ART ISSUES

It is often forgotten just how provocative Impressionist canvases seemed when they were first exhibited in 1874. The advocates of the new style rejected the established principles of art prevalent at that time in France.

This book traces Impressionism’s origins to its spread to America and Australia. Ralph Skea shows how Impressionist artists transformed everyday subject matter. Daringly using colour and rapid brushstrokes, the Impressionists worked out of doors, creating paintings that captured the transient effects of light and feeling. Impressionism’s initial shock factor gradually gave way to widespread acceptance, but only now can we appreciate how profound its influence has been on modern art.

Produced in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation and Jean-Michel Basquiats estate, this book explores the artists complex personal and professional relationship through hundreds of photographs of Basquiat by Warhol as well as never-before-published shots, excerpts from the legendary Andy Warhol Diaries, and examples of their collaborative artworks.dom of Sardinia, and the Papal States.
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat's complex relationship captivated the art world then and now. At a time when Warhol was already world famous and the elder statesman of New York cool, Basquiat was a downtown talent rising rapidly from the graffiti scene. Together, they forged an electrifying personal and professional partnership. As a prolific documentarian of his own world, Warhol extensively photographed and wrote of his friendship with Basquiat, all played against the backdrop of 1980s downtown New York City. It reveals not only the emotional depth of their relationship but also its ambiguities, extremities, and complexities.

With its bold colours, flashy imagery and ironic spirit, Pop Art trespasses the traditional boundaries separating high from low culture. Flavia Frigeri introduces us to a movement that focuses on everyday objects, from its beginnings in the post-war consumerism of America and Britain to its fascinating rise on a global scale in the 1960s. The work of well-known artists, such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake, is set in dialogue with that of Japanese Ushio Shinohara, Venezuelan Marisol and Argentinian Marta Minujín, among others.

Organized around key themes common to all Pop Art, including advertising, politics, the domestic realm, consumer goods, art history, celebrity culture, war and the space race, this is an essential introduction to the movement that transformed the ‘popular’ into art. A reference section includes a useful timeline, glossary of Pop terms and suggestions for further reading.

Defining Decadence The legacy of Gustav Klimt A century after his death, Viennese artist Gustav Klimt (1862 1918) still startles with his unabashed eroticism, dazzling surfaces, and artistic experimentation. In this neat, dependable monograph, we gather all of Klimt s major works alongside authoritative art historical commentary and privileged archival material from Klimt s own archive to trace the evolution of his astonishing oeuvre. With top quality illustration, including new photography of the celebrated Stoclet Frieze, the book follows Klimt through his prominent role in the Secessionist movement of 1897, his candid rendering of the female body, and his lustrous golden phase when gold leaf brought a shimmering tone and texture to such beloved works as The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I, also known as The Woman in Gold.

'Her bravest work of performance art to date . . . Rawly intimate' Observer
This memoir spans Marina Abramovic's five decade career, and tells a life story that is almost as exhilarating and extraordinary as her groundbreaking performance art. Taking us from her early life in communist ex-Yugoslavia, to her time as a young art student in Belgrade in the 1970s, where she first made her mark with a series of pieces that used the body as a canvas, the book also describes her relationship with the West German performance artist named Ulay who was her lover and sole collaborator for 12 years. Abramovic has collaborated with stars from Lady Gaga to Jay-Z, James Franco and Willem Dafoe. Best known for her recent pieces 'The Artist is Present' and '512 Hours', this book is a fascinating insight into the life of one of the most important artists working today, and the woman who has been described as 'the grandmother of performance art'.

Why do some artworks stand out head and shoulders above others? Exceptional art somehow satisfies at a deeper level than the rest. What Makes Great Art showcases a selection of 80 outstanding paintings and sculptures from around the world and throughout time, assessing just what it is that makes them so great.
Some owe their greatness to composition of colour, others offer profound insights into their human subjects, and some convey their message particularly effectively. Andy Prankhurst’ s succinct, appraisive text will open your eyes to the unique defining qualities of these key works, enabling you to appreciate the groundbreaking talents of every age.

Meet the Renaissance master

Before reaching the tender age of 30, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) had already sculpted Pieta and David, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. As a sculptor, painter, draftsman, and architect, the achievements of this Italian master are unique-no artist before or after him has ever produced such a vast, multifaceted, and wide-ranging oeuvre.

This fresh TASCHEN edition traces Michelangelo's ascent to the cultural elite of the Renaissance. Ten richly illustrated chapters cover the artist's paintings, sculptures, buildings, and drawings, including a close analysis of the artist's tour de force frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Full-page reproductions and enlarged details allow readers to appreciate the finest details in the artist's repertoire, while the book's biographical essay considers Michelangelo's more personal traits and circumstances, such as his solitary nature, his thirst for money and commissions, his immense wealth, and his skill as a property investor.

The Art Book explores the most celebrated artworks by history's most influential painters, sculptors, and artists with stunning visuals and insightful quotes. Discover profiles of the most important artists from across the globe, stretching from the prehistoric Altamira cave paintings and Chinese jade carvings to movements including impressionism, symbolism, and cubism.

Under the microscope: Paintings hidden secrets revealed This important addition to our understanding of art history s masterworks puts some of theworld's most famous paintingsunder a magnifying glass to uncover their most small and subtle elements andall they reveal about a bygone time, place, and culture.Guiding our eye to theminutiae of subject and symbolism, authors Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen allow even the most familiar of pictures to come alive anew through theirintricacies and intrigues.Is the bride pregnant? Why does the man wear a beret? How does the shadow of war hang over a scene of dancing? Along the way, we travel fromAncient Egypt through to modern Europe, from theRenaissanceto theRoaring Twenties.We meetGreek heroes and poor German poetsand roamfrom cathedrals to cabaret bars, from the Garden of Eden to a Garden Bench in rural France.As we pick apart each painting and then reassemble it like a giant jigsaw puzzle, these celebrated canvases captivate not only in their sheer wealth of details but also in the witness they bear to thefashions and trends, people and politics, loves and lifestylesof their time. About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing.Bibliotheca Universalisbrings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!

Tortured talent: The genius and the angst of an Expressionist master Vincent van Gogh s story is one of the most ironic in art history. Today, he is celebrated the world over as one of the most important painters of all time, recognized with sell-out shows, feted museums, and record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction.Yet as he was painting the canvases that would subsequently become these sell-out modern masterpieces, van Gogh was battling not only the disinterest of his contemporary audiences but also devastating bouts of mental illness, with episodes of depression and paralyzing anxiety which would eventually claim his life in 1890, when he committed suicide shortly after his 37th birthday.This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853 1890) pairs a detailed monograph on his life and art with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings. About the Series: Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing.Bibliotheca Universalisbrings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!

The deftness of da vinci. The drawings of Art History's master genius. One of the most accomplished human beings who ever lived, Leonardo da Vinci remains the quintessential Renaissance genius. Creator of the world's most famous paintings, this scientist, artist, philosopher, inventor, builder, and mechanic epitomized the great flowering of human consciousness that marks his era. Leonardo da Vinci - The Graphic Work features top quality reproductions of 663 of Leonardo's drawings, from anatomical studies to architectural plans, from complex engineering designs to pudgy infant portraits. All of the drawings, more than half of which were provided by the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, are presented in full-page format. Delve in and delight in the delicate finesse of one of the most talented minds, and hands, in history.

Master of the sublime: The essential Impressionist No other artist, apart from J.M.W. Turner, tried as hard as Claude Monet (1840-1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cezanne called "only an eye, but my God what an eye!" who stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object. It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of color. Whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time as a conscript in the dazzling light of Algeria, or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 19th century, the work Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations was the late series of waterlilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, which, in their approach toward almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art. This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential artist, and offers numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.

This book deals with the seminal surrealist. It explores Dali's grandiose and grotesque oeuvre. Picasso called Dali "an outboard motor that's always running." Dali thought himself a genius with a right to indulge in whatever lunacy popped into his head. Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics - and was rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the first to apply the insights of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis to the art of painting, approaching the subconscious with extraordinary sensitivity and imagination. This publication presents the entire painted oeuvre of Salvador Dali. After many years of research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Neret finally located all the paintings of this highly prolific artist. Many of the works had been inaccessible for years - in fact so many that almost half the illustrations in this book had rarely been seen.