Thames&Hudson

Never before has a volume of such lavishness been devoted to printed textiles. Covering the past two centuries, during which the Industrial Revolution drastically altered textile manufacture, Textile Designs presents a dazzling, comprehensive selection of the colourful patterned fabrics used for clothing and interior decoration. These are presented by pattern and motif, in contrast to the chronological displays in most books and museums. The dates and countries of origin are supplied wherever known. This visual encyclopaedia groups textiles by pattern under five headings: Floral, Geometric, Conversational, Ethnic, and Art Movements and Period Styles. Because of the world-wide interest, this edition includes translations of all the pattern names, as well as brief general introductions to the book in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. Textile Designs will be indispensable not only to fashion and decoration professionals, but will also be an inspiration to designers in the graphic and visual arts, a reference book for quiltmakers and collectors, and a delight for all lovers of the beautiful.

‘A great resource for the designer and ticket to ride for the armchair traveller’ – Antiques Magazine Living in Morocco celebrates the arts of a country at the height of a cultural renaissance, a land where an ancient tradition of craftsmanship has been sustained and recently reinvigorated. Lavishly illustrated chapters on decorative and folk arts alternate with chapters on Moroccan life today. We visit Chaouen in the Rif mountains, where the town’s smooth, undulating surfaces are painted a bone-chilling blue-tinted white. We take in the shady blue-and-pink world of the Majorelle Gardens, and explore the stories behind the famous hotel La Mamounia. Most importantly, we see Morocco’s arts brought to life in its homes – from former harems to traditional Hispano-Moorish houses. A host of glorious photographs make this a book to relish, and the detailed documentation of Morocco’s houses, arts and crafts make it an invaluable resource for anyone involved in interiors or design.

Roaming Paris streets by night in the early 1930s, Brassai created arresting images of the city's dramatic nocturnal landscape. The back alleys, Metro stations, and bistros he photographed are by turn hauntingly empty or peopled by prostitutes, laborers, thugs, and lovers. Paris by night, first published in French as Paris de nuit in 1932, collected sixty of these images, which have since become photographic icons. Original and subsequent editions of the book are highly sought after by collectors. For Brassai, 1932 and 1933 were the most important years in his life: they were the years in which he met Picasso, published Paris by Night — his first book — and collaborated with the Surrealists on the magazine Minotaure. But he distinguished himself from the Surrealist group by commenting, The surreal effect of my pictures was nothing more than reality made fantastic through a particular vision. All I wanted to express was reality, for nothing is more surreal. The strange, bewitching poetry of Paris by Night faithfully embodies this credo. Interest in Brassai's work has been fuelled in recent years by major retrospective exhibitions of his work at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Complementing the catalogues of his work that accompanied these shows, and publishing to coincide with the exhibition Brassai: The Soul of Paris (Hayward Gallery, London, 22 February to 13 May 2001), this long-overdue reissue of Paris by Night in photogravure brings one of Brassai's finest works back into print.

In this book of watercolour paintings and sketches, the beauty of Paris is celebrated through the talents of Fabrice Moireau and Maria Kelly. Their visual and narrative images capture the history and romance of Paris, highlighting the architecture of the French capital: its grand public buildings and intimate private houses, majestic avenues and narrow lanes. Visit the Louvre, Beauboug, Orsay, Picasso, La Villette and Rodin Museums; the historic Places de la Concorde, des Vosges, des Victoires and du Palais Royal. Tour the colourful markets, enjoy the exquisite Tuileries, Monceau, Luxembourg and Montsouris gardens and discover the quintessential Paris. Paris Sketchbook is divided into four parts: North, South, East and West, each section of the city revealing its own character and unveiling its own secrets.

The essence of London, both grand and intimate in scale, is captured beautifully in this book of over 150 watercolour paintings and pencil drawings.

One of the most evocative photographic memoirs every published. It was known that Brassai had taken a series of 'secret photographs' which could not be published because of their daring nature — the forbidden Paris, a sordid bas-monde where high society mingled with the underworld.

Cubism, often considered to be the seminal art movement of the 20th century, initiated a pictorial revolution through its radical approach to image-making, invention of the new media of collage and sculptural assemblage, and evolution towards pure abstraction. This work aims to reveal these profound formal innovations as integrally related to rapid changes in French society. It examines the movement's origins in primitivism and engagement with issues of race and colonialism, then considers the Cubists' responses to current anti-Enlightenment philosophies; the relation of Cubist art to the classical; the role played by gender conceptually and within particular careers and practice; collage had its interplay with cultural themes; and the impact of anarchism, nationalism and pacifism on Cubism's cultural politics. This is a comprehensive re-examination of Cubism in its wider social, cultural, political, scientific and philosophical contexts, introduces and re-frames the movement, covering the full range of art and artists from the movement's advent in 1908.

The story of the modern garden has – until now – received little or no attention in the vast canon of garden literature. Jane Brown, one of the world’s foremost garden historians and chroniclers of twentieth-century culture, has been captivated by the secret story of the modern garden for more than a decade, mining its little-known history for revolutionary ideas and rediscovering long-lost masterpieces. Accompanying the accessible and wide-ranging text are rich and surprising illustrations and rarely seen historical photographs, as well as stunning contemporary photographs of eleven classic modern gardens. With today’s ecological concerns and green design, the lessons of the modern garden for the twenty-first century are eminently useful. This exceptional publication weaves a rich tapestry of ideas and ideals, animated by the designers and people who dreamed them.

In this collection of classic work from the 1980s, Bailey abstains from any comment or explanation but shows the reader the world of a mature photographer whose vision has been sharpened by time.

Is colour just a physiological phenomenon? Does it have an effect on feelings? This vividly written book, the sequel to the award-winning Colour and Culture, is ultimately informed by the conviction that the meaning of colour lies in the particular historical context in which it is experienced and interpreted. John Gage explores the mysteries of themes as diverse as the optical mixing techniques implicit in mosaic, colour-languages in Latin America at the time of the Spanish Conquest and the ideas of Goethe and Runge, Blake and Turner. For students and lecturers in the history of art and culture, for artists and designers, and for psychologists and scientists with a special interest in the subject, John Gage has produced a compelling study of the meaning of colour through the ages.

The work of nearly thirty of the world's top up-to-the-minute illustrators is organized into three different styles. The sensualists — for example, François Berthoud — adhere to a fluid, fine-arts tradition. Others, such as Jean-Philippe Delhomme, focus on characters: smoky-eyed gamines and sophisticated 50s-style divas. And here, for the first time in any survey, is the computer-generated work of the leading technocrats, among whom are Graham Rounthwaite and Jason Brooks. As well as work drawn from artists’ collections and from international fashion and style magazines, Fashion Illustration Now includes scores of specially commissioned illustrations. With biographical and contact information for each artist, this is a guide for media and fashion industry professionals, an inspirational sourcebook for students and a must-have for anyone interested in fashion now.

In 1955, Henri Cartier-Bresson published «The Europeans», a portrait of the continent documenting a landscape shadowed by the war. In this book, the photographer brings together images spanning the years from the late 1920's to the early 1970's. He has travelled across Europe, from the Scandinavian shield to the Irish bogs, in order to capture what it means to be European. Beyond nationalism and the particular characteristics of each culture and nation, he has found evidence of a greater identity, a likeness shared by the people and the landscape. His photographs seek to speak of the same daily ceremony, of the ongoing business of living for people across Europe, whether Polish priests in alb or cassock, or Abruzzi peasants shrouded in the black of their cloaks and hats.

Susan Herbert’s feline versions of famous paintings have delighted cat and art-lovers alike. It was inevitable that she should be attracted to the works of the Pre-Raphaelite painters whose popularity is reaching new heights. A special feature of this book is its inclusion of small white-and-black reproductions of all the original paintings which have inspired her. Once again she has risen to the challenge of endowing the world’s best-loved works of art with a certain feline charm.

The Majorelle Gardens of Marrakech were laid out in the 1920s by Louis Majorelle, the French decorator, architect and painter renowned for his participation in both the art nouveau and art deco movements. He gave his name to the shade of blue lavishly used to paint the house and ornament the garden decoration. The site has been restored and replanted by the designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge in the vibrant primary colours of the original, to which they have added their personal touch. This manual explores the Gardens through photographs and text, and includes garden maps, plant lists and practical information on visiting times and best seasons.

After the initial explosion of art deco in Europe in the mid-1920s, American designers were soon making their own contribution to the style. The illustrations in this book seek to demonstrate that a dynamic American tradition developed in sculpture, ceramics, furniture, architectural decoration, graphics, and virtually all the applied arts. Alastair Duncan explores the subject of American art deco, reassessing and putting into perspective the work of artists such as Donald Deskey, Paul Manship, Gilbert Rohde, Walter von Nessen, and many others whose vision helped transform American art and design.

Art Deco buildings, with their highly ornate façades and dramatic forms, are a vital part of our surroundings. This wide-ranging exploration of Art Deco architectural design embraces many different times and places in its summary of the movement’s origins, development and influence. Various types of architecture were termed Art Deco, and their antecedents might include Arts and Crafts, fin-de-siècle Vienna, Cubism, Expressionism and the Bauhaus. Patricia Bayer shows that Art Deco masterpieces can be seen and admired worldwide: from the skyscrapers of New York City to imperial dwellings in Tokyo; from Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Battersea Power Station to movie theatres and diners across America. Post-modernism now uses its motifs and idioms, and many of the original buildings still survive, fully restored to their former glory. Sumptuously illustrated, this is a comprehensive guide to the best-loved of all 20th-century architectural styles.

The impact of Japan on Western art was as immediate and almost as cataclysmic as the influence of the West on Japanese life. After Commodore Perry opened Japan’s door to the outside world in 1858, a wealth of visual information from the superb Japanese traditions of ceramics, metalwork, architecture, print-making and painting reached the West and brought with it electrifying new ideas of composition, colour and design. One has only to see a celebrated painting by Monet, Degas or Van Gogh, a print by Lautrec or Vallotton, an Art Nouveau glass vase or a lacquered hair comb side by side with its Japanese source to see how these ideas have inspired European artists. Japanese conventions of symbolism underlie the use of decorative motifs in European Symbolism and Art Nouveau, and the Zen idea of spontaneity is the ultimate source of both the apparently capricious shapes of Art Nouveau ware and the development of an abstract ‘calligraphy’ in Abstract Expressionism.

When Crown Prince Gustaf returned from Versailles in 1771 to ascend the throne of Sweden, he was determined to give his country a leading place in Europe culturally as well as politically. He fostered the international movement of Neoclassicism, which in Sweden took on a freshness distinctive to the country, alongside the influences of France, England and Germany. Neoclassicism in the North presents twenty houses and apartments in marvellously evocative, specially commissioned photographs, alongside plans and original drawings. From royal salons with exquisite Pompeian ornament to modest spatter-painted Biedermeier halls, the beautiful Neoclassical houses of Sweden are of unique value today not only because of their superb craftsmanship but also as a stimulus to contemporary decorators.

A sequel to The Body, this volume contains over 300 images, discovered during a lifetime's discriminating research into a century and a half of photography. They represent love and desire in all its many forms: the love of parents for their children and vice versa; the love between men and women; between men; between women. There is forbidden love. There is love as a saleable commodity and love as a symbol of absolute generosity. There is love of the body and love of the divine. Sex, affection, adoration, adulation; all these words have their visual equivalents in these images.

Frank Lloyd Wright is a one-man phenomenon — between 1887 and 1959 he completed more than 400 commissions in the USA as well as writing numerous books and giving frequent lectures. Thousands of visitors annually flock to the fifty Wright buildings in America that are open to the public and he is an inspiration to countless architects and designers everywhere. 50 Favourite Rooms by Frank Lloyd Wright showcases his very best work in interior design. Here are the most glorious living rooms, dining rooms and kitchens, public spaces and more from the buildings that Wright designed over his prolific seven-decade career. Exemplifying the architect’s unfailing principles of unity, simplicity and respect for nature, these rooms also present a chronological picture of his stylistic development. Stunning photographs highlight furniture, fireplaces and lighting, carpets and fabrics, stained glass and china. A visual delight, this is the perfect gift for lovers of this most famous and popular of architects.

This volume presents photographer Cartier-Bresson's own selection of 130 of his photographs of Paris, taken over 50 years. Accompanying text discusses the history of Cartier-Bresson's engagement with the city and its place in his achievement.

Jewelry was one of the most successful expressions of Art Nouveau style. This book provides an account of the movement that spread through Europe and the US. Biographies of over 300 designers are included, with a guide to identification, from the elegance of the French masters — Vever, Lalique and Fouquet — to the linear, geometric designs of the Viennese — Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.

By the time of the Paris exhibition of 1925 from which Art Deco took its name, the idea that an interior and its furnishings should form a complete design — a «total look» — dominated the thinking of both designers and their clients. Studios began to emerge to serve the needs of a design and style-conscious middle-class. This text displays the flourishing design ingenuity through contemporary photographs and illustrations of selected interiors complemented with modern photographs of individual pieces. It traces the sylistic evolution and dominant motifs of Deco, the triumph of the 1925 exhibition and the pure «high style» of the Paris ensembliers; the growth of Streamline Moderne offshoots in the US; the international revival of Deco as a decorative style for a new generation of post-modern designers; and the restoration of many Art Deco interiors to their original state.

Piero Fornasetti established an enduring reputation as a designer with a style that was all his own – a style based on illusionism, architectural perspectives and a host of personal leitmotifs, such as the sun, playing cards and fishes, from which he spun seemingly endless variations. 'He makes objects speak' said Gio Ponti, his friend and longtime collaborator. Designers and collectors today celebrate his use of allusion, unsettling images and striking juxtaposition to create uiue, whimsical objects. Fornasetti's masterpieces shock, delight and inspire.