personal and collective, are detailed in the gallery notes.
Shadows of Boulder Hill includes a foreword by gallerist Fabienne Levy and an essay by multidisciplinary scholar Dr Matthew Holman. Here, Tang appears as an artist who has found his voice as he eloquently explores scenes of family, friendship, suffering, solitude, and survival.

The Galleria Borghese not only houses an extraordinary collection of ancient and modern sculpture, but also one of the most extraordinary collections of paintings in the world, with masterpieces by the most important European painters, including Giovanni Bellini, Correggio, Dosso Dossi, Parmigianino, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and Rubens.

In two volumes – the first is presented here divided into two tomes and dedicated to works created between the 15th and 16th centuries – the intention is to continue the work begun with the catalogue raisonné of modern sculpture, also published by Officina Libraria (2022), thanks to updates, discoveries, archive research and analysis of works.

The entries in this volume, preceded by introductory essays illustrating the main nuclei of paintings produced between the Renaissance and Mannerism periods in the museum, have been entrusted to scholars specializing in the productions of individual artists or regional schools, experts in the history of the gallery and a large group of younger experts in 15th and 16th century painting. The individual texts present a significant degree of in-depth study both chronologically and in terms of attribution, with notes on restorations and archival documents. 

Text in Italian.

One sole truth about Edvard Munch’s art does not exist. The answers depend on the questions we pose. Twenty-two Munch experts have written 150 texts about well-known and lesser-known works from Munchmuseet’s collection. Through these multiple ways of seeing, Munch’s lifework emerges as infinite. And this book, as an exercise in the art of seeing. The book invites the reader to explore the world of Edvard Munch — his ideas, processes, and the profoundly human topics that occupied him and that still affect us today. Through a wide selection from the museum’s collection, you can experience the richness of Munch’s artistic career and his unrelenting drive to experiment and innovate.

This catalog for a show at the Tornabuoni Gallery in Paris pays homage to two outstanding Italian women artists of the second half of the 20th century, Carla Accardi Dadamaino (Eduarda Emilia Maino). Both embraced avant-garde art and theory while remaining free of dogmatism, and explored the characteristics and possibilities of painting and signs while forging their own distinct paths. They shared a strong belief in social and political involvement, and left an enduring mark on the history of art. In this book, their creative journey is beautifully illustrated with a vast selection of works and through contextual critical analyses.

Text in English and French.

This volume collects a selection of works of art produced in the western United States belonging to the collection of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art housed in the Denver Art Museum. This collection is one of the richest and most substantial in the world on this subject, thanks to its outstanding bronze sculptures, early modern works, and contributions from the artistic communities of Tao and Santa Fe. The central theme of the book is the period stretching from the beginning of the 19th century to the mid-20th century.

More than 200 pages of portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, and depictions of a still-intact wilderness make evident the diversity of the collection. The narrative proceeds chronologically, presenting early luminaries such as Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, and Charles M. Russell; Robert Henri and the artists of the TAO community; and prominent modernist painters, including Maynard Dixon, Marsden Hartley, and Raymond Jonson. Numerous illustrations and expert interpretations chronicle the artistic, cultural, and identarian climate in the western United States during this period. A prologue by historian Dan Flores and an epilogue by art historian Erika Doss describe the vaster context in which to view this rich history of American art.

Artists of Nigeria analyzes the influence of different art systems (museums, cultural institutions, art fairs, galleries, the internet) and cultures on the development of modern and contemporary Nigerian art in the past 100 years. Organized chronologically, and including biographical notes on the artists and lavish color illustrations, this unprecedented book charts the development of modern Nigerian art, and analyzes the works of significant Nigerian artists and art movements within the country and beyond. This comprehensive overview demonstrates the variety and vitality of Nigerian artists and confers on them a visibility they are often denied in global publications. Among the artists featured are Olowere, whose work is in the collections of the British Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution; Chike Aniakor, who has a PhD from Indiana University; and Uche Okeke, whose work has been shown at the Sherman Gallery at Boston University.

Renowned art critic Manasij Majumdar has admired Dutta for many years, and is, the author admits, one of his favorite artists. His work is looks spontaneously home-grown, yet modernist at the same time. The lucidity of his vision finds expression in paintings and drawings that resonate with something that is native to the Indian soil. The works featured here come from collections in both Kolkata and Delhi, as well as the artist’s personal collection. This catalog has been published in association with Sanchit Art Gallery in New Delhi.

Kifwebe masks are ceremonial objects used by the Songye and Luba societies (Democratic Republic of Congo), where they are worn with costumes consisting of a long robe and a long beard made of plant fibres. As in other central African cultures, the same mask can be used in either magical and religious or festive ceremonies. In order to understand Kifwebe masks, it is essential to consider them within the cosmogony of the python rainbow, metalworking in the forge, and other plant and animal signs. Among the Songye, benevolent female masks reveal what is hidden and balance white and red energy associated with two subsequent initiations, the bukishi. Aggressive male masks were originally involved in social control and had a kind of policing role, carried out in accordance with the instructions of village elders. These two male and female forces acted in a balanced way to reinforce harmony within the village. Among the Luba, the masked figures are also benevolent and appear at the new moon, their role being to enhance fertility. Although the male and female masks fulfil functions that do not wholly overlap, they do have features in common: a frontal crest, round and excessively protruding eyes, flaring nostrils, a cube-shaped mouth and lips, stripes, and colours. Art historians and anthropologists have taken increasing interest in Kifwebe masks in recent years.

A new title in the Design series and an excellent introduction to the life and work of this versatile Russian artist. Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1953) was a central figure in the Russian Constructivist art movement; a radical activist, a pioneer of photomontage, a theorist, and a teacher. He was an active force in the organization of the first museums of modern art that arose in Russia in the first years after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Attending art school in 1914 in Kazan was to be a defining influence: that year Russian Futurists performed in the town, and Rodchenko saw their leading figures in action. It transformed his vision and he was still working with Futurist artists and their ideas twenty-five years later. And it was at art school where Rodchenko first met the artist Varvara Stepanova, with whom he collaborated extensively, and who would become his life-long partner. Central in the re-examination of art and its place in society after the Revolution, and in the search for a new culture without the class implications of the past, Rodchenko’s radical approach proposed a new understanding of a constructed, rather than a tastefully composed, culture. This concise, comprehensive and informative work focuses largely on Rodchenko’s graphic work in the form of book jackets, posters and advertising. Also avaliable: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 Peter Blake ISBN: 9781851496181 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 David Mellor ISBN: 9781851496037 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778

Rabindranath Tagore: His World of Art focuses on the artist’s world, including cultural influence, visual development and use of color both in his art and in his writing. It features his work in the context of German Expressionism, his role in the development of a modern art in India, his idea of aesthetics and its introduction into Santiniketan as well as accounts of his exhibitions and his interaction with the global art world. This volume traces the course of the artist’s life; his paintings are discussed chronologically, his unique perspective is reflected throughout his writing, and has now been translated from Bengali into English. A brilliant insight into his life and influences and the impact that his work has within the international art scene.

In New York, Jason Nazmiyal has a rug collection like no other. For the past three decades, interior designers and collectors have flocked to his Manhattan gallery to source art for the floor, be it a treasured antique classical carpet, an elegant Art Deco rug, or a Scandinavian minimalist piece. This book delves into the history of the handmade carpet across the world, before looking at the many ways rugs can be used to bring together interiors in a variety of styles. From a Mid-Century Modern residence to a contemporary urban sanctuary and a classic Upper East Side apartment, there is a rug for every space. With stunning interior photography and full of practical advice for the professional decorator as well as the amateur enthusiast, this publication is a useful and beautiful addition to the library of anyone with an interest in interior decoration.  

British realist art of the 1920s and 1930s is visually stunning – strong, seductive and demonstrating extraordinary technical skill. Despite this, it is often overshadowed by abstract art. This book presents the very first overview of British realist painting of the period, showcasing outstanding works from private and public collections across the UK. Of the forty artists featured in the show, many were major figures in the 1920s and 1930s but later passed out of fashion as abstraction and Pop Art became the dominant trends in the post-war years. In the last decade their work has re-emerged and interest in them has grown. Interwar realist art embraces a number of different styles, but is characterized by fine drawing, meticulous craftsmanship, a tendency towards classicism and an aversion to impressionism and visible brushwork. Artists such as Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, Meredith Frampton, James Cowie and Winifred Knights combine fastidious Old Master detail with 1920s modernity. Stanley Spencer spans various camps while Lucian Freud’s early work can be seen as a realist coda which continued into the 1940s and beyond. Featuring many Scottish and women artists, this book promises a fascinating insight into this captivating period of British art. Contents: Introductory essay: About British Realist Painting Main essay entitled “What sort of Truth?” British Realist Painting between the Wars Urban and Rural Society/War Domestic Leisure/Play/Spectacle Still Life Artists’ biographies Bibliography

The 2000s proved a turning point for the skateboard and its relationship to art. Previously restricted to practical use, the skate deck left the pavement to appear on the walls of galleries and auction houses. Such was the advent of an entirely new contemporary art movement, laconically baptized Skate Art. From silk-screening to Posca markers, from repurposing and twisted shapes to upcycling broken boards, SkateArt is an anthology of specialized and eclectic decks made by artists from all over the world. Text in English and French.

Afro Libio Basaldella (Udine, 1912-Zurich, 1976) was perhaps the most renowned member of the Friuli Avant-garde Movement, which influenced his approach towards a more Expressionist sense of painting that had always been based on traditional Venetian Colorism. In the 1940s, Afro joined the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti, and following a visit to the United States, he joined the Gruppo degli Otto, with whom he exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1952. Although in certain aspects his style seemed similar to American Action Painting, his harmonious tonal modulation and later research into abstract shapes and forms produced intellectually sophisticated results. This is the catalog of the first French retrospective of the artist, held at the Tornabuoni Art Gallery in Paris, showing works ranging from the 1930s to the 1970.

Contents:
Preface by Philip Rylands;
Afro, his work by Philip Rylands;
Afro and the New York art scene by Barbara Drudi;
Letters and writings selected by Barbara Drudi;
Critical anthology selected by Philip Rylands;
The exposition of 1949 at the MoMA by Davide Colombo;
The Garden of Hope by Anne Monfort.

The relationship Ernst Gamperl, an artist of international renown, has developed with wood as a living material and the acknowledgment of inescapable serendipity are a source of creative inspiration as well as the driving forces behind his work – a work revolving around the artist’s deep connection with nature and respect for his raw material. The wood worked by Gamperl sometimes comes from majestic trees tens or even hundreds of years old – grown in nature, it is nature that has often sent these unmistakable creatures crashing down.
Trees are an integral part of creation, symbols of life and strength that Gamperl has studied and “perceived” for many years in symbiosis with their essence and nature. His ability to combine an unconventional approach to the material with a revolutionary technique and an original interpretation honed over many years results in works that stand out for their elegance and charisma. Gamperl stretches technique to its limits in creating powerful sculptures that unfailingly stir the viewer, who discovers something never before encountered.

Text in English, Italian and German.

The Miller Ceramic Art Collection features masterpieces highlighting the artistic ideals of numerous luminaries of mid-twentieth century to early twenty-first century American ceramic art. In addition, the collection includes important examples of European and Japanese ceramic artworks of the same period. Marlin Miller’s profound understanding of materials began with ceramic engineering. His interest in brick and its role in architecture informs a keen eye for surface texture, dimension and materiality.

The publication is a comprehensive presentation of one of the world’s most distinguished private collections of contemporary studio ceramics, and an observation on the correlation between ceramics and architecture. With contributions by Meghen Jones, Sequoia Miller, Michael McKinnell and Wayne Higby.

‘The Indian tribal art, a new field of exploration of contemporary art’ – Le Monde.
India’s cultural richness makes it an endlessly fascinating country. India is known for its profusion of sacred art reaching back several thousand years, but we are less aware of the fact that over 60 million Indians come from the several hundred miscellaneous tribes with which the country is studded. The Indian government has done more than any other to preserve and give visibility to its tribal and popular art and since 1976 the Indian authorities have regularly accorded the great names in tribal art the same status as those in the modern art that has followed independence. These are India’s ‘other Masters’, as the title of an exhibition held in New Delhi in 1998 put it. At the instigation of the great modern painter and guru Jagdish Swaminathan, the year 1982 saw the inauguration in the very heart of India of the Bharat Bhavan, the first museum to give an equal standing to contemporary artists from both dominant and minority cultures. The groundbreaking historical figures among these other masters, such as Jangarh Singh Shyam and Jivya Soma Mashe, who were present in the historic exhibition Magicians of the Earth (Centre Pompidou, 1989), are enjoying a burgeoning international reputation. Their works are now on display in the great private collections, from the Devi Art Foundation to the Fondation Cartier, and the international press, ranging from the New York Times to Le Monde and including The Hindu, have celebrated these artists’ imaginative range. India astonishes once again through its extraordinary capacity simultaneously to provide a stage for all the best examples of contemporary art generated by its diverse cultures, whether they be dominant, minority, global, local, urban or rural. Like contemporary art, India is itself multi-faceted. One word, manifold cultures.

“Outsider art” is the name given to the idiosyncratic work of self-taught creators who are driven to use their own invented visual language to bring forth images from their imaginations. It is outside the continuum of art history, outside the boundaries of art recognized by established art institutions, and outside the collective discourse of the mainstream art world. This book examines the underlying biases, ideologies, and social factors that inform the various approaches to outsider art, including myths surrounding mental illness, movements toward social inclusion, and movements away from the marginalizing effect of labels. Most importantly, Outsider Art of Canada explores how we think about art and who is entitled to call themselves an artist. In this survey dedicated to outsider art in Canada, the first of its kind, the artists introduced have much to tell us about their need to create, unapologetically and without regard to public opinion.