Prestel

For nearly half a century Roger Ballen has been shooting black-and-white film — a member of the last generation to work in that medium. He started his career taking portraits of rural Afrikaaners in their homes and has lately been moving toward more staged sets, and embellishing his photographs with expressionistic graffiti-type drawings. This retrospective book follows the development of line and drawing in Ballen's body of work, which is often characterized by complex interior arrangements of people, animals, and furnishings. In more recent work the artist has come out from behind the camera lens to engage with line more directly — including a luminous series of photographs that began with drawing on glass. Psychologically edgy and seductively beautiful images result. This volume also addresses the use of drawing and line in Ballen's newest work in videography. This astonishing collection reveals the breadth of Ballen's work, which moves fluidly between photography and drawing, harshness and beauty, raw expression and technical prowess.

Hailed by friend and frequent collaborator Rem Koolhaas as having almost single-handedly shifted the ground in engineering — and enabled architecture to be imagined differently, Cecil Balmond has achieved the kind of rock-star status and notoriety that is most often associated with architects. His practice fuses aesthetic form with innovative systems of organization, making the impossible possible and creating new typologies. This newest book outlines more than a dozen international projects: bridges, towers, pavilions, and sculptures that embody the notion of crossover, which Balmond describes as the movement between idea and substance through pattern. Balmond's journal notes, sketches, and commentary accompany photographs, drawings, and plans for each project. The book includes the Weave Bridge at the University of Pennsylvania, a poetic solution to a pedestrian problem; the Serpentine Pavilion at London's Kensington Gardens; ArcelorMittal Orbit at the site of the 2012 summer Olympics in London; and the CCTV tower in Beijing. Crossover, like its predecessor informal, is destined to become required reading for all students of modern architecture and engineering.

We all know someone who doesn't like to read. Try as we might, it can be impossible convincing them of the joys of a good book. Filled with completely ridiculous tips and totally bonkers advice, this delightful book somehow makes perfect sense. This illustrated collection of dozens of good (and some not-so-good) reasons to read is the perfect gift for the millions of people who would rather watch television or play computer games than immerse themselves in a great book, become superheroes and go on fantastic adventures. Filled with hilarious advice (such as how to read books you don't like reading, how to ward off enemies with a book, and how to always be top-of-the-class) and common-sense wisdom (such as why a book makes a better present than a rabbit), For the Love of Books gives the answers to life, love, the universe and everything. This book may just be the thing that turns the book-hater in your life into a book-lover, well, unless they are eaten by aliens first.

With dozens of beautiful reproductions and an engaging, informative text, this children's book is a fascinating look at artistic illusions through the ages. From mural paintings dating back to Pompeii through examples from nearly every modern movement, Silke Vry shows how artists fool their audiences with visual tricks, puns and hidden clues. In addition, she shows kids how to entertain their friends with optical projects they can create at home. For the curious young reader, this compelling book will provide hours of amusement and wonder.

While A. Quincy Jones is most recognized as an architect of glamorous homes owned by Los Angeles' cultural elite, he was equally dedicated to less prosperous clients — middle-class families who were quickly populating the postwar Southern California landscape. As this fascinating book reveals, Jones and his collaborators were truly ahead of their time. Their vision of creating affordable, sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing structures prefigured the advent of several important architectural trends such as innovative and sustainable building designs, maximization of available space, careful detailing, and sensitive site planning. Filled with images from noted photographer Jason Schmidt, as well as with period photographs by Julius Shulman and others, this volume looks at every aspect of Jones' career. Original drawings, models, and furniture designs from the architect's personal archives illustrate a wide variety of projects featuring the hallmarks of Jones' style: soaring interior spaces, the blurring of indoor and outdoor spaces, laminated timber construction, angled walls, and innovate use of concrete, redwood, and glass. Essays explore Jones' quintessentially collaborative nature as he consulted with other noted architects, landscapers, interior designers, developers and city planners to create buildings of lasting beauty and importance.

This exciting book looks at what's happening in Tokyo fashion now, focusing on a new generation of innovative designers. For more than three decades, Tokyo has been at the epicenter of the fashion world, and now a cadre of new designers are expressing themselves in remarkably creative ways. This book profiles the works of ten designers whose use of textiles, meticulous attention to material and workmanship, and interaction with other creative disciplines have created a new atmosphere of connectivitiy and engagement on the Tokyo runways. The whimsical, geometric, three-dimensional creations of ANREALAGE; h.NAOTO's dark and cute gothic Lolita world; the subcultural image of keisuke kanda; matohu's reinterpretation of Japanese tradition; the elaborately poetic textiles from mina perhonen; mintdesigns, whose goal is to make clothes as product design; SASQUATCHfabrix's street style for men; the elegant gothic bodywears of SOMARTA; the interaction between art, fashion and performance by THEATRE PRODUCTS; and writtenafterwards' conceptually fabricated creations are all pictured here. These Japanese designers are fashioning a new, transformative approach to what we wear and why we wear it.

On the 50th anniversary of Marilyn's death, this beautiful book is an elegant pictorial celebration of the beloved star by the Magnum photographers who immortalized her. It's been half a century since we lost Marilyn Monroe, but her presence in popular culture has never faded-due in part to the incredible abundance of photographs that were taken of her. Many of those pictures were taken by members of the Magnum photographic cooperative, and appear in this stunning collection that expresses every aspect of Marilyn's multifaceted persona. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt, Eve Arnold, Inge Morath, Philippe Halsman, Bruce Davidson, Dennis Stock, Bob Henriques, Erich Hartmann, and others capture Marilyn on and off the set. The images range from glamorous portraits to candid scenes of delicate intimacy. Marilyn is pictured filming movies such as Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; also included in the book are Elliott Erwitt's renowned shots of Marilyn wrangling horses on the set of The Misfits, her last film. In richly toned black and white as well as lustrous color, these photographs reveal Marilyn's uncanny ease in front of the camera. Whether acting or exercising, putting on make-up or gracefully posing, Marilyn was a photographer's dream. This celebration of her life will be a treasured keepsake for her millions of fans.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Caravaggio makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. This monograph explores Caravaggio's entire life and career by focusing on the most important of his works. Readers will learn about his innovated use of light and shadow, his physical and psychological realism, and his radical technique of omitting initial drawings and creating straight onto the canvas. Along the way readers will learn details of the artist's colorful, and often troubled life, as well as the important role he played in the evolution of Western painting. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book coveres important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Leonardo da Vinci makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Although less than twenty of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings are known to exist today, some of them-the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, along with his drawing of the Vitruvian man-are among the most identifiable, reproduced, and popular works in the world. This monograph explores Leonardo as not just a painter but also a scientist, naturalist, architect, and engineer, showing how the artist's oeuvre reflected his boundless curiousity and imagination. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Vincent van Gogh makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Tracing the arc of van Gogh's career, this volume presents his portraits and self-portraits, landscapes, and haunting interiors. Readers will learn deteails of van Gogh's complicated personal life including his struggles with mental illness and his close but difficult relationship with his brother, Theo. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

Focusing on modern architecture, this book gives readers the tools they need to grasp the architectural language and building forms of this diverse period. Part of an accessibly written and generiously illustrated series on architecture through the ages, this book features modern architecture's most important architects and buildings, interior and exterior photographs, detailed images, drawings and plans. A style driven by huge technological advances, modernism is architecture's most diverse period. It encompasses buildings as varied as the Sydney Opera House and the Empire State skyscraper. This volume helps readers sort through the numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles of Modernism. Chronologically arranged, it includes some of twentieth century's most exciting buildings.

Whether the incredible pieces of haute couture were designed by Chanel, Dior, Gaultier or Valentino, their beauty is preserved in the gorgeous large-format images captured with Polaroid cameras by Cathleen Naundorf and collected in this book. Her well-honed technique, which combines instant film's distinctive colours and shadow with the artist's remarkable instinct, results in photographs that resemble paintings — haunting, muted, and raw. Not only are they a feast for fashion-hungry eyes, but they are also a testament to the talents of this young artist who has forged a formidable reputation in the fashion world.

Claude Monet's green lily ponds, a red studio by Henri Matisse, the bright purple of a Georgia O'Keeffe flower — the vibrant colours of artistic masterpieces are presented in the form of simple jigsaw puzzles that will entice the youngest readers. Each spread in the book features a reproduction of a famous painting accompanied by a brief explanatory text and a 16-piece puzzle of the artwork. Arranged thematically, this playful activity book introduces young children to a wonderful rainbow of great art.

Thanks to innovations in colour lithography, the streets of fin-de-siecle Paris were punctuated with brightly hued posters featuring bold typography and playful imagery. Many of these posters were torn down almost as soon as they were pasted up, finding their way into private homes and, eventually, museums and collections all over the world. Although many artists contributed to the affichomanie, or poster craze, one of the most famous among them was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This gorgeous book offers exquisite reproductions of more than one hundred posters, including those by Lautrec and his contemporaries Bonnard, Picasso, Cheret and Mucha. Advertising everything from tony theatre productions to the licentious cancan, bicycles to biscuits, these posters range from cheerfully exuberant to slyly decadent. In her essay, Mary Weaver Chapin captures the voices of the artists, collectors and critics who fuelled the poster craze of the 1890s. The result is a visual spectacle, a lively discourse on the value and purpose of art, and a celebration of a historically and creatively dynamic era.

No city boasts of a more fashionable population of bicyclists than London. Photographer Horst Friedrichs meets his subjects in their own milieu: zooming around the city's streets on two wheels. There he encounters a dazzling array of style and a surprising amount of substance. In tweeds (both Harris and hipster) and Saville Row suits, in high-tops and stilettos, in flowing skirts and the skinniest jeans, wildly tattooed and impeccably manicured, sporting bowler hats and racing caps, London's cyclists are jubilantly exercising their fashion freedom. Whether they're leisurely filling their baskets from market to home or pedalling purposefully to an important meeting, experiencing the city as cycling tourists, or getting from place to place in the most economical way possible, Friedrichs' subjects share a love of the bicycle culture that is sweeping the streets of London and the rest of the world.

This book examines the work of Tom Wesselmann, one of the great American Pop artists alongside Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, and sheds new light on his distinctive contributions to art history.

Today's young designers are savvier and more daring than ever before. Happy to exist within or outside of the established houses of haute couture, their reputations are cemented by savvy consumers who are willing to navigate the thin line between trendsetting and trend following. This book of the most creative and iconoclastic members of today's fashion scene includes Fashion Week regulars and cutting edge up-and-comers. Each designer is profiled in double-page spreads that include runway-ready products as well as notes, sketches, and biographical information. These fifty young men and women have embraced the global, economic, and environmental realities that serve to both challenge and inspire.

They've 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 century. 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 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.

Few artistic movements capture classic notions of beauty as romantically as the Pre-Raphaelites — a group of nineteenth-century painters and poets who aimed to revive the purer art of the late medieval period. In this beautiful volume, Debra N. Mancoff, an expert on Pre-Raphaelite art and the floral lexicon presents forty breath-taking examples, which illuminate the meaning of flowers in all aspects of Victorian culture. She offers brief commentaries on individual paintings as well as biographies of the period's leading artists and their models. A captivating introduction to an artistic movement, this exquisitely produced book is also a romantic keepsake of an artistic sensibility that speaks volumes.

Children will be utterly absorbed by this journey through the history of architecture, from the earliest mud huts to today's soaring towers. Chronologically arranged, this large-format book gives each iconic building its own double-page spread featuring an exquisite watercolour illustration and clearly written descriptions, facts, and features. These vibrantly detailed pages are filled with people, animals, and other objects that help bring the buildings to life. A detailed appendix includes a timeline, a world map that points out where each building can be found, and an extensive glossary. Children will enjoy poring over this book — and will come away with a fundamental understanding of not only the most common architectural terms, but of how the built world has evolved marvellously over time.

For centuries, artists have incorporated angels into their works. In the Symbolist movement of the late nineteenth century, these heavenly figures embodied a defiant stance against the materialism and scientific rationalism of that era. The Pre-Raphaelites and Art Nouveau artists especially embraced the angel as a romantic symbol of beauty, grace, and imagination. The masterpieces included in this volume feature angels in varying styles from an international spectrum of artists and movements. Starting with pre-Symbolist artists such as Delacroix, Blake, and Turner and featuring works by Gauguin, Burne-Jones, Kandinsky, and Chagall, the book traces the evolution of angelic depictions through the early twentieth century. Evocative texts and poems celebrating the angel in all its forms are scattered throughout this elegant and inspirational collection.

At times regarded as the first modern artist, Goya was both a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a commentator on the tumultuous events of his time. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details — allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre.

A seventeenth century Dutch painter who lived his entire life in Delft, Vermeer is renowned for his masterly use of light. Only a very small number of Vermeer's paintings are known to exist. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details — allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre.

The birth of photography opened the doors to a new kind of art, one that recorded events with the immediacy not possible with painting and drawing. This volume is a chronologically arranged compendium of memorable images of unforgettable people, places, and moments. Including images recording humankind conquering the air, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, and the attack on the World Trade Center, this volume features double-page spreads that create a visual timeline. From war to nature, movie stars to artists, the surface of Mars to the devastation of Katrina, this thoroughly up-to-date record captures historical moments such as the horror of the Japanese tsunami and the excitement of the political revolution in the Middle East. Recording moments both intimate and earth-shaking, these photographs speak volumes about where we've been and the direction we're headed.