Books, Arts & Photography, Schools, Periods & Styles Shopping
Books, Arts & Photography, Schools, Periods & Styles
Lynn H. Nicholas
The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War
by Vintage (Paperback) (Release Date: 1995-04-25)
Benjamin Blech, Roy Doliner
The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican
by HarperOne (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-04-29)
Five hundred years ago Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world—the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork. The Sistine Secrets tells the fascinating story of how Michelangelo embedded messages of brotherhood, tolerance, and freethinking in his painting to encourage "fellow travelers" to challenge the repressive Roman Catholic Church of his time. "Driven by the truths he had come to recognize during his years of study in private nontraditional schooling in Florence, truths rooted in his involvement with Judaic texts as well as Kabbalistic training that conflicted with approved Christian doctrine, Michelangelo needed to find a way to let viewers discern what he truly believed. He could not ...
Al Seckel
Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion
by Sterling (Paperback)
Rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page. Butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. A mosaic portrait of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau made from seashells. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can’t just take a quick glance and turn away. They compel us to look once, twice, and over and over again, as we try to figure out exactly how the delightful trickery manages to fool our perceptions so completely. Of course, first and foremost, every piece is beautiful on the surface, but each one offers us so much more. From Escher’s famous and elaborate “Waterfall” to Shigeo Fukuda’s “Mary Poppins,” where a heap of bottles, glasses, shakers, and openers somehow turn into the image of a Belle Epoque woman when the spotlight hits them, these works of genius will provide endless enjoyment.
Calvin Tomkins
Lives of the Artists
by Henry Holt and Co. (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-10-28)
Whether writing about Jasper Johns or Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman or Richard Serra, Calvin Tomkins shows why it is both easier and more difficult to make art today. If art can be anything, where do you begin?For more than three decades Calvin Tomkins’s incisive profiles in The New Yorker have given readers the most satisfying reports on contemporary art and artists available in any language. In Lives of the Artists ten major artists are captured in Tomkins’s cool and ironic style to record the new directions art is taking during these days of limitless freedom. As formal technique and rigorous training continue to fall away, art has become an approach to living. As the author says, “the lives of contemporary artists are today so integral to what they make that the two cannot be considered in isolation.”Among the artists profiled are Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, the reigning heirs of deliberately outrageous art that feeds off the allegedly corrupting influences of capitalist ...
Alex Grey 2008 Calendar
by Amber Lotus (Calendar) (Release Date: 2007-07-10)
Every once in a great while an artist emerges who does more than simply reflect the social trends of the time. These artists are able to transcend established thinking and help us redefine ourselves and our world. Today, a growing number of art critics, philosophers and spiritual seekers believe they have found that vision in the art of Alex Grey. Alex's paintings take the viewer on a graphic, visionary journey through the physical, metaphysical and spiritual anatomy of the self. Grey's portrayals of human beings blend scientific exactitude with depictions of universal life energy, leading us on the soul's journey from material world encasement to recovery of our divinely illuminated core. Alex Grey is the author of "Transfigurations", "Sacred Mirrors" and "The Mission of Art". His work has graced the album covers of TOOL, Nirvana and the Beastie Boys, and has been exhibited around the world. Sample Caption: COSMIC ELF, oil painting on wood, 2003. Cosmic Elf portrays a ...
Charley Harper, Todd Oldham
Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life
by AMMO Books (Hardcover)
Charley Harper was an American original. For over six decades he painted colorful and graphic illustrations of nature, animals, insects and people alike, from his home studio in Cincinnati, Ohio until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 84. Renowned New York based designer Todd Oldham rediscovered Charley's work in 2001, and collaborated closely with him in the ensuing years; combing through his extensive archive to edit and design this stunning monograph. This coffee table tomb is a beautiful tribute to Charley Harper's singular style, which he referred to as Minimal Realism.
R. A. Scotti
Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's
by Plume (Paperback)
In this dramatic journey through religious and artistic history, R. A. Scotti traces the defining event of a glorious epoch: the building of St. Peter’s Basilica. Begun by the ferociously ambitious Pope Julius II in 1506, the endeavor would span two tumultuous centuries, challenge the greatest Renaissance masters—Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante—and enrage Martin Luther. By the time it was completed, Shakespeare had written all of his plays, the Mayflower had reached Plymouth—and Rome had risen with its astounding basilica to become Europe’s holy metropolis. A dazzling portrait of human achievement and excess, Basilica is a triumph of historical writing.
UDON, J. Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, Bryan Lee O'Malley, ...
Street Fighter Tribute
by Udon Entertainment (Paperback)
Fine art meets martial arts! It's been 20 years since legendary video game developer Capcom unleashed Street Fighter upon an unsuspecting gaming public. Since then the game has become a worldwide phenomenon, with the 'fighting game' genre now a staple of the video game industry and dozens of memorable Street Fighter characters entering the realm of pop culture. UDON Entertainment's Street Fighter Tribute is a special volume of original illustrations from artists all around the globe, professionals and fans alike, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Street Fighter franchise. Inside are over 200 brand-new pieces portraying the Street Fighter cast in a dizzying array of styles and designs, from ultra-rendered realistic paintings through to abstract and iconic. This is a video game art gallery in a book, bursting with inspiration and energy.
Andy Goldsworthy
Time
by Abrams (Paperback)
Giorgio Morandi 1890-1964: Nothing Is More Abstract Than Reality
by Skira (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-09-30)
This volume showcases 116 masterpieces arranged into the four major themes that characterize Giorgio Morandi’s work: self portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and flowers. The collection represents all the various expressive techniques used by Morandi over the years, including paint, etching, drawing and watercolor.The volume is the catalog of an outstanding exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum in New York and by the Museo d’Arte Moderna in Bologna. The exhibition will be open in New York from September 16 to December 14, 2008 and in Bologna from January 22 to April 12, 2009.The exhibition and the catalog also contain a number of photographs of Morandi’s studio and quotes from his admirers, as well as the memorable 1958 interview with Edouard Roditi.