Formula 1 is the aesthete’s ultimate sport: an intoxicating cocktail of speed, spectacle, competition and power, at the heart of which are the thoroughbred racing machines – exquisite manifestations of form following function, driven at dizzying speeds by the quickest-of-the-quick, the best racing drivers on the planet. Darren Heath has been photographing Formula 1 for over 25 years. For 21 of these years he has worked freelance, and this has given him a unique perspective on the complex and exciting world of Formula 1. Darren Heath’s photography in Art Of The Race V17 encapsulates the very essence of the speed, noise, excitement and color of Formula 1 racing, whilst also highlighting the key moments of each race as the season unfolds, culminating in Lewis Hamilton winning his 4th world championship.

This delightfully illustrated volume introduces children and their families to the arts of the Indian subcontinent, spanning nearly two thousand years of artwork. Young readers will explore ancient lore, royal palaces, sacred sites, lush nature, and more, through more than sixty works from the rich collection of the San Diego Museum of Art. Interactive features provide opportunities for further investigation of the themes, history, and artistic techniques discussed in the book. Peacocks and Palaces: Exploring the Art of India is the second instalment in the “Art Unframed” series from the San Diego Museum of Art, which guides children and families toward a deeper understanding of important traditions in the history of art through works in the Museum’s permanent collection.

The !Xun & Khwe Art Project was developed in 1993 in a refugee camp in Schmidtsdrift, South Africa. After being party to the struggles for liberation from colonial rule, endangered groups of San people from Namibia and Angola were relocated there. They eventually found their final home in the self-governing South African community of Platfontein. The art of the !Xun and Khwe came about during the short period of transition from a traditional way of life to a modern, globalized society. This is what makes them unique. The collection of Hella Rabbethge-Schiller reveals the remarkable creativity and visual expressiveness of the artists. Despite otherwise depending on oral transmission, the San have captured their stories for posterity here in images charged with energy.

Text in English and German.

The Art & Times of Daniel Jocz presents the entrancing and challenging work of American jewelry artist and sculptor Daniel Jocz. There is a spontaneous quality to the work, yet it is always rich with meaning. His open spirit is fully embodied in the 2007 neckpiece series An American’s Riff on the Millstone Ruff. Inspired by the extravagant scale of 17th-century Dutch ruffs at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, he decided to update them with automobile paint.

Jeannine Falino takes an in-depth look at the twists and turns of Jocz’s long career, from his early geometric sculptures to the fashion-forward flocked Candy Wear collection, and from his ruminations on Marlene Dietrich in the form of necklaces featuring enamel smoked cigarettes to the wall reliefs he explores today. Wendy Steiner considers Jocz’s place in the avant-garde through the lens of fashion and culture, while Patricia Harris and David Lyon explore his involvement in the rollicking Boston jewelry scene of the late 20th century.

In previous studies, Jan Strybol pointed out that – contrary to popular belief – sculpture flourished in northern Nigeria. Wood sculptures could be found just about everywhere, with the exception of part of the Far North. In this study, the author first examines the sculptural traditions of a number of peoples in central Nigeria, more specifically from the Jos Plateau and from the Middle Benue Valley to the source area of the Taraba River. These peoples can be described as non-centralized communities where art was mainly produced in perishable materials by part-time artists, in contrast to the centralized empires in the South (Ife, Benin) where full-time specialist sculptors created complex artefacts in durable materials (stone, bronze, iron).
Perhaps the most familiar ethnic group in the Central Benue region to lovers of African art are the Mumuye. Since the end of the last century, as a result of the advance of world religions, the traditional rites of the Mumuye have rapidly disappeared and with them the Mumuye sculptural tradition so much admired in Europe and America.
In addition to wood sculptures, Jan Strybol also pays attention to objects in bronze, iron, terracotta and other materials. These art forms have been very underexposed until now and have almost completely vanished. Finally, the author also delves into the artistic achievements of some little-known remnant groups within the Mumuye territory, which can boast of a rich art tradition.

This book considers how and why people bought, sold, donated, and received works of art during Japan’s Edo period (1600-1868), when opportunities to obtain art increased as audiences for art expanded. Many urbanites enjoyed money in their pockets and access to information, which allowed them to emerge as influential consumers. With this, patronage of art by a small cohort of powerful and wealthy individuals gave way to support of art by a broader audience and, concurrently, exchanges between those making art and those acquiring art developed into new and dynamic interactions. The study of Edo-period art acquisition is comparatively new, but important to those seeking greater knowledge about art objects, as well as many others looking to understand the social life of visual forms. Some contributors to this volume examine broad themes like art and the marketplace, or art and political dissent; others explore cases of ownership by ranking officials, imperial ladies, temple abbots, and business entrepreneurs. As a whole, the book allows for a deeper understanding of Edo-period acquisition practices, as well as a fuller comprehension of the vital connections between Japanese art and its audiences.

Urban media art is one of the most significant trends currently unfolding in contemporary art. It enables artists to develop new participative and interactive forms of art. The wealth of examples in this volume show how these scenarios are reflected in an urban context, including themes such as urban activism, telepresence, place-making, sensing and ecology. What Urban Media Art Can Do is based on the cultural project ‘Connecting Cities’ sponsored by the EU, which studies the effects of urban media art on urban culture and its environment, architecture and participative urban development (co-creative cities). The aim is an expanding worldwide network of media façades, urban screens and projection surfaces within the urban space.

From the end of the 19th century onwards, jewelry became an important vehicle for the formal experimentation and plastic innovation of its time, thanks to the development of knowledge about stone, the techniques used to produce it and the development of the art of jewelry. Books and exhibitions showcase this leading decorative art, which accompanied Romanticism in all its forms. It accompanied Romanticism in its final stages before adopting the emerging Art Nouveau repertoire.

Text in English and French.

Master printmaker Liu Chunjie is renowned for his beautiful woodcut art. Born to land reclamation workers in Heilongjiang Province’s 856 Farm, Lui began life in a remote part of China that was deemed to be a place of cultural exile. But it is here that a vibrant chapter in the history of contemporary Chinese printmaking, known as Beidahuang Prints, was born.

Living and breathing woodcut art, Liu takes the reader on a personal journey through his life’s work. Written in beautiful poetic prose, Liu describes how his art and the techniques he uses have developed over time, culminating in a stunning body of work that has made him the celebrated artist he is today.

Having experimented with colored ink, installation art and mixed-media painting, it is the spirit of woodcut that remains the foundation of Liu’s art. Using ancient tools and materials, he creates works that embody modern concepts, elevating the essence of woodcut art to a new level.

Darren Heath has been photographing Formula 1 for over 25 years. For 21 of these years he has worked freelance, and this has given him a unique perspective on the complex and exciting world of Formula 1. Darren Heath’s photography in Art Of The Race encapsulates the very essence of the speed, noise, excitement and color of Formula 1 racing, whilst also highlighting the key moments of each race as the season unfolds, culminating in Nico Rosberg winning his first and last F1 title. Also available: Art of the Race – V14 ISBN 9780993240713 Art of the Race – V15 ISBN 9780993240737

Yaozhou ware is one of the finest Chinese celadons, made in north China over a period of 700 years, from the 7th to the 14th centuries. Their style developed and changed over time. In the Tang dynasty (618-906) black, brown, lead glazed and black-on-white painted ceramics were made. During the Five Dynasties period (907-960) a technical peak was achieved, and white-bodied wares with beautiful blue-green glazes appeared. During the Northern Song and Jin dynasties (906-1279) more olive-toned celadon glazes became the norm, their intricate decoration and lustrous surfaces supplying a unique aesthetic. At the end of the Jin dynasty the kilns declined and started to manufacture folk ware.

Yaozhou Wares from Museums and Art Institutes Around the World gathers illustrations and descriptions of some of the finest Yaozhou wares in private and public collections around the globe. The account considers ceramics in sections, according to their form and decoration, and includes the finest-quality ‘official wares’ requisitioned for imperial use. Copious illustrations are augmented by a scholarly essay. Highlighting over 400 pieces of Yaozhou ware, the book contains 711 color and 3 black-and-white illustrations from 56 major museums and art institutes, and will inspire collectors, students and anyone with a love for Chinese ceramics.

The Bargue-Gérôme Drawing Course is a complete reprint of a famous, late nineteenth century drawing course. It contains a set of almost two hundred masterful lithographs of subjects for copying by drawing students before they attempt drawing from life or nature. Consequently it is a book that will interest artists, art students, art historians, and lovers and collectors of drawings. It also introduces us to the work and life of a hitherto neglected master: Charles Bargue.

The Drawing Course consists of three sections. The first consists of plates drawn after casts, usually of antique examples. Different parts of the body are studied in order of difficulty, until full figures are presented. The second section pays homage to the western school of painting with lithographs after exemplary drawings by Renaissance and modern masters. The third part contains almost sixty académies or drawings after nude male models, all original inventions by Bargue, the lithographer. With great care, the student is introduced to continually more difficult problems in the close observing and recording of nature.

Practiced professional artists will see at once the problems of representation that are approached by Bargue, and they will delight in his solutions. Figure painters will copy the plates to keep in tune; so to speak, much as pianists practice the exercises of Czerny before performing Beethoven. Art students will find it a practical and progressive introduction to realistic figure drawing. Art historians can learn by studying these drawings just what was prized in late nineteenth century figure painting. They will recognize the reliance upon tradition by the use of antique sculptures as models in the first part: Antiquity is here used, not to impose a classical style, but as an aid in seeing the structure of the human body with clarity and intelligence. The result is a convergence of Classicism and Realism. There are no numerical proportional charts, perspective boxes or geometrical schemata to memorize. All the techniques and schemata are developed out of and for the object or person in view.

The drawings are splendid; beautiful; not simply products of assiduity, but of careful observation and the wish to transcribe and communicate the beauty of nature and light, as well as the manifold appearances of the human body. These are objectives that will touch and move any careful reader of drawings, and the figurative arts.

Text in French.
The Bargue-Gérôme Drawing Course is a complete reprint of a famous, late nineteenth century drawing course. It contains a set of almost two hundred masterful lithographs of subjects for copying by drawing students before they attempt drawing from life or nature. Consequently it is a book that will interest artists, art students, art historians, and lovers and collectors of drawings. It also introduces us to the work and life of a hitherto neglected master: Charles Bargue. The Drawing Course consists of three sections. The first consists of plates drawn after casts, usually of antique examples. Different parts of the body are studied in order of difficulty, until full figures are presented. The second section pays homage to the western school of painting with lithographs after exemplary drawings by Renaissance and modern masters. The third part contains almost sixty académies or drawings after nude male models, all original inventions by Bargue, the lithographer. With great care, the student is introduced to continually more difficult problems in the close observing and recording of nature. Practiced professional artists will see at once the problems of representation that are approached by Bargue, and they will delight in his solutions. Figure painters will copy the plates to keep in tune; so to speak, much as pianists practice the exercises of Czerny before performing Beethoven. Art students will find it a practical and progressive introduction to realistic figure drawing. Art historians can learn by studying these drawings just what was prized in late nineteenth century figure painting. They will recognize the reliance upon tradition by the use of antique sculptures as models in the first part: Antiquity is here used, not to impose a classical style, but as an aid in seeing the structure of the human body with clarity and intelligence. The result is a convergence of Classicism and Realism. There are no numerical proportional charts, perspective boxes or geometrical schemata to memorize. All the techniques and schemata are developed out of and for the object or person in view. The drawings are splendid; beautiful; not simply products of assiduity, but of careful observation and the wish to transcribe and communicate the beauty of nature and light, as well as the manifold appearances of the human body. These are objectives that will touch and move any careful reader of drawings, and the figurative arts. Text in French.

Master printmaker Liu Chunjie is renowned for his beautiful woodcut art. Born to land reclamation workers in Heilongjiang Province’s 856 Farm, Lui began life in a remote part of China that was deemed to be a place of cultural exile. But it is here that a vibrant chapter in the history of contemporary Chinese printmaking, known as Beidahuang Prints, was born.

Living and breathing woodcut art, Liu takes the reader on a personal journey through his life’s work. Written in beautiful poetic prose, Liu describes how his art and the techniques he uses have developed over time, culminating in a stunning body of work that has made him the celebrated artist he is today.

Having experimented with colored ink, installation art and mixed-media painting, it is the spirit of woodcut that remains the foundation of Liu’s art. Using ancient tools and materials, he creates works that embody modern concepts, elevating the essence of woodcut art to a new level.

The National Galleries of Scotland is home to the most important collection of Scottish art in the world. This beautifully illustrated book introduces the collection through 100 works, specially chosen by the curatorial team who care for them.
The selection ranges chronologically from a 16th-century portrait of a Scottish king to 21st-century instalations and prints. Some of the most famous painters in Scotland’s history feature alongside some of the finest artists working in Scotland today. Many of the most distinctive movements in Scotland’s artistic heritage are represented, including the Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts, the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
Each of the 100 works is reproduced alongside a text by one of 23 three expert contributors. The introduction gives an overview of the collection and Scottish art history more broadly. It is perfect for those who already love Scottish art, and those who are yet to discover its riches.  

Looted Art & Restitution relates the history of the trade, looting and restitution of works of art from the Netherlands before, during and after World War II. Countless artworks ended up in German hands during the occupation. The allies recovered a large number of works of art to the Netherlands after the war. It was the Dutch government’s task to return looted or forcibly sold works to their original owners. The mostly Jewish claimants, however, often encountered bureaucratic and unwilling authorities. Meanwhile, most of the artworks were distributed over museums and depots or auctioned off.

It was not until the late 1990s that, in accordance with international developments, the restitution policy became much more humane and a search for the rightful owners was implemented.

The best art isn’t just created in art schools. Scratched into cave walls, molded in clay, embroidered onto clothing, sketched in the margins, painted on scrap cardboard in time snatched after work, perhaps in secret. Art is not only made inside academies and institutions by people with money and training, though sometimes the canon suggests otherwise. From Ukrainian pansky eggs to politically charged quilts, these 65 artworks challenge our preconceptions about what constitutes art, how it should be made and who should make it. 

The Ashmolean is fortunate in having the finest collection of Indian art in Britain outside London, one which includes many works of great beauty and expressive power. For this we are indebted above all to the generosity, knowledge and taste of our benefactors and donors from the 17th century to the present. This book offers a short account of how the collection developed and a selection of some of its more outstanding or interesting works of art. While it is written mainly for the general reader and museum visitor, it includes many fine objects or pictures, some of them unpublished, that should interest specialist scholars and students.

Since 1987, the Ashmolean has made many significant new acquisitions of Indian art and these are highlighted in this collection. As the book’s title implies, it also ventures beyond the bounds of the Indian subcontinent by including works from Afghanistan and Central Asian Silk Road sites as well as many from Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia. From the early centuries AD, Indian trading links with these diverse regions of Asia led to a widespread cultural diffusion and regional adoptions of Buddhism and Hinduism along with their related arts. Local reinterpretations of such Indic subjects, themes and styles then grew into flourishing and enduring artistic traditions which are also part of the story of this book.

The selection of works ends around 1900. By the 16th century and the early modern period in India, growing European interventions and Western artistic influences under Mughal rule saw a significant shift in sensibility and the practice of more secular and naturalistic forms of court art such as portraiture. By the late 19th century, fundamental cultural changes under British rule and the advent of new technologies brought about a gradual decline in many of India’s traditional arts.

This is the 4th volume in the Artists’ Pigments series published initally by the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and Oxford University Press.This volume is published by the National Gallery of Art in association with Archetype Publications The pigments covered in this volume are : – Pigments based on Carbon (by John Winter and Elisabeth West Fitzhugh) – Iron Oxide Pigments (natural and synthetic) (Kate Helwig) – Asphalt (Catarina Bothe) – Cobalt Blue (Ashok Roy) – Arylide (Hansa) Yellow Pigments (Susan Lake and Suzanne Lomax) This series is aimed : – For the practicing artist to learn a pigment’s color, hiding power, lightfastness, toxicity, compatibility – For the art historian to know how an artist worked, what pigments were used, whether they were pure or mixed, opaque or tranparent, layered or not – For the conservator to devise techniques necessary for care and conservation of works of art; to determine what is original, to repair damages, to compensate for missing portions of a painted surface – For the curator/connoisseur to know the history of manufacture and use of pigments to authenticate and assign probable dates to works of art – For the conservation scientist to learn identification methods used, including optical microscopy, microchemical tests, x-ray diffraction, infrared and reflectance spectrophotometry, and electron microscopy Review Volume 4 has the same high standard of content, clarity and production as its predecessors, making it easy to use for reference and enjoyable to browse ICON News September 2007

This book brings together what is known of the material aspects of the paintings of East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), covering the components used, painting structures, certain aspects of painting techniques, and the mechanisms of deterioration. It concentrates on those works in the mainstream of art history, largely paintings on flexible supports and typically mounted as scrolls. The author bases his account on what is known from the available historical literature, on research published by colleagues worldwide, and on his own research of over thirty-five years at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

The eleven painting fragments from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun that were brought to the British Museum in the early 19th century have long been recognized as some of the finest examples of ancient Egyptian art and have been considered among the greatest treasures of the British Museum. This book is an account of the work of the team of curators, conservators and scientists to examine and conserve the painting fragments (and their history) before preparing them for display in a new exhibition in Gallery 61 at the British Museum. The British Museum team has identified the materials and techniques that were used by the ancient Egyptian artists, and the numerous interventions that have been undertaken in the past to preserve and restore the paintings.

The papers presented here are the result of 50 years research in this field at the Freer. The subjects of study include Chinese bronze and iron, Himalayan, and Cambodian sculpture; Japanese paintings; jewelry from East Asia to Europe, and much more.

Throughout Asia’s history, sculptural arts have encompassed a variety of processes, including carving, modeling, casting, and assembling. Scientific investigations presented in this book include studies of Southeast Asian jade, Chinese bronzes, Mongolian deer stones, Japanese polychrome sculpture, and others. Scientific study of sculpture helps us learn more about why, where, and how these works were made as well as address concerns about the state of their preservation and conservation. This is the third in an ongoing series on the results of the annual Forbes Symposium sponsored by the Freer Gallery of Art on research in the field of Asian art.

The first title, Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art, edited by Paul Jett with Janet G. Douglas, Blythe McCarthy, and John Winter, was published in 2003 (ISBN 9781873132388, $95.00); the second, Scientific Research on the Pictorial Arts of Asia, edited by Paul Jett, John Winter, and Blythe McCarthy, was published in 2005 (9781873132746, $95.00). All three volumes are published by Archetype Books in association with the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.