This mid-career retrospective volume focuses on Viviane Sassen’s fine art photography, revealing a surrealist undercurrent in her work. Sassen recognizes Surrealism as one of her earliest artistic influences, seen in the uncanny shadows, fragmented bodies, and otherworldly landscapes she captures in her work. In addition to images from the acclaimed series “Umbra,” this volume draws from the series “Flamboya,” in which she returned to Kenya, “Parasomnia,” a dreamlike exploration of sleep, the “Roxane” series, a mutual portrait created with her muse, Roxane Danset, “Of Lotus and Mud,” a study of procreation and fecundity, and “Pikin Slee,” a journey to a remote village in Suriname. This book features a contextualizing essay and an insightful interview with the artist. Throughout, Sassen emerges as a poetic photographer obsessed with light and shadow and a brilliant technician, who is a master of both vibrant colour and muted hues. Selected by Sassen herself from across the last ten years, the images draw on the surrealist strategies of collage and unexpected juxtapositions to give a survey of her practice.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 250 x 350 mm

Publication Date: 22-06-2018

The perfect subject for a graphic novel, Frida Kahlo’s brief life was dramatic and romantic, tragic and painful. In this illustrated “biography”, Vanna Vinci captures the spirit of Kahlo’s world in boldly colored, minutely detailed illustrations. Blending facts and history with dreamlike and surreal sequences, Vinci creates an intimate portrayal of an artist who incorporated her life experiences into her art. Burning love and crushing loss, incredible joy and deep despair—these were all part of Kahlo’s life and part of the paintings that are some of the most celebrated art of all time. Filled with images that populated Kahlo’s work—monkeys and parrots, traditional clothing and lush gardens—Vinci imbues her text and drawings with an artist’s perception and sensitivity. The result is an evocative, fittingly passionate tribute to a legendary figure.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 200 x 260 mm

Publication Date: 15-09-2017

Michelangelo’s nude drawings are celebrated for their depiction of the heroic figure. Emanating exceptional strength, monumentality, and vigorous emotions, his nudes became the standard bearers for centuries of figure drawing. This book examines the legacy of that ideal, through highly engaging texts and luminous reproductions of drawings, prints, and sculptures. In addition to key works by Michelangelo—including drawings for the Sistine Chapel, the unfinished fresco of the Battle of Cascina, and the tomb of Pope Julius II—readers will discover works by Raphael, Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Klimt, and Schiele. Each chapter highlights a significant aspect of Michelangelo’s ideal of the human body and investigates its influence and adaptation by his contemporaries and subsequent artists. Topics such as depictions of Adam and Eve, the Crucifixion and the Pietà, and motifs from mythology such as the Labors of Hercules; how Michelangelo’s methods were taught in art schools from the 17th to the 19th century; the emergence of woman as subject; and the decline of the idealized human figure during modernism. These side-by-side comparisons provide generous insights into how artists portrayed the human body—as a model of virtue and heroism, and as a conveyor of vice and fragility. Together these texts and examples provide the perfect resource for students of the human form and of the history of western art.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 264

Dimensions: 245 x 285 mm

Publication Date: 30-11-2023

This fresh and engaging, illustrated history of art explains the fundamentals every art lover needs while presenting the development of different schools and styles as one continuous, astonishing timeline— from Giotto to Leonardo, Frida to Banksy. When she became interested in painting, the author would visit museums and wonder about all the information she was missing. How did one style develop after another? What meanings were hidden in these works? What were these artists’ lives like? How did their works survive for so many years? She longed for the kind of essential knowledge that would enable her to decode a painting loaded with references. The result of her curiosity is a highly accessible and vividly illustrated book that brings together the fundamentals of eight centuries of art. It covers the basics about such topics as how museums are structured, how painters use proportion and perspective, the anatomy of a painting. Jouneaux offers surprising comparisons between artists such as Sandro Botticelli and Mary Cassatt, Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell, Delacroix and Rubens. Terms such as Baroque, Ukiyo-e, Graffiti, Cubism, Degenerate Art, and De Stijl are explored and explained. Non-western traditions are given much greater prominence than in other art history books – Chinese, Indian, Australian Aboriginal, and African Art are all included in the timeline. Numerous women artists who were overlooked during the author’s own education are restored to the canon. Accompanying the unpretentious but authoritative texts are hundreds of illustrations, reproductions, timelines and sidebars.

Bind: hardback

Dimensions: 177 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 31-03-2024

In 2010, photographer Cemal Emden set out to document every building designed by the master architect Le Corbusier. Traveling through three continents, Emden photographed all the 52 buildings that remain standing. Each of these buildings is featured in the book and captured from multiple angles, with images revealing their exterior and interior details. Interspersed throughout the book are texts by leading architects and scholars, whose commentaries are as fascinating and varied as the buildings themselves. The book closes with an illustrated, annotated index. From the early Villa Vallet, built in Switzerland in 1905, to his groundbreaking Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, completed in 1947, this ambitious project presents the entirety and diversity of Le Corbusier’s architectural output. Visually arresting and endlessly engaging, it will appeal to the architect’s many fans, as well as anyone interested in the foundation of modern architecture.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 232

Dimensions: 216 x 324 mm

Publication Date: 14-09-2017

Fifty years after Picasso’s death, this magnificent collection of drawings offers a career-spanning tour of the artist’s brilliant and dynamic use of line and a window into the heart and soul of the most prolific aspect of his œuvre. From his early studies to his final works, drawing was, for Picasso, an ever-renewing exploration of the powers of the line. Comprising over three hundred reproductions from his massive oeuvre, this collection features both well-received and rarely seen works, as well as images from his extraordinary notebooks. It features fifty penetrating essays that examine the themes, symbols and techniques that echo throughout Picasso’s career— from monsters, crucifixions, and self-portraits to crayon, cross- hatching, and ink. It includes book illustrations and plans for sculptures; color and figure studies; collage and journal entries. Stunning full-color reproductions allow readers to appreciate the enormous inventiveness and diversity of Picasso’s work, from serpentine lines to hatched drawing, from the delicate nuances of pastel to the deep blacks of ink. Accompanying the largest-ever exhibition of Picasso’s drawings and engravings, this gorgeous volume is a must-have for students and fans of one of the greatest artists of the modern era.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 304

Dimensions: 210 x 270 mm

Publication Date: 30-05-2024

Klimt was a central figure in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century, and a crucial link between nineteenth-century Symbolism and Modernism. His sensual portrayals of women are among his most celebrated works and the focus of this book. Highlights of the publication include Klimt's most important society portraits, such as Serena Lederer (1899); Gertrud Loew (1902); Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907); Mäda Primavesi (1913); Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16); and Ria Munk III (1917). These works cover the gamut of Klimt's portrait style, from his early ethereal works influenced by Symbolism and the Pre-Raphaelite movement to his so-called "golden style," as well as his almost Fauvist depictions. These art works are complemented by preparatory Klimt sketches and decorative arts from the Wiener Werkstätte.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 235 x 285 mm

Publication Date: 30-09-2016

As intimate and meticulous as his revered portraits, Lucian Freud’s magnificent paintings and drawings of plant life are gathered for the first time in book form. Lucian Freud’s portraits are known for their spectacular detail and unflinching gaze. Although Freud brought the same qualities to his paintings and drawings of plants, flowers, and landscapes, these are largely unknown. This elegant book shows how working with plants emboldened Freud to experiment with style and composition. Reproduced in sumptuous plates that allow readers to indulge in exquisite detail, seventy-five works—including Two Plants, Bananas, Cyclamen, The Painter’s Garden, and Interior at Paddington—reveal Freud’s singular approach to plant life. Readers unfamiliar with this aspect of Freud’s work will find many similarities to his portraits—earthy palettes, unconventional rawness, and assiduous attention to detail. From the delicate realism of the cyclamens’ petals to the bold brushstrokes that immortalize his overgrown garden, readers will appreciate Freud’s ability to portray plants in new and personal ways. Comparative illustrations from throughout art history accompany essays on the history of plants in art and an appreciation of Freud’s oeuvre. This monograph is a tremendous contribution to Freud’s legacy, one that will enrich his admirers’ discernment while also introducing his thoroughly original depictions of plants to a new audience.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 250 x 305 mm

Publication Date: 07-10-2019

Designers have shaped our modern age, whether it’s the chair we’re sitting in, the computer we’re reading on, or the house we’re living in. Design is everywhere, and this volume profiles fifty of the most influential figures over the past one hundred years. From the first bentwood chairs by Thonet to the holistically designed worlds of Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, and from the signature styles of designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Eileen Gray, and Philippe Starck to internationally known brands like Swatch, Muji, and Apple, the designers presented here are profiled in double-page spreads packed with fascinating background information, photographs, and illustrations. As inspiring as it is informative, this far-reaching book celebrates the impact that design has on our daily life.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 193 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 14-09-2017

This exquisite collection of paintings illustrates just how marvelously the Pre- Raphaelites’ focus on the natural world intersected with the Victorian passion for all things botanical. Short-lived but highly influential, the Pre-Raphaelite movement was fueled by a rejection of academic artistic conventions and a longing for the aesthetic simplicity and moral sincerity of medieval and early Renaissance art. But it also coincided with a Victorian obsession with botany, gardening and flower arranging. As a result, painters such as Rosetti, Millais and Hughes populated their works with floral symbols that were steeped in religious and cultural significance. This stunning book examines the greatest of these works, including portraits of Hamlet’s Ophelia, the Virgin Mary, and figures from Greek mythology and medieval lore. Each entry features a full-page reproduction of the painting, accompanied by smaller details and an engaging text that offers fascinating background and contextual clues to deepen readers’ appreciation of the Pre- Raphaelite language. As lush and colorful as a late summer bouquet, this book is the perfect gift for lovers of flowers as well as for fans of romantic Victorian art.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 162 x 215 mm

Publication Date: 05-03-2024