Thames&Hudson

COATS! Max Mara will delight thousands of women who secretly slip on «my Max Mara» just for pleasure-and millions more who still wish they had gone ahead and bought that unforgettable coat. The publication of this book coincides with a traveling exhibition that includes more than 50 classic coats from the company archives, accompanied by numerous images and sketches showing their design development. The illustrations are highlighted by special interpretations of the iconic model #101801 Max Mara camel-hair coat by photographers such as William Wegman and Miwa Yanagi-plus sketches by Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Luciano Soprani, Guy Paulin, and Anne-Marie Beretta, and classic fashion photography by Sarah Moon, Manfredi Bellati, Peter Lindbergh, Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Craig McDean, and many others. Essays and critical texts on the history of the company and its influence on fashion design give a broad view of Italian fashion, past and future.

Beautifully illustrated and well documented with detailed technical entries, this volume surveys the production of Italian ceramic art through 500 objects. The essays examine the stylistic trends from the brilliant floral decorativism of the Tuscan ceramics by Galileo Chini, the extraordinary period of the 1920s and 1930s, as represented by Gio Ponti, Guido Andloviz, Giovanni Gariboldi, Pietro Meandri and Francesco Nonni, and the contamination by contemporary painting and sculpture, from the Futurists up to the first Informal pieces at the end of the second World War through the early works of Fontana, Leoncillo and Melotti. The book is filled with valuable information including biographical profiles of the artists, detailed descriptions of the manufacturers, a cataloguing of their back stamps, an up-to-date bibliography, and a technical glossary.Comprehensive and engrossing, the book is essential reading for collectors, antique experts, art scholars, students and anyone interested in ceramics.

Susan Herbert’s innovative, witty and hugely popular renderings of cats in human situations, from Shakespearean drama to masterpieces of Western art, have won her a large and admiring public. Now she draws on her lifelong fascination with cinema to give us a series of scenes from classic films – all with cats playing the leading roles. Here is an irresistible array of well-known characters, from the silent films of the 1920s through big-budget musicals and the lure of the Wild West to contemporary hit films. Here are flirting, dancing, detecting and menacing cats: a beguiling flower seller in Covent Garden, a seductive older woman and a young graduate, a hard-boiled private eye with a falcon.... Susan Herbert studied at the Ruskin School of Art. Having worked for the English National Opera and the Theatre Royal, she now specializes in limited edition prints of theatrical animals and exhibits frequently.

From the immaculate manicure of a geisha in Kyoto and the elegant dexterity of Balinese dancers’ hands, to a Havana street photographer’s stubby fingers and the ragged stumps of an Australian crocodile farmer, this eloquent book celebrates an often ignored area of communication – hands. The renowned photographer Basil Pao, who has accompanied Michael Palin on his journeys from Pole to Pole, around the Pacific Rim, across the Sahara and through the Himalayas, presents a collection of his photographs taken en route, all of which focus on hands. Captions accompany each image detailing the owners’ homes and lives. • Extensive captions accompany the photographs, giving details of the lives and homes of the people to whom the hands belong Basil Pao is a Hong Kong-based photographer, who took the images in all of Michael Palin’s recent books, including Pole to Pole, Full Circle with Michael Palin, Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure, Sahara and Himalaya.

These moody, monochrome landscapes speak of an Italy far removed from the familiar, tourist images. Mostly ‘empty’ – without people – they highlight the intrinsic beauty of Venice itself, and capture the timelessness of the city throughout the centuries. Juxtaposing black and white photographs of traditional, theatrical Venice with images of the city’s industrial area, Marghera, this is a hauntingly beautiful and utterly original take on one of the world’s most photographed cities. Luca Campigotto was born in Venice in 1962. His work has been exhibited extensively in Italy and abroad, and he is the author of several books, including Venetia Obscura and Molino Stucky 1895–1995.

The originality of Turner’s technique alone puts him high in the canon of great artists, but his subject-matter gains additional interest with an understanding of his enormous appetite for travel. In this book, over 150 of his works of every type are lavishly displayed and superbly reproduced. For over forty years, from the 1790s to his old age in the 1840s, he made regular tours in Britain and on the Continent, chiefly in France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, with repeated visits to Venice in his later years. Using Turner’s own writings, letters, notes and verse; recorded impressions by his contemporaries; and reviews of his exhibited works, Andrew Wilton builds up a picture of a man of many secrets. A comprehensive chronology, illustrated with portraits of Turner and his associates and views of places with which he was connected, sets out his travels, exhibitions and projects. Light is shed on the private man by a list of the books in his library and even an inventory of the contents of his London house. Here is a book of the widest appeal, on an artist who, two centuries after he came to prominence, is finding new converts wherever his work is shown. Andrew Wilton was the first Curator of the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at the Tate, London, where he is continuing to catalogue the Turner Bequest. He is the author of many works on the artist, including the standard catalogue of the watercolours.

»I have drawn all my life. I began withdrawing: I have never stopped drawing.»—Auguste Rodin From the «black» drawings contemporaneous with the Gates of Hell to his great watercolor nudes, this book reproduces hundreds of Auguste Rodin's most beautiful graphic works held in the collection of the Musée Rodin, a number of which are published here for the first time. The accompanying essays analyze the complex relationships between Rodin's drawings and his sculptures, the problems of attribution, and the role of sensuality in his work. Rodin's rich graphic oeuvre has until now been a little-known aspect of his art, yet it is crucial to a full understanding of his work. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the great sculptor's achievements.

This is an indispensable resource for all collectors, connoisseurs and students of Chinese ceramics, as well as anyone with an interest in Asia’s rich cultural heritage. In over 700 specially taken colour photographs a wide range of imperial and regional, decorative and practical, export and domestic, ceremonial and funerary wares are fully represented, organized into chronological sections, from the Neolithic to the end of the Qing dynasty, each accompanied by a survey of the period and detailed descriptions of the pieces illustrated. Systematic study of Chinese ceramics, begun in the eighteenth century, was greatly enlarged in the twentieth century, and extensive excavations at kiln sites have yielded invaluable new insights into the chronological development of ceramic forms, glaze types and decorative styles. Drawing on the extraordinary collection housed in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, this remarkable book cites the latest scientific and archaeological evidence, examining provenance, technique, archaeological and historical context, and ancient traditions of Chinese connoisseurship and patronage to provide an integrated and highly detailed approach to the subject. The notes on the plates are further illustrated with photographs of base marks, a vital aid in the identification process. An important reference section includes a glossary of technical terms, complete with Chinese characters; a bibliography; and lists of major public collections. He Li was born in Shanxi Province, China, in 1950. She was trained at the Palace Museum, Beijing, and the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, two of the world’s major repositories of Chinese ceramics. After graduating in Art History from the University of Kansas she joined the staff of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, where she is Associate Curator of Chinese Art.

David Adjaye is one of Britain’s leading contemporary architects. Known for his domestic projects, Making Public Buildings focuses for the first time on Adjaye’s engagement with civic space and the built environment. Adjaye combines the sensual and emotive with a conceptual approach to the fundamental elements of architecture. His influences range from African art and architecture to contemporary art and music leading to numerous collaborations with artists, including Olafur Eliasson and Chris Ofili. Published on occasion of his exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery, this book brings together a distinguished group of authors to reflect on Adjaye’s practice, significance and influences. Okwui Enwezor and Saskia Sassen discuss the increasing need for a politicized definition of public space, while Nikolaus Hirsch and Peter Allison consider Adjaye’s attention to materials. Two interviews with David Adjaye, one led by Peter Allison and the other by Kodwo Eshun, guide us through his approach to making public buildings within a global context. They are accompanied by drawings, documents and photographs relating to ten of Adjaye’s most important projects.

Mediterranean lifestyle is the envy of the world. A fusion of interior style, glorious landscapes and bold architectural design, Mediterranean Modern presents twenty-five of the most desirable houses of the region in a format that speaks directly to the increasingly design-savvy. It presents twenty-five houses – from southern Spain to northern Africa, from Greece to the Balearic Islands – which, though differing in their locations and styles, are united by clean lines, open-plans and seamless indoor-outdoor living. With fabulous photographs and work by internationally established architects such as Alberto Campo Baeza and Rudy Ricciotti, the design and content of this book will inspire anyone interested in interior design, domestic architecture, DIY, or contemporary building. Dominic Bradbury is an established design writer. He is the author of several books, including Barns, New Country House, The Iconic House and New Natural Home.

One of the best known and most influential artists in the history of art, Michelangelo was a prolific sculptor, painter, architect, and draftsman. This lovely book focuses on more than 250 of his drawings executed in chalk, charcoal, and pen and ink. Distinguished art historian Hugo Chapman examines this array of works and discusses how the act of drawing figured prominently in Michelangelo’s work. Chapman considers the artist’s training and his choice of various techniques in a close investigation of the central role of drawing in Michelangelo’s career. The author describes the artist’s frugal use of paper, explaining how he often recycled letters and drawings (working on both the front and back of the sheet) throughout his career. Organized chronologically, the book looks at Michelangelo’s early development in Florence and Rome, his accomplishments as papal artist for the Sistine Chapel ceiling with its myriad preparatory studies, and his drawings for the tomb of Julius II, the Medici tombs, the Laurentian library, and the Last Judgement. The fascinating history of the fate of Michelangelo’s drawings after his death is also explored in detail.

It provides accurate scale plans of every floor, together with elevations, sections, and site plans where appropriate, for each house. All have been specially drawn for the purpose and are based on the most up-to-date information and sources. Amplified with full-color views of the houses, a concise text explains the significant architectural features of each building and the influences it shows or generated. Cross-references to other buildings in the book highlight the various connections between these key houses. The introduction discusses the idea of an architectural canon of houses and gives an overview of the development of the house in the twentieth century. The quality and number of the drawings allow the houses to be understood in detail and, together with the authoritative text and images, make this book indispensable for all students of modern architecture. As an added bonus, the book includes a CD-ROM containing digital files of all the drawings.

Wallpaper is back, but this time it is different. No longer used to cover cracks and imperfections in crumbling plasterwork, wall coverings are now a means of expressing individuality. Graphic designers and illustrators are playing with scale and using walls as their canvases, while fashion and textile designers are transferring their fabric prints to paper. This book is a showcase of fresh and innovative wallpaper designs from fifty artists, including graphic and fashion designers, illustrators, and established wallpaper designers. Using color photographs and original design material accompanied by exclusive interviews, this book illustrates the wide spectrum of approaches to wallpaper with designs produced for the home and commercial spaces.

Newly available in paperback, this collection of work by Henri Cartier-Bresson is the ultimate retrospective look at a lifetime's achievement. It is full of classic photographs that have become icons of the medium, as well as rarely seen work from all periods of Cartier-Bresson's life, including a significant number of previously unpublished photographs and a generous selection of drawings, paintings and film stills. The book also features personal souvenirs from Cartier-Bresson's youth, his family and the founding of Magnum.

The second volume of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia contains completely new drawings, text and photographs from Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev. During his fifty years working as a prison guard in St Petersburg's notorious Kresty Prison, Baldaev diligently recorded over 3,000 criminal tattoos, documenting their meanings within this closed society. This volume further explores the extremes of this incredible collection.

This monumental art reference series will offer a complete and up-to-date survey of the major movements and art phenomena of the 1900s and the first years of the new millennium in an original interdisciplinary analysis of artistic culture. It provides an extraordinary repertory of images and a vast source of information, enriched fact-finding windows and technical information compiled by experts. This first volume in the series highlights the artistic situation at the beginning of the last century and explores the different artistic choices taken in the search for modernity and of art as a total experience. Volume 1 examines avant-garde movements in the years between 1900 and 1901 — the Fauves, the Cubists and others — both as complex syntheses of nineteenth century artistic culture and as alternatives to the traditional language of figurative art. The period examined starts with emblematic moments such as the Great Exhibition in Paris, which opened a century of technological marvels, and closes with the end of the initial phase of the Dada movement and the foundation of the Bauhaus school.

Whether photographing avant-garde theatre, gypsies on the steppes of Eastern Europe, resistance to Soviet guns and tanks advancing on Prague, or the environmental degradation of a crumbled empire, Josef Koudelka has consistently produced images that provoke a connection to the larger questions of human existence. This book is the first to unite all his most eloquent images, and is the ultimate volume on this key figure in 20th-century photography.

A dazzling visual journey through 1000 years of architecture. • Charts the progression of Western architecture over the last millennium, from the Romanesque to the latest modern trends • 148 special features dedicated to the greatest architects, styles, movements and themes, each with a concise introductory text and illustrations of the most important work • Thirty-six analyses of masterpieces shed light on particularly significant individual buildings, brought to life through exterior and interior photographs, details, plans and diagrams • Includes biographies of 180 architects

The decorative arts were given a fresh lease of life by the Paris International Exhibition of 1925, and experienced a boom that was to shape the lifestyles of a whole generation. In Art Deco Textiles — The French Designers, hundreds of full-colour photographs bring to life the age when craftsmanship and industry worked side by side: Lyons silk and the first artificial fibres; carved wooden printing blocks and huge multiple-cylinder rotary presses; indigo and madder and aniline and alizarin dyes; tradition and progress. Whether following the elitist decorative trends of Ruhlmann and Süe, or the more functionalist movement led by Le Corbusier, the worlds of interior decoration and fashion went through radical changes that were both influenced by and reflected in the textiles of the day, and French artists and designers found themselves at the hub of the activity. Here is a rich cornucopia of fabric creations that will provide endless inspiration to designers and students, and enthral anyone keen to discover the key role of textiles at the cutting edge of Art Deco style.

Photography helped shape art in the late twentieth century; in the twenty-first, it has begun to dominate it. Not only are major international museums and galleries devoting blockbuster exhibitions to the medium, but artist-photographers are also being celebrated as contemporary masters, with their pieces commanding unprecedented prices. This stunning survey presents the work of eighty of the most important and best-loved artist-photographers in the world today – such as Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Sophie Calle, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, Allan Sekula, Boris Mikhailov, Inez van Lamsweerde, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Sam Taylor-Wood and many more. Introductions to each section outline the current genres and consider why photographers are attracted to certain themes. Each photographer’s work is then presented in sequence, with commentaries by the author highlighting the art’s most important aspects. A general introduction sets out the historical relationship between art and photography from the early nineteenth century and discusses the art world’s embrace of the medium in recent decades. Art Photography Now is a truly comprehensive guide to the essential aspects of contemporary photography.

This sumptuously illustrated book surveys the exquisite range of costume jewelry produced by haute couture fashion houses, an often neglected subject. 'Costume Jewelry for Haute Couture' is for anyone with an interest in this most creative and accessible decorative art. It showcases the extraordinary diversity and exceptional craftsmanship of the jewelry in hundreds of beautifully reproduced pieces from such fashion houses as Chanel, Courrèges, Yves St Laurent and Lanvin. The story begins in antiquity, but the main focus is on costume jewelry’s heyday, which ran from the 1920s to the 1990s. The main stages in its development are placed in historical, social and cultural contexts, and in terms of their format and styles.The book also focuses on jewelry making and the partnerships between great couturiers, costume jewelers and craftsmen. The spectacular photographs include hundreds specially taken for this volume, as well as many original photographs of the jewelry being worn.

One of the largest and most exciting segments of the graffiti world has been left largely unexplored until now. Freight Train Graffiti is the first comprehensive insight into a subset of the graffiti world that has become the focal point for many graffiti artists today. This book takes us on a fascinating visual journey through the freight train graffiti landscape, with stories, ideas and thoughts from over one hundred of the most influential and prolific freight train artists, many of whom have consented to interviews for the first time, and over 800 stunning illustrations of their work. This is primarily an American tale, closely linked to the New York subways and the construction of the United States itself, but one that will inspire anyone who has ever been interested in graffiti.

This is the only book to provide a complete overview of the long history out of which today’s rich and varied gay culture has emerged. Historians from nine countries consider the evidence for same-sex relationships throughout the centuries, charting shifting attitudes towards homosexuality and the gradual emergence of a concept of self-identity. For thousands of years, men and women have felt a desire for emotional and physical intimacy with those of their own sex. Their story, for many years forgotten, erased, ignored or rewritten, has in recent years become the focus of an extraordinary outpouring of research. Completely new avenues of inquiry have opened up and old assumptions have been challenged. Gay Life and Culture draws upon these findings to present a lively and thought-provoking account of what, until recently, could have been termed a ‘secret history’. From ancient Greece and Rome right up to the present day with its issues of gay rights, AIDS and civil partnerships, this book also considers same-sex relationships in non-Western cultures, through history and across the globe. From homoerotic Persian poetry to tales of cross-dressing women in 18th-century Italy, from the wild, hedonistic delights of between-the-wars Berlin to concepts of a third gender in Asia and Native North America – all are discussed and recounted from memoirs, letters, archives, and works of art and literature.

Graffiti Woman celebrates the rise of female graffiti and street artists, showcasing the work of over 125 women, from those at the top of the game, such as New York’s Lady Pink and Amsterdam’s Mickey, to a galaxy of rising stars. Accompanied by lively quotes from the artists themselves, and introduced by renowned American artist Swoon and author Nancy Macdonald, this book is a must-have for anyone who has ever felt drawn to the galleries of the street.