Thames&Hudson

Everybody concerned with the design of interiors or gardens will find this book an inspiration: everybody who knows and loves the French will enjoy an intimate record of a mode de vie of enviable ease and charm. The French touch cannot be taught, for it is the creation of a way of life. To be understood, the classic poise and insouciance which create it must be experienced and here is the perfect opportunity. A wealth of lavish colour photographs take the reader into dozens of the most beautiful homes of France and the regional organization of the book reflects a paramount respect for local traditions. Many are historic buildings, lovingly restored and furnished with brilliant flair, but by no means all are châteaux or mansions. Here are farmhouses and village homes, modest townhouses and tiny flats, a converted loft and even an old silkworm factory. All are lived in, and all reflect in every detail the taste and personality of their owners. The gardens have been laid out, embellished and cared for with equal devotion and élan, whether acres of formal landscape or a small townhouse patio.

The furniture designs of William Morris, C. R. Ashbee and Charles Rennie Mackintosh are even more popular today than in their own lifetimes. The work of other figures, such as William Burges and Christopher Dresser is also being avidly collected. Jeremy Cooper’s survey contains an astonishing range of photographs and drawings: nearly 700 illustrations offer a uniquely comprehensive coverage of nineteenth-century furniture. Every major designer is represented, and the choice of pictures includes little-known pieces from private collections. Rare contemporary photographs of Victorian and Edwardian interiors show how the furniture formed part of complete decorative ensembles. Extensive commentaries on the illustrations and detailed text provide the essential background – wherever possible using the actual words of the designers, architects and critics themselves.

For over twenty years, Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born, English-educated architect, has symbolized the vanguard of contemporary architecture. Although only a handful of her projects have been built — all to great acclaim — her continually new ideas stun the world of design with their commitment to revolutionary forms. As a result she is one of the most respected architects in the world, with an enormous following of students and practitioners, visionaries and designers. In this book — the first and definitive record of her entire career — Hadid’s vision of architecture is revealed: at once thrillingly dynamic and intensely thoughtful. She has been asked to countless international competitions, and won many, the most controversial being that for the Cardiff Opera House. Hadid’s complete work is illustrated here by her electrifying drawings and paintings, plus hundreds of sketches, plans and models. Texts written by the architect and her office reveal specific concerns and solutions to each project.

Photography's most original artist presents the celebrities of her time in a remarkable collection of portraits. This work reveals the growth of an artist who saw no artificial boundary between art and the paying job and who succeeded in putting her indelible stamp on the visual imagination.

From the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame, the Place de la Concorde to Montmartre, life in Paris is charged with elegance — from private homes and the varied architectural styles along its boulevards, to the quays of the Seine, winding streets, cosy bistros, and intimate restaurants. Gardens, including the Luxembourg and the Tuileries, provide an outdoor paradise in the heart of the city. Lavishly illustrated, Living in Paris includes an extensive guide to the capitol's best addresses; it is an inspiring resource for anyone who has strolled along the streets or dreamed of visiting the City of Lights.

Henri Cartier-Bresson reveals — as only a few great artists have done consistently — the richness, the sensibilities, and the varieties of the human experience in the twentieth century. This volume of Aperture's Masters of Photography series confirms the genius of the photographer whose pictures with the new, smaller hand-held cameras and faster films defined the idea of the decisive moment in photography. Cartier-Bresson's imagery is intimate, but it is also utterly respectful of his subjects. In his wide travels throughout the world, he has captured universal meanings through the glimpses into the lives of individuals in scores of countries. Each photograph is in itself a masterpiece of dramatic form; taken together, Cartier-Bresson's works constitute a personal history of epic scope. Henri Cartier-Bresson presents forty-two of the artist's photographs, each recognized a masterpiece of the medium. In addition, Cartier-Bresson offers a brief statement of his own artistic ethos, his striving for the spontaneity through intuition that imbues his work.

Celebrating Eastern elegance as a decorative style, this sumptuous book illustrates how it can be achieved in both the East and the West. Here are the refined craftsmanship of Thai textiles and ceramics; traditional statuary from Burma; the minimalist perfection of a Japanese apartment. Increasing accessibility has opened up a huge range of objects and designs which can be used and applied just as effectively in Western interiors as in the traditional dwellings of Japan, Thailand, Burma, and the other countries of eastern Asia. Much of In the Oriental Style is devoted to innovative Western interiors which draw their inspiration from Oriental design and objects. A wealth of individual pieces – antiques, ornamental screens, lacquerware, basketry and furniture – is illustrated and described, showing the enormous variety in decoration that even the simplest objects can bring to a Western home or garden.

This new book brings together for the first time a collection of photographs taken on two separate visits to Mexico — the first in 1934, just as the young twenty-seven-year-old was embarking on his photographic career, and the second some thirty years later. The dramatic images, preceded by a thought-provoking commentary from Carlos Fuentes, record with brutal accuracy the panorama of everyday life — an execution wall; crowded markets; stark, dusty landscapes; children playing in alleys — a unique record of a country and its people that includes some of the most famous and powerful photographic images of the century.

The arts and crafts of Morocco express a centuries-long intermingling of influences from Africa, Islam, and from the alliance of the Moors and the Spaniards. Yet despite their versatility and diversity, Moroccan crafts are relatively little known outside the country. The author's account, based on his own first-hand research, examines all the media one-by-one: textiles, jewelry; leather, wood and metalwork; and pottery and ceramics. These objects derive either from a rural lifestyle, with symbols and patterns that express the powerful animistic beliefs of the Berber country artisans, or from the cities, in which Islamic tenets provide the vigorous context. All of them are thus endowed with a spiritually charged meaning to add both their utility and to their beauty. This book contains guidance for collectors and analyzes the belief systems, festivals and ceremonies to which the arts relate.

A collection of over 360 photographic images of the human body. As well as bodies celebrated by photographers of sport, dance and fashion, the are bodies scrutinized by medical and anatomical photographers. The artists featured include Nadar, Alfred Stieglitz and Robert Mapplethorpe.

The National Railway Museum in York has a large and varied collection of railway art and artefacts; this books shows over 200 of the best posters dating from the railways' heyday prior to nationalization. In this period, renowned poster artists of the calibre of Edward McKnight Kauffer, Tom Purvis and Cassandre were commissioned by the railway groups to promote not only their lines but also the most beautiful and appealing cities and towns in their areas for tourists to visit. The railway companies virtually invented the package tour, and promoted it intensively not only in the UK but also in the USA. The introduction explains the history of the companies during the period covered, and examines their attitudes to poster advertising. The book is then divided into four sections, one for each of the railway groups: the resulting selection makes an analysis of poster art in the UK in its golden age of the Twenties and Thirties. Extended captions explain the context of the works, and information about the artists is provided. The authors are on the curatorial staff of the National Railway Museum, York.

Alastair Duncan introduces us to the work of more than eighty architects, furniture makers and interior designers. The colour and monochrome photographs – almost all of them specially commissioned for this book – form a valuable portfolio of Art Deco furniture for anyone seeking comprehensive information about this design movement. This volume will have lasting appeal for collectors as well as the general public.

An absorbing reappraisal of Les Fauves—their ideas, paintings and the critical response to their works.

Explore a truly astonishing range of interests, philosophies, religions, and cultures — from alchemy to angels, Buddhism to Hinduism, myth to magic. The distinguished authors bring a wealth of knowledge, visionary thinking, and accessible writing to each intriguing subject in these lavishly illustrated, large-format paperback books.

From his early work for Vogue to his portraits of the rich and famous, Helmut Newton (1920–2004) conveys a unique vision of a wealthy and glamorous world that often shocks but never ceases to fascinate. He lived and worked all over the world and was one of the most internationally famous and controversial photographers of the 20th century. His shots of haute couture and the beau monde are instantly recognizable, having appeared in virtually every major magazine in Europe and the United States. PHOTOFILE brings together the best work of the world’s greatest photographers, in an attractive format and at an easily affordable price. Handsome and collectable, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains some sixty full-page reproductions printed in superb duotone, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography. The series has been awarded the first annual prize for distinguished photographic books by the International Center of Photography, New York.

Born in 1932 in Pennsylvania, Duane Michals has become best known for his compelling narrative sequences, including The Voyage of the Spirit After Death, Paradise Regained and The Fallen Angel. His oeuvre reflects a haunting obsession with life and death, fantasy and reality – thematic opposites expressed through his technical use of double exposures, superimposed images, props, mirrors and the ambiguous notations that often appear on the margins of the photographs. PHOTOFILE brings together the best work of the world’s greatest photographers, in an attractive format and at an easily affordable price. Handsome and collectable, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains some sixty full-page reproductions printed in superb duotone, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography. The series has been awarded the first annual prize for distinguished photographic books by the International Center of Photography, New York.

Available again, this beautifully produced collection of fashion illustration celebrates the richness of fashion drawing in Vogue magazine. William Packer, painter, writer and art critic, has collected the very best drawings from over seventy years of Vogue for this inspired volume, which features the work of hundreds of artists, from Edouard Benito, Rene Bouche, and Pierre Brissaud, to Salvador Dali. Their brilliant drawings chronicle not only fashion but also, with wit and delicacy, the international social scene.

Some 15 years ago Cartier-Bresson decided to lay down the Leica and return to his first love painting and drawing to which he brings the same magic that infused his famous photographs. The foreword by John Russell (chief art critic, The New York Times) and introduction by Jean Clair.

Pop Art embodied the spirit of the 1960s. Despite its carnival aspects, its orgiastic color and giant scale, it was based on a tough, no-nonsense, no-refinement standard appropriate to its time. Here several critics, each involved in Pop Art, but with different backgrounds, vividly bring the movement to life. Lucy Lippard examines Pop's precursor and related styles, ranging from folk art, Surrealism and Dada, to Assemblage, Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Lawrence Alloway contributes a chapter on the development of pop in England; Nancy Marmer considers Californian pop; Nicolas Calas, a member of the Surrealist movement in the 1930s and 40s assesses Pop icons. 187 illus., 18 in color.

Like English literature and English manners, the English style of decorating has been copied and admired for generations around the world. It is a style that can be found in a simple cottage with gabled roof and stucco walls, or in a grand country house filled with antique furniture and family heirlooms. It may be reflected in an elegant town house with gleaming brass Art Deco appointments, a Victorian terrace house with original William Morris wallpaper, a minimalist London flat or an attic studio furnished with graphic severity. Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff have joined forces to provide a singularly beautiful and evocative look at the English ways of decorating. Presenting more than 600 never-before-published colour photographs, English Style achieves a consistent beauty while examining a myriad of styles. There are chapters on classic English homes; city houses; flats and studios; conversions; country houses; collecting and English style abroad. The result is a rich and provocative book whose every detail demonstrates the endurance of tradition and vitality of invention that are both major elements in English interior design today.

‘His ability to survey the accomplishments of the art since Rodin … is unsurpassed … This history is necessary reading for all who are interested in the art of our own day’ – Studio International ‘Straightforward, intelligent approach to a complex subject’ – The Economist ‘Compactly written, profusely illustrated survey of the modern movement which is distinguished by the knowledge, sincerity and deeply felt convictions of the author’ – British Book News Sir Herbert Read traces the development of modern sculpture from Rodin to the present day and brings order into the apparently chaotic proliferation of styles and techniques during this period.

This book, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, explores and celebrates Turners lifelong fascination with the sea. It also sets his work within the context of marine painting in the 19th century. Each chapter has an introductory text followed by discussion of specific paintings. Four of the chapters conclude with a feature essay on a specific topic.

The first volume of The Mr Porter Paperback: The Manual for a Stylish Life is a witty compendium of life and style advice for the modern man. Compiled by Mr Porters Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Langmead, it covers everything from the essential (how to take care of dress shoes or charm the in-laws) to the just-in-case (how to pull off daring feats or dance at a wedding). Derived from the sites online journal (which has a large readership), the diverse content includes interviews with male icons inside and outside the fashion world (John Pawson, David Hockney, Irvine Welsh...); profiles of style icons past and present (Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bob Dylan, River Phoenix, Haile Selassie, Tom Waits and many more); mini-features on fashion classics including the knitted tie, the biker jacket, the polo shirt; sixty pages of The Knack, snippets of advice on everything from how to behave in a spa to how to mix a Bloody Mary; and much more. The cover is crafted to evoke traditional letterpress printing methods and the book comes with a silk ribbon bookmark.

Built for Federico II Gonzaga Duke of Mantua between 1525 and 1536, Palazzo Te is the masterpiece of Renaissance artist, designer and architect Giulio Romano, the most accomplished and favoured of all Raphaels pupils. Ugo Bazzotti, former director of the Palazzo Te, takes the reader via superb photography through the atriums, halls, courtyards and gardens that constitute this elaborate masterpiece of Mannerist decoration, explaining its history and the inventiveness and versatility of its creator, Giulio Romano. From the erotic scenes of the Sala di Psiche to the famous Sala di Giganti, based on the mythological defeat of the Titans by the gods of Olympus, the High Renaissance ideal of classical harmony and balance is overtaken by breathtaking illusionist techniques, with images of giants, falling masonry and the gods thunderbolts filling the visitors imagination.