Art for Tribal Rituals is the outcome of extensive fieldwork carried out by Eberhard Fischer and Haku Shah in South Gujarat in 1969. After an initial survey tour to locate village shrines and sacred pilgrimage sites, as well as specialists in rituals and crafts, the two art-anthropologists stayed in the field to observe as silent participants oracle and spirit-healing sessions, a death ceremony and the worship of local deities by the village communities. Fischer and Shah documented their experiences in unprecedentedly detailed photographic sequences, and as well, took precise notation of what they observed. In addition, they spoke to the specialists and carefully noted their comments, which are reproduced in this book as individual “ indigenous voices ”.
This book of 528 pages and 823 photographs thus presents painted stones, large wooden stone-slabs and figures – representations of bodies for otherwise unsettled souls of the dead – but also monumental wooden crocodiles, revered with piles of terracotta votive offerings. They also documented the production, installation and worship of these icons and ritual objects. An astonishing variety of expressive forms are displayed by these spectacular field photographs, taken half a century ago.
This publication is a tribute to the artistic and ritualistic accomplishments of Adivasi ritual leaders, healers, and craftspeople of the past in a once remote area of Western India.
“Prepare to be inspired at National Galleries Scotland: Modern One, as Everlyn Nicodemus opens her first retrospective this Saturday” — The NEN
“Experience Everlyn’s joyful, defiant and searingly honest artworks, with over 80 drawings, collages, paintings and textiles from over 40 years of her career, from 1980 through to the present day.” — Art Daily
This is the first major publication on the artist Everlyn Nicodemus and accompanies the first ever retrospective of her 40-year career. It offers a fascinating introduction to her life, career and art.
This book introduces readers to Nicodemus’s practice – from the very first work she painted to newly commissioned oil paintings. Many of Nicodemus’s drawings, collages, paintings and textiles are published here for the first time.
Nicodemus engages with complex subject matters, unflinchingly addressing human suffering and societal responsibility. While her works convey and process traumatic experiences, they are ultimately hopeful, focusing on healing and the power of creativity. This publication will reveal the scope and ambition of this astonishing artist’s practice.
Expert contributors offer new insights into Nicodemus’s practice, including a new interview with the artist. Exhibition curator Stephanie Straine explains and contextualizes the rich pages of artworks, drawing on extensive primary research with the artist and her archives.
Giovanni Morelli changed the way we look at art. Before Morelli (1816-1891), the attribution of a painting to a particular artist or school was often based on overall impression, hearsay, even gut feeling. But Morelli, having trained as a medical doctor to look closely at anatomical detail, applied scientific rigor to understanding the works of masters such as Titian, Leonardo, and Raphael, and of other Renaissance and Baroque painters. By closely scrutinising, analysing and comparing details overlooked by most other collectors, critics, and curators, his radical ‘Morellian method’ became the basis of modern art connoisseurship. A proud Italian of Swiss Protestant heritage, Morelli was also a staunch patriot. He risked his life in the Italian Wars of Independence, and was elected four times to the parliament of the newly unified nation. In 1873 he was nominated senator for life. As a statesman he fought for his homeland’s cultural patrimony: at a time when many of Italy’s great art collections were being snapped up by foreign collectors and museums, he introduced some of the world’s first legislation to prevent their loss to the nation. The Life of Giovanni Morelli in Risorgimento Italy is the first full biography of this important figure, including his romantic friendships with remarkable women such as Clementina Frizzoni, Laura Acton Minghetti (wife of the Italian prime minister), and Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria and subsequently empress of Germany). At his death he bequeathed his art collection to the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the birthplace of his mother, a city he loved.
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
Electric, outrageous, erotic, rebellious – rock concert posters are the visual equivalent of the music they advertise. The Art of Rock traces the history of this energising art form from the bold letterpress posters advertising Elvis’s early shows, through the multi-coloured fantasies of the psychedelic era, to the avant-garde collages of new wave and punk. More than 1,500 posters and other graphics – tickets, backstage passes, buttons, handbills – are presented in their original blazing colour (or their stark black and white, as the case may be). The text features dozens of exclusive interviews with musicians, concert promoters, and the poster artists themselves, including legends like Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, or Wes Wilson – who also designed the cover of this book. A visual journey through 30 years of rock and roll, as well as a valuable reference, The Art of Rock is an essential volume for every music lover (and art lover).
From illuminated manuscripts to two fried eggs and a kebab (and all the paintings in-between). What’s so great about Hogarth? Why should we care about an unmade bed? And who on earth is Banksy? Well, this book won’t answer all your questions, but it will tell you everything you need to know, and nothing that you don’t. Featuring 50 of the very best and most interesting British artworks from the dawn of history to the present day, alongside color reproductions and pithy explanations of key movements and terms, this guide tells the story of British art as you’ve never heard it before. The first book in a new series of Opinionated Guides on art movements, mediums and ideas which builds on the success of Hoxton Mini Press Opinionated Guides to London.
From patterned silks and porcelains to printed cottons and earthenwares, art and commodities flowed through Ottoman Constantinople, eddying around artisans, shop-keepers, residents and visitors. Guilds of spoon-makers and workers in mother-of-pearl, textile merchants from India and Italy, sellers of coffee and ceramics together thronged neighborhoods up and down the Bosphorus and along the Golden Horn. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the art and material culture of the Ottoman Empire, taking as its premise the key role of every day activities. It also argues for new modes of studying all kinds of mass-produced goods destined for popular consumption. Also available in the series: Mshatta in Berlin: Keystone in Islamic Art, Connecting Histories in the Museum Vol. 1 ISBN 9783862063970 Praying for Myriad Virtues: On Ding Guanpeng’s ‘The Buddha Peaching’ in the Berlin Collection, Connecting Art Histories in the Museum Vol. 3 ISBN 9783862064786
The Ashcan School and The Eight are now recognized as America’s first modern art movement: rejecting their academic training and the practices of the National Academy of Design, they forged a new art that represented America’s shifting values. By focusing on urban streets scenes, the lives of immigrants, popular entertainments, and the working poor, this loosely affiliated group of artists became synonymous with ordinary, everyday subjects — in the words of one critic, “pictures of ashcans.” Yet this is only part of their story: they also experimented with complex color theory and embraced scientific studies about movement and perception, while also creating scenes of bourgeois leisure and society portraits in attempts to reconcile their high-art practices with their populist reputations.
This catalog features nearly 130 works across media, including paintings, drawings, pastels, and prints — rarely seen objects and popular favorites. Collectively these works emphasize the Ashcan School’s and The Eight’s valuable contributions to the formation of American modernism at the beginning of the 20th century.
“The well-judged employment of classical detail in a new home has an additional significance that cannot be underestimated. It is an expression of an informed personal choice and an evocation of the delight in the human senses. This is true of all the houses featured in this book.” Jeremy Musson
“The architects and craftsmen that Phillip has featured in this wonderful book all have a love for classical detail. The art is alive and well, as can be attested to in these pages.” David Easton
In The Art of Classical Details, Phillip James Dodd takes a close-up look at some of the finest examples of contemporary classical architecture. The book consists of two chapters: The Essays and The Projects. Starting with a foreword by renowned decorator David Easton, The Essays are written by some of today’s most sought after architects, scholars and craftsmen. Accompanied by sumptuous full page photographs and renderings that illustrate a use of fine materials, intricate detailing, and superb artisanship, these insightful texts are essential reading for anyone with an interest in the theory, practice and craft of classical design. The Projects presents an illustrated look at 25 of today’s finest classically-designed homes. Employing the theories prescribed in the writings of the first chapter, this portfolio of contemporary buildings exhibits the work of some of the most recognizable and celebrated architects in Great Britain and the United States. The work featured in within this book demonstrates the timeless beauty of classicism, and delights in the role that superbly crafted details play in creating art.
The jarring emptiness following the loss of a loved one, the expansive out-of-body sensation of sensual touch, the lassitude of melancholy and the ecstatic receptivity to sunshine. His ability to capture and convey sensation and feelings through the materials of art, places the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944) at the forefront of European art at the turn of the last century.
Interestingly, Munch’s artistic exploration of perception, and his persistent questioning of the objectivity of vision, intersect with ideas that matured within the fields of psychology and experimental optics at the time.
Edvard Munch: Inner Fire examines these connections, demonstrating his continuing exploration of the conditions of sight. The essays in this catalogue examine this phenomenon while also probing a lesser-known aspect of the artist’s work: Munch’s relationship to Italy.
The first essay, Lasse Jacobsen’s ‘Edvard Munch. Italian Impressions’, explores this connection explicitly, as part of a general overview of Munch’s life and work.
The second text, ‘Reflections in Munch’s Inner Eye’ by Patricia G. Berman, charts the art historical context of Munch’s exploration of experience’s subjective dimension. Emil Leth Meilvang’s ‘Seeing without Sight. Munch’s Vision’, on its part, explores the relationship between Munch’s artistic development and simultaneous developments within the perceptual sciences. Edvard Munch. Inner Fire includes essayistic pieces by authors Melania G. Mazzucco and Hanne Ørstavik: ‘I am a Romantic’ and ‘Who Am I’. Each demonstrates Munch’s continuing ability to light the inner fires of other artists.
The latest instalment of the International ARC Salon Competition, featuring over a thousand original works of art.
Determined to restore the universal language of realism in the visual arts, a group of fine artists and experts formed the Art Renewal Center in 1999. Since their genesis, this non-profit educational foundation has dedicated itself to encouraging rigorous skill-based training in the methods of the Old Masters, bestowing the title of ‘ARC Approved’ on ateliers who share their core values and demonstrate technical mastery. Their annual competition is the largest and most prestigious for realist-based art in the USA, arguably the world. This year’s winners demonstrate the great breadth and originality that can be found in all facets of fine art.
Categories include: Figurative, Portraiture, Imaginative Realism, Landscape, Animals, Sculpture, Drawing, Still Life, Plein Air and the DaVinci Initiative Award for the Young Aspiring Artists.
The exhibition We Are Here (June 2024 – January 2025) adorned the Petit Palais in the colors of street art for the first time ever. Sixty leading artists of the movement, such as Shepard Fairey or Cleon Peterson, exhibited more than 200 works, delighting thousands of spectators.
Through bold and innovative creations, they were able to reinterpret the spaces of this masterpiece created by architect Charles Girault, inviting us to think about the evolution of art and society.
Open to everyone, We Are Here was much more than just an exhibition: it demonstrated that art is always in motion, and that its forms are constantly renewed; it also showed that it was possible to go beyond the stereotypes that sometimes still surround street art, while it also confirmed its diversity and richness.
This beautiful book will immerse you in the heart of the design of this astounding creative challenge.
We Are Here is a shining example of Paris’s commitment to celebrating all forms of art.
Text in English and French.
Catalog of the exhibition Parmiggiani dedicated to the artist Claudio Parmiggiani by Tornabuoni Art Paris gallery from October 2023 to January 2024. The exhibition will be the first entirely devoted to the artist’s Delocazioni series.
Offering previously unpublished texts by Bruno Corà, Andrea Cortellessa and Philippe Dagen, the catalog traces the stages of the artistic research of Parmiggiani, who was born in Luzzara in 1943 and is recognized as one of the leading artists on the Italian and international art scene. The exhibition offers a selection of works conceived in situ by the artist. Made with fire, dust and smoke, his first Delocazioni were born in the 1970s in Modena as a reflection on absence, shadow and trace.
The catalog is enriched with texts from his work-books published since 1970, quotations from the artist, photos from the exhibition and archival images in collaboration with Parmiggiani’s studio.
The work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva (PSD) synthesizes ideas from modernism, Shingle Style, and New England vernacular architecture into special homes that are carefully crafted for each different site and client. PSD’s poetic architecture reflects on the joy of living by the New England coast, and this major new monograph, The Art of Creating Houses: Polhemus Savery DaSilva, beautifully presents that work and the ideas embodied within it. This lavishly illustrated and clearly written coverage of PSD’s most recent work features 27 select homes designed and built by the firm. This stunning volume also contains a foreword by Brian Vanden Brink; an introduction by Victor Deupi, PhD; and text by John R. DaSilva, FAIA, the firm’s Design Principal. This new volume is a brilliant companion to the firm’s earlier monographs, namely Living Where Land Meets the Sea, Shingled Houses in the Summer Sun, and Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer.
Globalization has forced us to stop thinking that art only exists in the West. The very notion of art was invented by the West and refers to the learned version of its material culture. It was then projected onto other civilizations, particularly Asian ones, and finally onto the preliterate societies of Africa and Oceania.
Whether or not these cultures possess the concept of art is of little importance, because when they honor their gods, they inevitably address what they consider to be the acme of beauty. For a long time, this openness to other aesthetics was based on the arts of the past, until it was finally accepted that there were living creators in these distant lands, and that today’s means of communication have brought them closer to us.
These “others” who appeared in the 1980s are by no means a homogenous group. Without stretching this analysis too far, they can be regarded as falling into two categories: those who have opted for modernity and submit to the demands of the market and Western based institutions, and those who concentrate on giving visual expression to their communities and beliefs, ignoring the demands of the art market. Australian Aboriginal art represents an intermediate situation, since alongside art of a sacred nature, there are works deliberately produced for sale, initially encouraged by missionaries.
Nothing Too Beautiful for the Gods aims to show the variety of works connected with the spiritual impulse, from those used in religious rites to contemporary artworks that refer to them. These hybrid works are often the result of accommodations with modernity. The exhibition and accompanying book bring together altars from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, works by artists invested with religious responsibilities (Didi, Shiraga), works by religious artists (Ramoun) and others by artists who refer explicitly to religions and spirituality (Sooja Kim, El Anatsui, Vasquez de la Horra, Bedia, Boltanski, Viola).
Text in English and French.
Catalog of the exhibition Parmiggiani dedicated to the artist Claudio Parmiggiani by Tornabuoni Art Paris gallery from October 2023 to January 2024. The exhibition will be the first entirely devoted to the artist’s Delocazioni series.
Offering previously unpublished texts by Bruno Corà, Andrea Cortellessa and Philippe Dagen, the catalog traces the stages of the artistic research of Parmiggiani, who was born in Luzzara in 1943 and is recognized as one of the leading artists on the Italian and international art scene. The exhibition offers a selection of works conceived in situ by the artist. Made with fire, dust and smoke, his first Delocazioni were born in the 1970s in Modena as a reflection on absence, shadow and trace.
The catalog is enriched with texts from his work-books published since 1970, quotations from the artist, photos from the exhibition and archival images in collaboration with Parmiggiani’s studio.
Text in French.
“The well-judged employment of classical detail in a new home has an additional significance that cannot be underestimated. It is an expression of an informed personal choice and an evocation of the delight in the human senses. This is true of all the houses featured in this book.” Jeremy Musson
“The architects and craftsmen that Phillip has featured in this wonderful book all have a love for classical detail. The art is alive and well, as can be attested to in these pages.” David Easton
In The Art of Classical Details, Phillip James Dodd takes a close-up look at some of the finest examples of contemporary classical architecture. The book consists of two chapters: The Essays and The Projects. Starting with a foreword by renowned decorator David Easton, The Essays are written by some of today’s most sought after architects, scholars and craftsmen. Accompanied by sumptuous full page photographs and renderings that illustrate a use of fine materials, intricate detailing, and superb artisanship, these insightful texts are essential reading for anyone with an interest in the theory, practice and craft of classical design. The Projects presents an illustrated look at 25 of today’s finest classically-designed homes. Employing the theories prescribed in the writings of the first chapter, this portfolio of contemporary buildings exhibits the work of some of the most recognizable and celebrated architects in Great Britain and the United States. The work featured in within this book demonstrates the timeless beauty of classicism, and delights in the role that superbly crafted details play in creating art.
India is a nation of conflicting realities, where the old and the new, the traditional and modern regularly coexist. Here, the artists are concerned not solely with telling their own tales but also with exploring what it means to live in a nation steeped in tradition.
Within the context of modern and contemporary India, works on paper offered artists a way of cultivating transnational modernist expression while continuing to explore the potential of a medium that had deeper roots in older artistic traditions native to the subcontinent. This volume features over 100 watercolors, drawings, etchings, sketches and lithographs by senior Indian modernists, born primarily before the 1950s and who came of age in the decades directly following Independence in 1947. These artists span the transition from colonial to post-colonial India, embracing both realism and abstraction, exploring complex metaphors, and making political statements that directly engage India’s past, present, and future.
With contributions by Tamara Sears, Michael Mackenzie, Paula Sengupta, Emma Oslé, Darielle Mason, Rebecca M. Brown, Jeffrey Wechsler, Kishore Singh and Swathi Gorle.
“David Brafman, just like the alchemists did, mixes ingredients to make gold.” — The New Scientist
Alchemists are notorious for attempting to synthesize gold. Their goals, however, were far more ambitious: to transform and bend nature to the will of an industrious human imagination. For scientists, philosophers, and artists alike, alchemy seemed to hold the key to unlocking the secrets of creation. Alchemists’ efforts to discover the way the world is made have had an enduring impact on global artistic practice and expression.
Brafman’s book is the first to explore how the art of alchemy globally transformed human creative culture from the ancient world to the modern scientific age, and displays the ways its legacy still permeates the world we make today.
Documenting an alternative history and social commentary by Bangkok’s graffiti and street artists, this insightful and thought-provoking book offers fresh insight into Thai subcultures. Not given a platform elsewhere, street art and graffiti gives artists the opportunity to protest the social injustices they encounter. Through their art, they speak out against dictators and the political elite, as well as the extensive gentrification sweeping Bangkok. In addition, this book is the only visual record of (what was sarcastically named) “Thailand’s Stonehenge”: standing pillars covered in graffiti along the abandoned Hopewell elevated rail line that was supposed to link the city to the airport, a $3 billion dollar project begun in 1990 and mired in corruption. The pillars – the only part of the project that was built – represent the overwhelming corruption that marks the past 20 years in Thailand. They are scheduled to be demolished this year.
Through various thematic perspectives and a range of media, this book will shed new light on the history of Surrealism. With the idea of the unconscious as a turning point, The Savage Eye traces the roots of Surrealism in Symbolism and shows how the two art movements both reflect each other and overlap. Some of the most significant artists in modern art meet here in the murky depths of the human mind, where logic and morality give way to dreams, disturbing impulses, and unbridled desire. In this illuminating book you will become familiar with two radical art movements that both explored the psyche with the aim of establishing a new concept of humanity. Through artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Paul Gauguin, Dora Maar, René Magritte, Lee Miller, Joan Miró, Odilon Redon, and Auguste Rodin we will take you on a journey through the limitless world of the unconscious.
More than 130 works from the collection assembled by Drs Nicole and John Dintenfass over fifty years. The Dintenfass Collection serves as a model and a source of inspiration for new and seasoned collectors alike. A different slant on collecting which is not actually just buying from dealers. A lavishly illustrated book that traces the origin of a collector’s interest in African art and analyzes the psychological aspects driving the passions for collecting. The Nicole and John Dintenfass Collection is well known and based on aesthetics, and the works have been reproduced in many publications. They have collected with passion, diligence, depth and rigor monumental sculptures and wooden miniatures, from most regions of Africa. Focusing on pieces of the highest artistic quality, this book shares the collectors’ personal point of view about collecting and offers to readers anecdotes that provide an additional insight into this world to future and present collectors in their search for African art. Collecting is a passion that often leads to intimate inner conversations or to emotional experiences with the objects themselves. Moreover many collectors share their unique experience of joy and appreciation with twentieth-century artists who also collected African art and who generously imparted advice, suggestions and support in responding to the collectors’ enthusiasm. Thanks to the multiple beautiful and sensitive photographs of each object, the viewer has a chance to form an intimate conversation that creates a connection with those African master carvers that have strongly influenced modern realism, cubism and expressionism.