Phaidon Press

Christopher Dresser travelled to Japan in 1876 and visited 64 potteries and dozens of other manufacturers. He took photographs home to spread the word there, and also advised the Japanese how best to export their trade. This book presents this story that focuses on the human drama of personalities involved in the two-way dialogue between cultures.

Julia Margaret Cameron was almost fifty, and practically self-taught, when she took up photography seriously, yet she produced some of the most innovative and visually striking portraits of her time. Her novel use of lighting and focus transformed portraiture and helped secure the acceptance of photography as an expressive art.

New Retail is a generously illustrated selection of 24 of the most innovative retail spaces built around the world in recent years, designed by such architects as Frank Gehry, Herzog + de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas, and Renzo Piano. Flagship stores for luxury clothing designers to supermarkets are reproduced with colour photographs and plans.

This is Eugene Richards' 1972 photographic essay, a social document of his home town of Dorchester, Massachusets, previously only self-published. The book includes additional pictures and a text that speaks of racial tension, violence, poverty and crime, tackling such subjects as the Klu Klux Klan in a way that he did not feel able to at the time of the original publication. On the basis of Dorchester Days, Richards became a member of Magnum Photos in 1978, leaving to work independently in 1994. His style has set the standard for leading photojournalists such as James Nachtwey and Gilles Peress.

The only up-to-date monograph on the work of Dutch product designer Hella Jongerius. Written by three experts on product design; Louise Shouwenberg, Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn. Includes over 300 photographs of Hella Jongerius' work, each selected by the designer. A specially commissioned Collector's Edition volume with a unique Jongerius vase is also available.

The period of Neoclassicism in the visual arts was an age of Classical revival, drawing directly on antiquity itself. At a time when archaeologists were making fresh dicoveries and The Grand Tour of ancient sites in the Mediateranian was in vogue, Neoclassicism flourished and spread in all directions as far as St Petersburg, Philadelphia and Sydney. Neoclacissism was the favourite style of Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson and became the most pervasive stle in the history of European art. David Irwin's text provides insight into the richness and variety of the movement and embraces all manifestations of Neoclassicism from its broad territorial scope to its appeal for every branch of art.

Thomas Gainsborough was one of the most brilliant and original portrait painters of the 18th-century, surpassing his great rival Reynolds with his abilty to capture a likeness and his superb handling of the paint. He was also a talented and sensitive landscape painter and has been hailed as the father of the British landscape school, paving the way for artists such as Constable and Turner. This book analyzes Gainsborough's technique and subject matter, and explores his artistic environment, his important contemporaries and issues such as the patronage of artists in 18th-century England. This book contains a survey of Gainsborough's most famous works, including Mr and Mrs Andrews and The Blue Boy.

In 1994 the author revealed, for the first time, the astonishing lengths to which the Conservative government and its secret services were prepared to go to destroy the power of Britain`s miners` union. This edition has been updated for the 20th anniversary of the Miners` Strike. This photographic journey of the African-American struggle for equality begins in the mid-1800s and continues to the present. There is Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849 and went on to help others to freedom, and once slavery was officially outlawed, it traces the evolution of its dual legacy — segregation and racism.

Painting Today is a comprehensive overview of the last 30 years of painting, presenting work by celebrated figures like Gerhard Richter and Neo Rauch alongside emerging artists like Jumaldi Alfi and Ingrid Calame. Photo-realism, landscape, still-life, portraiture, neo-expressionism, installation painting and the Leipzig school are just some of the areas of this thriving art medium explored by Tony Godfrey. Organized by themes, Painting Today showcases the broad range of styles, materials and methods that comprise contemporary painting. Insightful and accessible, Painting Today's approach will appeal to scholars and newcomers to the subject alike.

An intimate portrait of its stars Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift — three of the most charismatic actors of all time. Contains 200 exclusive images by nine of the most famous Magnum photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold and Elliot Erwitt, who had exclusive access to the shoot. An essay by Serge Toubiana accompanies a revealing interview between himself and the film's scriptwriter Arthur Miller.

The Aesthetic Movement swept through England in the latter part of the nineteenth century, touching every sphere of the fine and decorative arts and bringing a new freedom to all aspects of design. In architecture, the dogmatism of Gothic gave way to the charm of Queen Anne. In interiors, heavy Victorian forms were replaced by the lighter, fresher Japanese-inspired shapes and in the graphic arts, innovative methods, coupled with a new approach to form, led to the revitalization of illustration and book design. Personified by such colourful figures as James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, the movement was held together by the coherence of its philosophy and its belief in elegance and richness. This beautiful and witty book will prove invaluable to enthusiasts of design and architecture and to all those intrigued by the social history of the period.

This is a visual history of the world's greatest film festival, the Cannes festival, from its beginnings in 1939 to the present day. It includes a beautiful collection of portraits of the greatest film stars, actors and directors from around the world. It provides 600 photographs taken by three generations of photographers from the Traverso family. From Louis Lumiere to Quentin Tarantino, Grace Kelly to Penelope Cruz, all the greatest film-makers and stars are immortalized here. It gives a warm and personal approach to the development of the festival and that of cinema. Each portrait is accompanied by a short and anectotal text written by Serge Toubiana, Director of the Cinematheque Francaise.

Documents the mapping and discovery by the West of Asia and its trade routes; includes rare maps spanning 2,000 years of cartographic history.

An imaginative game of storytelling and adventure for little children. Part of a bright and lively series of board books that work like a game.

Welcome, young art-chefs — your moment has come! The table is set and your ingredients await: an empty plate, color pens and — most important of all — your imagination! Now, add a dash of squiggles there, a handful of zig zags for flavor — and voila! Here are 17 art-recipes, created by masterchef Herve Tullet. Follow the recipes and learn how to create a scribble sandwich, a thousand layer cake and chef's surprise — and then add your own decoration to taste.

Beatrice Alemanga returns with a follow up to the charming Bugs in a Blanket. What happens when the bugs venture out into the big, wide garden to find some new friends? This sturdy board book introduces children to lovable bugs who learn how to accept creatures they are initially afraid of. Author Beatrice Alemagna invented a whole new technique of illustration for this book using a felted wool technique and an amalgam of applique, fabrics and stitching.

Younger than Jesus: The Artists Directory is the product of some of the most wide-ranging research in the field of contemporary art in years: the first Younger than Jesus triennial at the New Museum. Working with a team of 200 insiders (curators, writers, teachers, critics, bloggers and artists) scattered across the globe, curators Massimiliano Gioni, Lauren Cornell and Laura Hoptman have selected the 500 best international artists under the age of 33, from which they will curate the exhibition component of the triennial in spring 2009. While most generational exhibitions are retrospective, this one will be predictive, anticipating the future and revealing upcoming trends. Younger than Jesus: The Artists Directory will therefore be an unparalleled resource for curators, collectors, dealers and critics. By serving as a handbook to currrent artistic innovation, it will also appeal to artists, designers and anyone curious about the latest developments in visual culture.

The latest addition to Phaidon's best-selling Colour Library series of affordable introductory books on the great masters and movements in art features all of Leonardo' da Vinci's painted works and a detailed illustrated introduction.

It was during the depth of the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 30s, when at least 14 million people were out of work in the USA, that Dorothea Lange (1895 — 1965) first ventured out on the streets with her camera. In 1935 a report on migrant workers, illustrated with Lange's photographs, came to the attention of Roy Stryker and in response he invited Lange to become a member of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographic unit. Like Stryker, Lange believed that photography was a tool of political action, and this was no more apparent then when the federal government responded to the starvation crisis shortly after the San Francisco News received Lange's photographs — it quickly supplied 20,000 pounds of food to feed hungry migrants at the camps. Lange's championing of black migrants can be seen in the photograph 'Plantation Overseer and his Field Hands' of 1936, in which Lange captured the image of a man who exemplified the racist, exploitative and un-democratic attitudes that were rife in Southern plantation life. The evidence of racism revealed in this photograph — and others — is countered by Lange's many dignifying portraits of black subjects. When the bitter years of the Depression were overtaken by the advent of World War II, she continued to demonstrate her opposition to the poor treatment of migrants by opposing the relocation of 110,000 American Japanese to internment camps. She recorded the evacuation in Northern California after being assigned by the War Relocation Authority. In 1955, after a bout of ill health, Lange continued to work on contemporary social issues, namely a photo-essay for Life magazine, a sensitive study of the work of a Yugoslav-American public defender, representing those who could not afford to pay their own legal expenses. Lange watched and photographed him on and off for a year, catching the reflective moments of his defendants' body language. Lange was the first woman to be awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (1941) and was placed on the Honour Roll of the American Society of Magazine Photographers in 1963. She was honoured with major solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Art (1960) and the Oakland Art Museum (1960) and she began preparing a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York shortly before she died in 1965.

The 20th Century Art Book was hailed upon its release as an exciting celebration of the myriad forms assumed by art over the last century. Complementing the phenomenally successful Art Book, and most recently The American Art Book, it presents a new and original way of bringing art alive. Covering the truly international nature of the modern art scene, it encompasses established, iconic works of art and the classics of the future. 500 artists are showcased in alphabetical order, each represented by a full-page colour plate of a definitive work and an incisive text which sheds light on both image and creator. This book is above all easy to use: cross-references help the reader make connections between artists; there is a jargon-free glossary of artistic terms and movements; and an international directory of museums and galleries lists the works on public view. Ideal for those approaching the subject for the first time, it is a fun and unintimidating look at the ever-expanding boundaries of art.

Turn the flaps to mix and match over 50 pictures to make new pictures.

Readers will go hog-wild for this rip-roaring adventure yarn starring Tomi Ungerer's beloved Mellop family. When Mr. Mellop finds clues to a sunken treasure in a dusty old trunk, he and his porcine family are soon embarked on a voyage that will have them donning scuba gear, exploring an undersea wreck, fending off a giant octopus, and getting shipwrecked on a desert island. First published in 1957, this charming tale showcases the wit, imagination, and captivating illustrations that make Ungerer one of the great children's storytellers.

Tomi Ungerer's intrepid family of pigs faces new challenges in this delightful tale first published in 1958. Bad-tasting water from a woodland brook prompts Mr. Mellop to look for oil, a decision that leads to a gushing well promising great riches — until a raging forest fire intervenes. But not to worry. By the end of the story, the Mellops are safely back home enjoying cake and ice cream.

Billy Wilder (USA, 1906-2002) is an undisputed master of American comedy, taking situation comedy to the edge of the absurd in Some Like it Hot (1959). But he also made pessimistic melodramas such as Sunset Boulevard (1950), in which Gloria Swanson gives a moving performance as a fallen star, and a few fine examples of film noir, such as Double Indemnity (1944) et Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Wilder worked with the greatest stars and his filmography is studded with classic scenes, including Marilyn Monroe playing the banjo in Some Like it Hot or holding her billowing skirt over the subway outlet in Seven Year Itch (1955), Jack Lemmon draining spaghetti with a tennis racket in The Apartment (1960) and Shirley MacLaine as a Parisian streetwalker in Irma la Douce (1963). His humour is often incisive and his vision of the world somewhat cynical, but all his characters experience a moment of truth and, for this reason, Billy Wilder is primarily a great moralist.