NEW from ACC Art Books – Limited Edition: Sukita: EternityClick here to order

Be NY is an original city guide about the most intriguing city in the world, and also a manual that quickly and simply teaches you how to be a New Yorker. Discover together with Patrick van Rosendaal the life, preferences and habits of 24 colorful New Yorkers. They happily share their experiences and give you a unique look, from a different perspective, on life in the city. What are their favorite places to enjoy art, culture or tasty food? Where do they go for some peace and quiet, or to have a good time? Which bars do they frequent, and where should you go for the best cup of coffee? Which museums are trendy, and which galleries are up and coming? Where can you find the best deals, and which shops are absolute musts? Patrick’s stories, knowledge and tips are the ultimate preparation for your adventure in The Big Apple.

The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzō has long become a classic. Its title notwithstanding, the book is not a manual on tea. Rather it is an essay, better a hymn, to culture, aesthetics and the spirit of tea as a symbol, a paradigm, of the Asian soul. It was created by a passionate Japanese scholar whose life was devoted to renew and spread the values of the East in the same moment in which his own country seemed to deny them in order to embrace Western culture. This new edition has an important apparatus of over 200 notes to explain the contents of the book and supply all the information needed to understand it fully (concepts of Eastern philosophy, history, geography, biographical information), something that so far has never been done. It also contains an important essay by Giancarlo Calza on Okakura and his role to foster intercultural understanding and the development of spirituality through the aesthetics and practice of the tea ceremony as a style of life. Contents: The Cup of Humanity; The Schools of Tea; Taoism and Zennism; The Tea-room; Art Appreciation; Flowers; Tea-masters; Okakura: A Life in Style by Giancarlo Calza

Midwinter has now become one of the foremost collectibles from the 1950s and is set to follow the path of Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper pottery in both popularity and price. In the last ten years, 1950s design has been elevated from obscurity, and examples of furniture, fabric and pottery are on display in museums and galleries across the world. Examples of Midwinter pottery have become familiar ‘retro’ images as seen on TV and in the many books on the period. However, Midwinter is much more than just the 1950s – in the 1960s they produced a groundbreaking bestseller in the Fine range designed by David Queensberry. Roy Midwinter designed the quintessential 1970s Stonehenge range and Eve Midwinter the pastel 1980s Style range.

This 3rd edition of the Midwinter ‘bible’ has an additional last chapter bringing the history up to 2011. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in twentieth century design history.

The psychological impulse to discern faces in random patterns on inanimate objects is known as pareidolia. It has brought us the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich, the shroud of Turin, Elvis in a cup of coffee, the man in the moon, and Aunt Mary in a cloud formation. In this delightful and funny gift book, you can test your ability to find faces in all kinds of places, including building façades, electrical sockets, and fruit. Examples of pareidolia are all around us, and you will be amazed at what you will see!

This fascinating volume provides the definitive history of the small but important Mortlake pottery established by Joseph Kishere in the late eighteenth century. It focuses on the working life of Kishere and his stoneware products. The book is based on the writings and research of Robin Hildyard, Jack Howarth and the late John Eustace Anderson. Anderson’s book A Short Account of the Mortlake Potteries was published in 1894, some fifty years after the closure of both potteries. His material relied heavily on the fading memories of local residents, in particular one or two surviving members of the Kishere family. Combining an artistic, commercial and historical approach, Robin Hildyard’s Stoneware section gives a comprehensive overview of the English salt-glaze potteries and identifies Joseph Kishere’s niche in a very competitive market. The style and range of his products, from the origin of the potworks to the final closure, are described in detail and fully illustrated. The third contribution, from Jack Howarth provides an insight into the history of the Kishere pottery by tracing Joseph Kishere’s ancestry back to the earliest contacts between his father, Benjamin, and John Sanders when both families resided in Lambeth. Joseph Kishere and the Mortlake Potteries updates and expands the story, bringing Joseph Kishere’s role to a far wider audience.

This exhibition catalog features 20 exquisite pieces of Chinese works of art, with the majority dated from the Song dynasty. Exhibited items include a Neolithic period pottery bottle; Machange-type Neolithic Period jars; Northern Song to Jin Dynasty June ware of Li-type tripod censer; a bubble-bowl with blue glaze and splashes; Northern Song Jun-type sky blue-glazed plate with everted rim and rose-purple splashes, Qingliangsi Ware; a celadon glazed lobed candlestick, Longquan ware; a sky-blue glazed ware dropper carved with peony design, Yaozhou Ware; a persimmon-red glazed saucer, Ding ware; white glazed small cup, Xing ware; paper-mallet vase with iron-rust splashes, Cizhou ware; porcelain child-shaped pillow, Changzhi ware.

Text in English and Chinese.

Elizabeth Siddal is remembered as a Pre-Raphaelite supermodel and the muse and wife of Gabriel Rossetti. She is cast as a tragic heroine much like the Ophelia she modelled in the renowned Millais painting. But Elizabeth Siddal: Her Story overturns this myth. ‘Lizzie’ is presented as an aspirational and independent woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid to let it be known.

With extraordinary stories, including previously undiscovered details of Siddal’s journeys across the UK and to the south of France, Jan Marsh reclaims Siddal’s narrative from the historical record. She brings new perspective to the post-natal, mental trauma Elizabeth suffered after a stillbirth. Furthermore, she casts new light on the renowned story of Siddal’s grave being exhumed for Rossetti’s poems.

Jan Marsh explores the finer, little known details of Siddal’s life, including her four months at art school in Sheffield, which Rossetti’s brother always denied. In addition to this, few will know how Siddal was often regarded as difficult and ungrateful.

Historical record tends to forget or misremember women, but with Elizabeth Siddal: Her Story, Jan Marsh forces us to take a closer look and see a very different picture. Siddal was not passive and lacking in agency, she was a woman with a strong mind, flourishing career and an admirable talent.

The tale of the shepherd girl Radha and the Hindu god Krishna is probably the most famous love story in India. Written by Jayadeva at the end of the twelfth century, the Gitagovinda narrates the highs and lows of Radha and Krishna’s relationship. As a vivid metaphor for the human yearning for god, the work is today closely associated in India with the religiosity of Krishna. In the eighteenth century, in the former princely residence of Guler, the artist family of Nainsuhk and Manaku created the outstanding picture series of the second Guler Gitagovinda of 1775/80, which recounts the love story with an unparalleled elegance. This book retells the story using selected pieces from this series (printed in original size) and whisks the reader off into the atmospheric world of Indian miniature painting and poetry. This book accompanies an exhibition at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 24 October 2019 – 16 February 2020.

Text in English and German.

Born in the cradle of upper-middle-class privilege in a Mumbai Parsi household and educated at one of India’s finest schools, Kobad Ghandy’s life and career could have scaled heights in the bustling world of corporate finance. Only it did not. Instead, he chose to become an activist working for the oppressed of the country.

Shocked by the racism he witnessed in the UK as a student and learning of the horrors of colonial rule in India, he determined to serve those struck the harshest by the cruel inequalities of his country. Fractured Freedom takes you through the journey of an honest man and his partner, Anuradha’s, to a difficult destiny. Here is the story of two people who dedicated their lives in the service of the marginalized, and who believed that true revolution required direct action for a more human and just society. Part memoir, part prison diary, Ghandy bares it all looking back at their lives, love, loss and politics, so intrinsically tied together. Having languished in Indian prisons for over a decade, he tells of his long incarceration, of his fellow prisoners, and of the Kafkaesque experiences with the Indian legal system. This is the candid and unfiltered account of how an unjust system breaks the brave and bold-hearted. A story of life in extremes – the height of privilege and the depth of despair, a story of our times, of a path many would shy away from.

“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.

Has there ever been an American decorator as famous as Dorothy Draper? Like Martha Stewart, Draper was a preacher and teacher whose how-to books and Good Housekeeping columns provided middle-class housewives with affordable ideas for making their homes more functional and comfortable. Thanks to her originality as a stylist and her daring as a businesswoman, she became one of the most respected career women in the United States. She shocked the design world in 1937 when she decorated the thirty-seven-story Hampshire House apartment hotel on Central Park South in New York City, delivering a project that became indicative of her signature touch – ‘baroque fantasy’. In the Pink: Dorothy Draper, America’s Most Fabulous Decorator, by Carleton Varney, lavishly illustrates Draper’s most important projects.

“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.

“Stunning images in fine art photobook capture the ‘strength and dignity’ of America’s cowboys and their breathtaking Wild West home.” – Daily Mail

“Titled American Cowboys, the book captures the pioneering spirit of modern cowboys and cowgirls, turning the camera on high-stakes rodeos, hard-working ranchers and horseback rides across stunning desert landscapes.” – Daily Mail

The ranching communities in the heartland of the great American West may be a long way from New York City, but renowned photographer Anouk Masson Krantz has been drawn back time and time again to explore this largely unfamiliar and overlooked part of the world. In West: The American Cowboy, Anouk revisits this enduring iconic symbol of America’s pioneering spirit. Set out in a stunning large-format book, the pages within inspire with a fresh and contemporary perspective of the American West. Along with the cowboy’s ranching traditions comes a life built around the core values and faith that are central to their integrity. Long admired for their strength, relentless work ethic, and humble values, the forgotten American cowboy is alive and well, and has never stood in such stark contrast to the rapidly changing nation that surrounds them.

Earning wide acclaim for her incredible fine art work exhibited in galleries and published in the bestselling Wild Horses of Cumberland Island (2017), also by IMAGES, West: The American Cowboy is another artful, intimate study of the American character and their sense of place, and is a unique collection of works brought together by this award-winning photographer and storyteller. Also available by Anouk Krantz: Wild Horses of Cumberland Island ISBN 9781864708851

This book explores Larry Fink’s recent works, with a selection of pictures taken over the past five years, examining the series of subjects – near and far – that he investigated. Divided into four sections – ‘In Politics,’ ‘Countryside Stories,’ ‘In Town,’ ‘At Home’ – The Polarities offers the chance to follow Fink from Washington, New York, and Panama City to rural Pennsylvania. The portrait of American society that Fink sketches out starting in the 1950s continues. The Polarities narrates modern America, the radical changes between the Obama years and the arrival of Trump, the society of the spectacle – in which ‘the show must go on’ – and the continuing divide between metropolitan and rural areas. Here, Fink’s images recall those of the Farm Security Administration, the great project designed to study American territory between 1935 and 1943.

A compelling account of the luxury and splendor of Newport’s nineteenth-century summer “cottages.”
In his latest contribution to America’s architectural record, Michael C. Kathrens gives house enthusiasts a superbly visual and informative book on Newport’s early resort architecture.

The 19th century was an incredibly vibrant period in Newport, Rhode Island’s, rich architectural history. Opulent private houses-or summer “cottages” as they were known-populated the seaside resort half a century before the rise of the European Revival behemoths of the late 1880s and 1890s. The luxury and splendor of many of these earlier homes often rivaled the sumptuousness of the later “Gilded Age” mansions.

In the decades since 1835, when the first private house was built exclusively for seasonal use, scores of magnificent homes were commissioned by a burgeoning summer colony whose members were among America’s wealthiest and most prominent families, including the Schermerhorns, Lorillards, Goelets, and Joneses. They built their summer residences in neighborhoods known today as Kay-Catherine-Old Beach Road, Bellevue Avenue, Ochre Point, and Ocean Drive, commissioning local talents such as George Champlin Mason Sr., Seth C. Bradford, and Dudley Newton as well as nationally renowned architects such as Richard Morris Hunt, McKim, Mead & White, and Peabody & Stearns. These exceptional houses showcased new architectural expressions and displayed the mastery of those who designed them.

The scope of this volume-the prequel to Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935, Kathrens’s first book on Newport residential architecture-extends beyond 1890, providing ownership histories of each of the thirty-six houses profiled, including Cannon Hill, Chateau-sur-Mer, Elm Court, Beaulieu, Land’s End, the original Breakers, Ochre Point, and Chastellux as well as visual documentation of later renovations. Rare late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century interior images reflect a shift in fashion from the exuberant Victorian to a cleaner, more classical style that led to the Edwardian elegance of many of the later renovations by architects such as Horace Trumbauer, Ogden Codman Jr., and Francis L. V. Hoppin.

Stunning archival and newly commissioned photography, architectural renderings, and floor plans aid in fully conveying the remarkable legacy of Newport’s majestic cottages built before 1890, presented comprehensively for the first time.

“Design writers Thijs Demeulemeester and Bert Voet’s book Carchitecture explores the historical parallels between trends in architectural styles and car design.” — Financial Times

“It’s a match made in heaven. Architecture and car design are passions many hold dear, and coauthors Thijs Demeulemeester and Bert Voet are fueling their own verve once again with a follow-up to their aptly named best seller – Carchitecture – and a visual journey across America and through the annals of lasting style.” — Aspire Magazine

A book like a road trip along iconic American homes and the unique cars that perfectly match them. Carchitecture goes America. Through four chapters – Iconic Houses, Cars & Stars, Californication and American Cars – and five essays, the reader discovers the wonderful interplay of architecture and car design. Eyecandy for architecture and car lovers alike.

“The 230 beautifully rendered black & white images in the book provide a compelling tour of America’s wild places and national parks, from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Death Valley and Utah’s Canyonlands to the Hudson Valley in New York and beyond.” — Black & White Photography
Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness
is a singular, timeless publication—a photographic tour de force celebrating the extraordinary majesty and rich legacy of America’s wild places, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s foremost wilderness photographers, Jon Ortner, and conveyed through the transcendent medium of black-and-white film. Ortner has always been fascinated with the natural world, particularly as an avid hiker in the American wilderness. This luxurious book collects in a large format his inspiring landscape images, forming a passionate tribute to the American wilderness. In this sensational portfolio of 200 black-and-white images, Ortner has rediscovered and reinterpreted the compelling beauty of many of his most cherished wilderness locations with remarkable portrayals of their sublime, dramatic, tranquil, and transcendent aspects. Join Ortner as he guides us through his visions of paradise.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, at a time of turmoil when art was undergoing unprecedented upheaval, the West, and especially France, began to turn its eyes towards distant cultures until then largely neglected. Artists were in the throes of questioning all canons and were seduced by the freshness they found in the art of these cultures. The outcome is what we know today as ‘Primitivism’. But at the same time, through a sort of aesthetic empathy, art lovers, critics, poets, and dealers developed a passion for the intrinsic beauty of these objects, which began to arrive in Europe in large numbers, brought home by colonial administrators, missionaries, or officers on overseas postings. The extraordinary expressiveness and at the same time great harmoniousness of the best of these works enchanted them. Guillaume Apollinaire was not afraid to talk of ‘the very principles of great art’ when discussing African art. This book acknowledges this art’s role in world art and looks at the way beauty was perceived through the ‘eye’ of great art lovers. Some of these are mentioned in this publication, which discusses the works they painstakingly amassed. Many of these works are now famous and indeed have come to be regarded as ‘icons’. Others of the greatest artistic importance collected by these aficionados are reproduced here, highlighting the particular genius of peoples, the existence of which is testified only through their sculpture. Many of these have never, or in some cases only very seldom, been published. The art of Africa, Oceania, America, and Southeast Asia are all represented, revealing the extraordinary variety of artistic forms developed in these four regions of the world. Certain cultures were discovered and appreciated in the West in the early twentieth century, while others were brought to the attention of the international community in the 1950s. This book tells the story of how discoverers, collectors, and dealers brought tribal art to France over a period of some eighty years. This is the first time a full survey has been attempted, especially as regards the post-war period, and many of the protagonists in this enthralling adventure are virtually forgotten. One of this book’s great strengths is its double focus on art collecting, explored from both an aesthetic and a historical standpoint.

“Anyone who appreciates the beauty of antique tools needs to have a copy” Jim Gehring, The Fine Tool Journal
“Lavish, stunning, outstanding, magnificent … superlatives just don’t do justice to this book.” canadianwoodworking.com Amassed over nearly forty years, the David Russell collection brings together a stunning array of edge and boring tools from Britain, continental Europe and North America, thus providing a broad survey of hand tool-making from prehistory to today. All the tools are illustrated with James Austin’s photographs, with details and marks shown where appropriate. Special attention is given to planes, and the great British makers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are discussed in depth. Since prehistoric times there has been a never-ending quest for better ways to cut and bore wood. Along the way this has produced a wide variety of hand tools, and there are many where beauty and function meet. The book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including collectors, craftsmen, industrial archaeologists and social and economic historians, as well as historians of material culture.

Amassed over nearly forty years, the David Russell collection brings together a stunning array of edge and boring tools from Britain, continental Europe and North America, thus providing a broad survey of hand tool-making from prehistory to today. All the tools are illustrated with James Austin’s photographs, with details and marks shown where appropriate. Special attention is given to planes, and the great British makers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are discussed in depth.

Since prehistoric times there has been a never-ending quest for better ways to cut and bore wood. Along the way this has produced a wide variety of hand tools, and there are many where beauty and function meet.

The book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including collectors, craftsmen, industrial archaeologists and social and economic historians, as well as historians of material culture.

Following on from In Detail and In Residence, In House features more of the kinds of homes we all wish we could own. Showcasing the work of US architectural firm, McInturff Architects, with photography by Julia Heine, this volume highlights the innovation and craftsmanship that has won the firm commissions from all over North America. The firm has an orientation towards contemporary design that involves considerable client interaction in order to ensure a highly-crafted finished product. This richly illustrated volume features extraordinary residential designs, brilliant ideas and inspirational spaces across the continent. In House is another fitting tribute to innovative architecture and thinking.

Ever since the 1960s Sven Ivar Dysthe (b. 1931) has been one of the leading proponents of Scandinavian design. The 1960s feature prominently in his creative work, a time when he founded Pop design in Norway and produced most of his emergent iconic designs.
Dysthe’s career got off to a glamorous start: in 1953 this student of the Royal College of Art in London was commissioned with the creation of the school’s coronation gift, a wooden casket, for Queen Elizabeth II. Since then one cannot think of the international design scene without thinking of him. His chair and furniture designs 1001, Popcorn, Prisma, Planet and Laminette are huge successes in the export market. The latter is one of Norway’s most popular chairs, on which virtually every Norwegian has sat at least once due to its use in countless public buildings, likewise travelers all over Oslo’s Gardermoen airport with his chair Gardist. In the 1970s Sven Ivar Dysthe also significantly contributed to the development of ski equipment – and to the then success of the Norwegian athletes – by developing a revolutionary ski binding out of plastic.
Award-winning designer Sven Ivar Dysthe’s furniture designs are as popular today as the time they were designed and have secured him an exceptional place in Scandinavian design history.
Text in English & Norwegian.

The Norwegian painter Bjørn Ransve (b. 1944) is one of the best-known contemporary Scandinavian artists. Very few painters indeed express themselves so brilliantly in two dimensions, thematically, technically and formally. The third volume of the catalogue raisonné is devoted to Ransve s graphic oeuvre: in over 1,300 illustrations it documents prints and multiples, created from the 1960s to 2013. This book is not only an indispensable standard reference for all scholars, art dealers and collectors, it also provides insights in the complex interrelations between prints, paintings and drawings in Ransve s artistic work. The accompanying text by Lars Eisenlöffel investigates the changing and recurrent groups of motifs and places the works in their art historical context.

Since each page of the book has been designed individually in close collaboration between Ransve and the graphic artist and book designer Silke Nalbach, Bjørn Ransve s development as an artist can be traced in a way that is particularly illuminating.

Text in Norwegian.

The Norwegian painter Bjørn Ransve (b. 1944) is one of the best-known contemporary Scandinavian artists. Very few painters indeed express themselves so brilliantly in two dimensions, thematically, technically and formally.

The third volume of the catalogue raisonné is devoted to Ransve’s graphic oeuvre: in over 1,300 illustrations it documents prints and multiples, created from the 1960s to 2013. This book is not only an indispensable standard reference for all scholars, art dealers and collectors, it also provides insights in the complex interrelations between prints, paintings and drawings in Ransve’s artistic work. The accompanying text by Lars Eisenlöffel investigates the changing and recurrent groups of motifs and places the works in their art historical context. Since each page of the book has been designed individually in close collaboration between Ransve and the graphic artist and book designer Silke Nalbach, Bjørn Ransve’s development as an artist can be traced in a way that is particularly illuminating.

The significant and rapid trend toward small office design globally is testament to increasing economic imperatives, where often commercial rentals are pushing business into innovative ways to manage and minimise their space and resources. Fast-evolving technological advances are also making it possible for people to work from home, where their home office environment needs to be not only stylish, but also conducive to productivity, and ergonomic to support and encourage good health and well-being. Also, there are those who seek to start their own business and are looking to establish a creative, professional and inspiring home office environment. Big Design for Small Workspaces combines form with function, and presents innovative interior designs for offices with compact floor plans of up to about 3230 square feet (300 square meters). This book showcases a selection of richly photographed, sleek and modern solutions, and presents insightful design concepts and appealing examples of imaginative and resourceful spaces, with informative commentaries describing aspects such as furnishings and materials, workstation layout, including the use of vertical space to its fullest advantage, and multipurpose areas. This book will provide an essential source of inspiration for architects, interior designers, small business owners, the homeoffice renovator, and anyone looking to create a smart small office environment.