For the past five years, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire has been organizing Quand fleurir est un art (The Art of Flower Arranging), a captivating event where renowned flower artists and designers from around the world unleash their creativity in the majestic rooms of the castle, creating stunning arrangements ranging from the most daring to the most classic. The Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire’s previous (and last private) owners, the Prince and Princess de Broglie, were avid plant enthusiasts. They took pride in their impressive collections of orchids and exotic green plants, which earned them numerous awards in horticultural competitions during the Belle Époque. Today, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is committed to carrying on this rich legacy, inviting talented floral artists to showcase their artistry and expertize, creating a harmonious fusion of art and nature in the pursuit of beauty. This book offers a nice overview of some of the best creations that were on view during the event. Discover some of the amazing designs made by renowned floral designers such as Makoto Azuma (J), Clarisse Béraud (F), Timo Bolte (D), Rudy Casati (I), Tomas De Bruyne (B), Sébastien Dossin (B), Frédéric Dupré (F), Max Hurtaud (B), Pascal Mutel (F), Julian Paris (F), Gilles Pothier, Charline Pritscaloff (F) and the École nationale des Fleuristes de Paris (F).

Text in English and French.

This extensively illustrated volume focuses on William Morris (1834–1896), placing his wallpaper designs within the context of the radical changes in taste witnessed during the Victorian era. Against a backdrop of the fanciful, naturalistic patterns that typified fashionable papers in Morris’s youth, the impact of the Reform Movement of the mid-19th century is underscored, particularly the reformers’ crusade against such multi-colored ornamental decoration. Instead, the insistence on the concepts of honesty and propriety as promoted by A. W. N. Pugin and Owen Jones, are demonstrated as influences on Morris. The role of imported Japanese wallpapers is also explored, giving insight into a seldom-discussed cultural exchange evidenced within the story of Morris & Co, which produced wallpapers from 1864 until 1940 and, after a post-war hiatus, from the 1960s to the present.

Amplifying Morris’s role in the creation of an influential and lasting style, his work is set within a selection by other designers, including Christopher Dresser and C. F. A. Voysey. Also introduced are firms of significance including Jeffrey & Co. and Arthur Sanderson & Sons, both of whom block-printed the Morris wallpapers. In a highly visual presentation, what is revealed are influences across time and within a global context, as pertinent to the creation of wallpaper art in the 19th century as it is today.

The collection of essays in this festschrift celebrates the extraordinary scholarship of Professor Piriya Krairiksh, the distinguished Thai art historian on the occasion of his 80th birthday. The collection was seen as the most fitting way to honor an esteemed mentor and colleague, who has dedicated his life to teaching and his fundamental research on Thai and Southeast Asian art and archeology is to support further scholarship and debate on the issues in these fields. The volume gathers together contributions from many of his colleagues, friends, students, disciples, and admirers in tribute to his gift to the world of his scholarship.

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.

On Jewellery offers a comprehensive overview of the trends and role of contemporary international jewelry art from the 1960s to today, shown within the context of corresponding trends in art and society. This publication is dedicated to themes such as interdisciplinary collaboration, new means of presentation and contextualization. It also incorporates photography and the relationships between jewelry and the body, jewelry and ornament and new interpretations of traditional technical skills. Furthermore it considers aspects such as terminology and strategies, positioning, prejudices and the significance of content with regard to jewelry. On this basis this publication offers a synopsis of what jewelry art is and what it can be. Its aim is to reveal the characteristics, language and potential of jewelry. A bibliography of the most important works of jewelry art, a directory of jewelry galleries, museums and educational institutions make On Jewellery a compact handbook of contemporary jewelry art. Artists featured include Pia Aleborg, Gijs Bakker, Melanie Bielenker, Manfred Bischoff, Helen Britton, Paul Derrez, Iris Eichenberg, Warwick Freeman, Otto Künzli, Daniel Kruger, Yuka Oyama, Robert Smit, Annamaria Zanella and Christoph Zellweger. Contents: Beyond the Showcase; Conceptual Jewellery; Jewellery and Photography; Reading Jewellery; Borderline Jewellery; Jewellery and the Body; Jewellery and Ornament; Jewellery and the Goldsmith’s Skill; The Language of Jewellery; Documentation: Manifests.

Trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris in the atelier of Georges Jeanclos, Elsa Sahal quickly focused on working with ceramics for their sensuality and fragility. Former resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, in 2013 (Helena, MT), at Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics, in 2009-2010 (Alfred, NY) and at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres (2007-2008), Elsa Sahal has also taught at the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva and at the École Supérieure d’Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg.

She experiments in particular with the idea of volume and balance in sculpture, while returning to an exploration of the themes of the body and femininity. Ambiguous, dense, sensual and colorful, her works oscillate between anthropomorphic landscape and the landscaped body, taking up Cézanne’s dream of uniting women’s curves with the shoulders of hills. Elsa Sahal conceives, kneads and then produces complex and disturbing forms sustained by dense colors and sublimated through enamel.

Winner of the MAIF prize for sculpture, in 2008, and the contemporary sculpture prize awarded by the Fondazione Francesco Messina, in 2007, Elsa Sahal has presented her work in one-woman shows and group exhibitions in numerous museums around the globe: at the Bonnefantenmuseum, ‘Ceramix, Ceramic art from Gauguin to Schütte’, in 2015 (Maastricht); at the MAD Museum, ‘Body and Soul, New International Ceramics’, in 2013 (New York); at the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, ‘Sculptures’, in 2008 (Paris); and at the Incheon Women Artists Biennale, in 2008 (Korea).

Text in English and French.

Bright sun, blue sea, churning waves, shifting sand: these and other elements of surf life are featured here in work by 30 contemporary surf artists from around the world. In addition to the text are interviews with the artists, which gives a deeper understanding and insight into the transformation of their surf experience into art. Curated and written by surfing journalist Veerle Helsen, author of the bestselling travel guide Surf & Stay, this unique collection of paintings, watercolors, graphics, and digital artworks capture the joy, beauty, and energy of this sport and lifestyle.

“Alongside the detailed studies, there are plenty of beautiful photographs as well as diagrams and plans.” — Homes & Gardens
“Over the years I have watched the physical and emotional evolution of JDDA’s work and it is truly evident in this monograph. I have marveled at the consistent quest for refinement and sophistication and admired their ever-evolving and maturing palette. In all their landscapes they respect the elements and the integrity of nature, as well as embellishing the space with their own particular style. They create a joyous juxtaposition between the sophisticated architectural elements and the reassuringly organic mood of the planting, with the occasional sculptural addition.
The joy of walking within a JDDA landscape affords us both a mental and physical calm. The evolution of the body of work is an inspiration to us all.”
From the Foreword, by David Harber

This stunningly illustrated monograph represents the evolution of James Doyle Design Associates (JDDA), its thought processes, and the exciting ever‐changing world of landscape architecture. For JDDA, the path of its design work is reflective of a new generation of landscape architects. A connection with nature is in demand now more than ever, whether the space is urban or rural, grand or intimate. JDDA believes that the art and practice of designing the outdoor environment should not be devoid of a respect for nature and its impact on change and growth.

This work reflects the intersection of nature and art; the juxtaposition of the designed and the natural; with bold, contemporary, dynamic gestures in the form of sculptural plant material, innovative hardscaping and an infusion of landscape art. JDDA cares about the world we live in and that our landscapes have the power to become our sanctuaries, to be uplifting, relaxing and thought provoking, with an appreciation for nature.

After the first Thai comic strip was published in 1907, comics flourished in Siam and developed in uniquely Thai ways. With diverse and leading artists working in each generation there is a wealth of material to consider. Gory horror tales, anti-communist propaganda and socially-engaged graphic novels bear witness to the country’s darker years. From 1990, Thai comics struggled to compete with the sudden influx of unlicensed Japanese manga and went through a hiatus, making a comeback in the late ’90s with a new and alternative scene that deserves wider recognition. Each page of The Art of Thai Comics opens a unique window onto Thai society – a distilled vision of its hopes, fears, delights and horrors. From 20th century interpretations of Jataka tales, which replay the Buddha’s various reincarnations, to tales of modern-day millennial angst. Thai comics past and present offer an entertaining and enlightening viewpoint onto the country’s history, culture and enduring creativity.

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: Il Grido Interiore 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:Il Grido Interiore 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.

Text in Italian.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton’s unprecedented 2016 exhibition brought together 130 masterpieces, among the most iconic of the collection created in Moscow by the great Russian art patron, Sergei Shchukin. From Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1866) by Claude Monet, the Mardi gras (1888-90) by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian odalisque Eh quoi, tu es jalouse? (1892), the luminescent panel L’Atelier du peintre (1911) by Henri Matisse, to conclude with Pablo Picasso’s Trois femmes (1908), the magnificence of Shchukin’s collection is exhibited here.

Extended by a group of some 30 major works from the Russian avant-gardes, including Counter Relief (1916) by Vladimir Tatlin, Green Stripe (1917) by Olga Rozanova, and Kazimir Malevich’s monochrome painting, Black Suprematie Square (1929), Icons of Modern Art covers the extreme breadth of this journey through 19th- and 20th-century creation. The presentation of these exceptional works, where our collective gaze comes together, constitutes an exemplary “painting lesson.”

Kindred Spirits showcases the remarkable flowering of Chinese style ceramics that took place in Japan after the mid-19th century. For over a thousand years, Chinese ceramics have been admired and emulated in Japan. This book discusses for the first time how this artistic relationship evolved during the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa eras. A selection of 100 works from the acclaimed Shen Zhai Collection demonstrates the range and quality of these ceramics, from elegant celadons to sophisticated underglaze blue porcelains. Detailed descriptions, makers’ marks, and box inscriptions make this a valuable reference resource for collectors and art historians.

The present publication is an essential part of the narrative of Wayne Higby’s retrospective exhibition – focusing on the concept of the artist scholar – at ASU Art Museum, in Spring 2013. It documents his ceramic work with over 150 images of 50 seminal works and gives context to the story behind the artwork. Wayne Higby’s international reputation both as an artist, a scholar and teacher will be explored in the contributions to this book that includes a detailed chronology of Higby’s life and career as well as highlights and excerpts from his well known writings on ceramic art. Essays on the American Landscape and American landscape art as the inspiration behind Higby’s work as well as his important, influential explorations into contemporary vessel aesthetics are included along with an essay that chronicles his central role in the development of contemporary Chinese ceramic art. Additionally, Higby’s recent, dramatic, late career move to large architectural installations is explored in detail. Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Wayne Higby received a B.F.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, in 1966, and an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1968. Since 1973, he has been on the faculty of the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY. Wayne Higby is recognized as one of the most important and influential ceramic artists of the late 20th, early 21st, century. In particular, his work is celebrated for its innovative use of the language of landscape. Contents: Helen Williams Drutt – Foreword; Peter Held – Overview/Statement; Henry Saye – The American Landscape; Tanya Harrod – The Vessel in Contemporary Art; Ezra Shales –The Artistic Scholar; Mary McInnes – Architectural Work; Carla Coch – China Journal; Appendix; Chronology; Biography; Works in Public Collections; Bibliography; Artist Statements; Artist’s Acknowledgements.

Mari Ishikawa sees a parallel world off the beaten track of everyday living that she wants to make visible with her art. Such counter-worlds are discovered in photographs with long exposures, which are taken up in art jewelry. Together these pairings result in an overall picture that is almost mystical. Silver casts taken from nature are reborn as jewelry in combination with diamonds, pieces of charcoal, or paper. Thus Mari Ishikawa interrupts for a brief moment the flow of transience; a precious object is created that has been wrenched from the cycle of life and death to stand for itself and for the moment.

In The Thousands, an 18-year-old RJ Rushmore curates an extensive collection of some of the biggest names in Street Art including Faile, Banksy, KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Herakut, Jenny Holzer, Blek le Rat, Futura 2000 and Barry McGee. As the founder and editor-in-chief of Vandalog, Rushmore has achieved a reputation for “genuine reporting, insight and analysis” (Papermag). This quality and attention to detail shines through the compelling writing in his book. Many of the works featured have come from private collections and several pieces have been provided directly by the artists participating in the show and the book. Each artist or group of artists is explored in an immersive two-page spread with an insightful biography and intricate analysis of their work. This fascinating anthology is a must-have for Street Art followers and those simply interested in the movement.

The works of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne are already prized among collectors of American 20th-century furniture and art. However, Alchemy: The Art of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne written by gallerist Evan Lobel, reveals for the first time the astonishing breadth and depth of their artistic practice, which ranges from avant-garde furniture to sculpture and painting. As a father and son artist team, the LaVernes’ collaboration resulted in hundreds of unique and complex works, incorporating historical references of past civilizations and art historical motifs, with modernist design principles. Alchemy: The Art of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne is a comprehensive testament to the importance of these artist-designers who brought history, craftsmanship, and innovation into conversation with functional design and art. In writing the book with Kelvin LaVerne, Lobel provides unparalleled insight into the method and history of the duo and introduces a bounty of beautiful and never-before-seen images and commentary. This is, and will continue to be, the authoritative account of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne’s esteemed place in the history of 20th-century art and design.

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.

The countdown has started! In 2025 and 2026, NASA will launch two missions to the moon and beyond. Not only will they go further into space than ever before, but they will seek to establish the first permanent moon base.

Space: Posters & Paintings: Art About NASA showcases a superb selection of paintings and illustrations recording the history of space exploration.

From as early as 1962, the NASA Art Program commissioned artists to capture the importance of their work by giving them unprecedented access to on-site life at NASA, from the technicians at work and the suiting-up of astronauts, to the launch sites. Originally created for educational purposes, the artworks also include incredible, stylized posters portraying humans’ ambitions far beyond our planet, among them astronauts working on the moon, space shuttles and far away planets. This book is a real treasure for all those fans of life beyond Earth.

For more than four decades, jewelry artist and educator Laurie Hall has been making stories the subject of her work. Her playful, often whimsical jewelry made with found objects is about the places she lives, the landscapes that fill her imagination, her family history, and her ideas of what it is to be an American. As a jeweler, Hall never plays it safe, preferring to fly by the seat of her pants and push her skills and technical knowledge. Her work is part of numerous private and public collections including The Museum of Art and Design in NYC, The Tacoma Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She is a product of the jewelry histories that make the Pacific Northwest unique within the larger story of American contemporary jewelry. Featuring 58 images of Hall’s jewelry spanning the period from 1974 to 2019, this book explores why she is an important maker whose practice deserves to be more widely known.

“Wow! Just wow! … It’s a really stunning thing. A love letter that is itself a work of art about a work of art that is Grayson. Both playful and deadly serious … these photos are not simply about ‘serving looks’ but about restlessness and identity and transience…. Ansett’s work is mind-blowing … not cosy at all. Just brilliant photography.” – Suzanne Moore

“Great to see Grayson in his various guises. He must have more women’s clothes than the average woman!” — Martin Parr

“Some are artists, some are muses — Sir Grayson Perry is both, according to a new coffee table book.” — The Standard
“Muse documents Perry’s Bowie-like range of personae, from his alter-ego Claire, to Madonna and child, to a Dolly Parton-style American country girl.” — Yahoo News UK

Grayson Perry is an award-winning artist best known in the art world for his ceramic works. To the wider public, he is perhaps equally famous for his cross-dressing alter ego. This book reveals a unique relationship between Perry and renowned portrait photographer Richard Ansett through a previously unseen archive from photoshoots spanning over 10 years.
Ansett astutely captures the wit, style and irreverence of Perry’s many complex personas. Beyond the snazzy outfits and cheeky poses, these thematic portrait collections offer wry social commentaries on current and popular phenomena, including the EU referendum, American pop culture and the existential questions of life and death.
At once glossy, fabulous and cutting-edge, Muse: A Portrait of Grayson Perry offers a complex, fascinating and ultimately affectionate insight into our recently knighted national treasure with anecdotes and narration from Ansett himself, this is a masterpiece of rhetorical observations and quick-thinking camerawork. Perfect for art geeks, style freaks and Perry’s long-devoted following.

The book offers an unprecedented look at cigarette holders through a selection of approximately 125 pieces from the collection of Carolyn Hsu-Balcer. Its introductory essay is both a social history of that world-changing leaf, tobacco, and a design history of its accoutrements. It examines the history of smoking from its pre-Columbian roots in the Americas through to the present-day worldwide e-cigarette craze, taking the reader on a journey from tobacco smoking as a sacred ritual, through the controversies of its worldwide spread, and the machine-rolled cigarette’s role in the world wars and as a tool for European and American women’s equality.

Following the illustrated essay is a luxurious catalogue of newly commissioned photography that makes these diminutive objects pop off the pages with brilliant color and form. The collection includes cigarette holders in their simplest incarnations – the disposable promotional holders given away at trendy New York nightclubs – to their most exquisite – the work of Fabergé, Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels and other renowned jewelers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Contents:
Foreword by Carolyn Hsu-Balcer; Introduction; Chapter 1: Tobacco’s Journey from the New World to the Old: Medicine and Pleasure; Chapter 2: The Rise of Cigarette Culture: The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries; Chapter 3: Smoking, Sociability, and a New Modern Era: From the First World War to the Second; Chapter 4: The Cigarette Holder’s Peak and Fall: A New Culture of Smoking; Catalog; Appendix: Materials Used in Cigarette Holders; Acknowledgments; Photo Credits.

A miniature painting holds wondrous powers, beyond its defined space. A single image can summon up a world of adventures, enclosed chambers, gardens, rivers, lakes, forests, flowers, and an infinite variety of trees in bloom. In Indian art, miniatures were conceived as sets of narrative illustrations based on classic texts, such as the Ramayana, Bhagavata Purana, Ragamala, etc. Miniature painting continues to hold its appeal well into the 21st century. Contemporary artists of importance have imbibed influences from the miniature traditions, in technique, theme and coloration. This book explores a relationship between Indian contemporary painting and inspiration from medieval miniatures.

The author studies the art of five significant Indian modern and contemporary artists—Abanindranath Tagore, Manjit Bawa, Waswo X. Waswo with Rakesh Vijayvargiya, and Nilima Sheikh—who have resourced and reinvented iconic traditions with different perspectives and using different techniques. Accompanied with splendid illustrations, the essays bring attention to the Indian art of today with the magical transformation of older concepts and techniques in miniature painting into contemporary practice.