Yale University Press

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was one of the most important decorative artists working in Paris at the turn of the century. His distinctive and original posters and his decorative panels in le style Mucha became almost synonymous with French Art Nouveau. The admirer and iconographer of Sarah Bernhardt, he was also well known as the creator of familiar advertisements and as a book illustrator. Yet there was much more to Mucha's achievement than this. At the height of his career as a decorative artist, he became convinced that art should serve ideas, he became chief artistic and cultural adviser to the interwar Czech government, and he completed a major and controversial fresco cycle, the Slav Epic, as well as portraits and large symbolic paintings. This book — the first full-scale treatment of Mucha's oeuvre — includes discussions and reproductions of paintings, posters, panneaux decoratifs, pastels, drawings, and illustrations from throughout his career. In addition, the authors provide essays on Mucha's Paris years; his association with Sarah Bernhardt; the importance of American patronage on his later work; his graphic and painterly techniques; and the problems connected with the conservation of the large canvases. This lavishly illustrated book is the catalogue for an exhibition of Mucha's work that will tour the United States, beginning in San Diego in 1998.

Discussing the development of Greek architecture in the Aegean and other Greek lands from its earliest beginnings around 3000 BC to the first century BC. The temples of the Hellenic age are discussed, as are domestic Greek architecture, town planning, theatres and fortifications.

This sumptuously illustrated book coincides with the bicentenary of the death of the Empress Catherine the Great. It examines the story of the acquisition of these treasures and of the cultural relations between Britain and Russia in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The distinguished art critic John Russell provides an introduction for this book, and eminent British and Russian scholars offer chapters on such topics as British gardeners and the vogue of the English Garden, the sale of Sir Robert Walpole's remarkable collection of Old Master paintings from Houghton Hall to Catherine the Great, British architects at the Imperial court as well as articles on silver, porcelain and engraved gems. This book is the catalogue for the exhibition organised by the Yale Center for British Art and the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg which opens at the Yale Center for British Art in October 1996.

French architecture of the 18th century — which exhibited great technical ability and refined taste — influenced architectural style throughout Europe. This book is a survey of the French architecture of the period. It begins with the origins of the style moderne under the last years of Louis XIV, discusses the end of Rococo and the return to antiquity, and concludes with the Revolutionary architecture and the house of Madame Recamier. Kalnein describes the development of palace and hotel architecture by the two great architects de Cotte and Boffrand, discussing such large urban projects as the reconstruction of Rennes and the Places Royales. He traces the return to antiquity (which began when the scholars of the Academic d'Architecture were sent to Rome), the revolutionary architecture with its grand, but never executed, projects, and the shift from neoclassicism to early romanticism. Kalnein also examines the decorative arts of the period, which became even more important than architecture in the Rococo period. Focusing on such architects as Boffrand, Gabriel, and Redoux, he shows how a study of their building decoration illuminates the evolution of style moderne, the battle between Rococo and Neoclassicism, and the dissemination of French styles throughout Europe.

The magnificent bronze doors of Hildesheim Cathedral, the ivory, gold, enamelled and bejewelled book covers made to contain superbly illuminated manuscripts, the startling reliquary caskets made in the shape of the part of the body supposed to be contained within them — these and other sacred objects were contained within church treasuries and cloisters in the early Middle Ages in Europe. This book traces the development of these so-called Minor Arts and the major role they played alongside the other pictorial arts and architectural sculpture of the period.

Roman sculpture was an integral part of Roman life, and the Romans placed statues and reliefs in their flora, basilicas, temples and public baths as well as in their houses, villas, gardens and tombs. In this illustrated book, Diana Kleiner discuses all the major public and private monuments in Rome, as well as many less well-known monuments in the capital and elsewhere in the empire. She examines art commissioned by the imperial elite as well as by private patrons, including freedmen and slaves and also highlights monuments honouring women and children. Kleiner demonstrates that the sociala, ethnic and geographical diversity of Roman patronage led to an art that was eclectic and characterised by varying styles, often tied to the social status of the patron, but she also examines the interrelations between works produced for different kinds of patrons. Kleiner begins with a long thematic introduction that describes Rome and its empire, characterises patrons from the capital and the provinces, discusses the position of the artist in Roman society and the materials he used, and presents a history of the study of Roman art. The remaining chapters constitute a chronological examination of Roman sculpture from the foundation of Rome in 753 BC to the transfer of the capital to Constantinople in AD 330. In each period the monuments are divided by type, for example portraiture, state relief sculpture, the art of freedmen and provincial art. Throughout, Kleiner treats Roman Sculpture in its cultural, political and social contexts and, wherever possible, as an element of the architectural commplex in which it was set.

'Art', declared Vasari in Lives of the Artists, has been reborn and reached perfection in our time'. Indeed the roster of great names in painting of the Cinquecento, which only begins with those of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, appears to justify this grand claim. Professor Freedberg here discusses the individual painters and analyses the hallmarks of their work. He traces the classical style of the High Renaissance, the Mannerism that succeeded it, and the events, in North Italy especially, that resist stylistic categories. He has given order to this diversity, but at the same time has preserved the intense individuality of the works of art. The fourth edition of this classic work includes colour illustrations and incorporates textual revisions and an updated bibliography.

This book presents an historical overview of women and gender in Islam. It is written from a feminist perspective, using the analytic tools of contemporary gender studies. The results of its investigations cast new light on the issues covered.

This book examines the development of the principal styles of ancient American architecture, sculpture, and painting until the end of the Aztec and Inca empires in the 16th century. The book tries to explain works of art as such, rather than dwelling upon those ideas about civilization which art is often made to illustrate in books of a more archaeological character. The book is arranged by geographical regions in three main divisions: Mexico, Central America and western South America. Architecture, sculpture and painting occupy most of the volume, but town planning, pottery, textiles and jewellery are also discussed. Many of the illustrations portray little known sites, buildings and objects.

Presents an overall view of the history and changing character of Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, from Rome and Milan to North Africa, Constantinople, Greece and the Balkans and from Egypt and Jerusalem to the villages and monasteries of Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia and Mesopotamia.

Fusing the social and economic history with the cultural and artistic achievements of seventeenth and eighteenth century Italy, this book presents a perspective on the period.

This handsome book recounts the historical development of one city republic, Prato in Tuscany, from the eleventh through the fourteenth century. In telling the story of Prato's origins, construction, and demise, Alick McLean considers the planning, art, architecture, politics, faith, and daily life of Prato and its citizens, showing how major historical events and trends in the Italian middle ages were experienced within the architecture and streetscapes of this particular place.McLean's meticulous research is supported by a rich array of stunning new photography, plans, and maps. Together they provide a clear picture of what differentiates Italy's medieval communes from its ancient cities: the interest in economic growth rather than exclusively centralized military and administrative hegemony. This history of urban form in Prato shows how the commune sought to fashion a democratic version of urban life, one based primarily on rational, systematic, and legislative order, rather than religious belief and private interests, and it examines what happened to that experiment.

Josef Albers' «Interaction of Color» is a masterwork in art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers' singular explanation of complex colour theory principles. Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963 as a limited silkscreen edition with 150 colour plates, «Interaction of Color» first appeared in paperback in 1971, featuring ten colour studies, and has remained in print ever since. With over a quarter of a million copies sold in its various editions since 1963, «Interaction of Color» remains an essential resource. This new edition presents a significantly expanded selection of close to sixty colour studies alongside Albers' original text, demonstrating such principles as colour relativity, intensity, and temperature; vibrating and vanishing boundaries; and the illusion of transparency and reversed grounds. A celebration of the longevity and unique authority of Albers' contribution, this landmark edition will find new audiences in studios and classrooms around the world.