A rare exhibition catalogue produced by the Morgan Library and Museum New York in 2016, generously illustrated with drawings, etchings, photographs, letters, colour photographs, sepia images, exquisite colour artworks and paintings such as the Arch of Constantine seen from the Colosseum, an albumen print of the Theatre of Marcellus, a panorama of Rome from the Piazza Montecavallo, the Girandola at Castel Sant'Angelo in a spectacular etching with colour washes of a firework display. Described by Byron as the City of the Soul, Rome has always inspired fervid imaginings and visionary renderings of itself and its past, and projected a romantic idea onto artists and writers. Its passion, imagination, individuality, transcendence and nonconformity has led to a thriving artistic community, particularly in the century between 1770 and 1870 when visitors experienced the Grand Tour to the onset of mass tourism. Here is every kind of encounter from letters and diary entries, poems, novels, prints, drawings, sketching, watercolours, oil sketches and the exciting new medium of photography, collectively constituting the portrait of a very special and particular place that has touched the very soul. Villas, gardens, fountains to speaking ruins, this is a beautiful visual celebration and text by a Princeton University lecturer. 224 large pages, 21.6 x 28cm. Very well illustrated, includes colour.
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Recognised as one of the foremost painters of Indian miniatures, B. G. Sharma has mastered the traditional styles of Kangra, Kishangarh and Mughal painting. From the kingdom of Ayodhya to the isle of Lanka, we are transported to a land that has inspired morality and spiritual tradition for thousands of years. Rama, the king of Ayodya, comes to life through Sharma's never-before-seen compositions of this classic epic mythological tale. Beginning with his charming youthful adventures to the battle with the demon Ravana, Sharma captures the spirit and sentiment of all Rama's friends and companions, from his intimate devotee Hanuman to his loving Queen, Sita. Chapters include Messenger from Vishnu, King Dasharath with His Four Sons, The Wedding of Sita and Rama, Kaikeyi Demands the Exile of Rama, Guha, Tribal Chief Greets the Exiles, and we meet sages, go into forest life inside the cottage at Panchavati, enter the Monkey Kingdom, Sita's Ordeal by Fire and the Final Episode. 144 very large pages, 30.48cm squared, very glossy paper and high quality stunningly beautiful colour throughout, abridged text for art lovers, younger readers and a fine introduction for general readers.
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Styled for the Road was an exhibition held at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University which holds an impressive range of posters, prints, books, toys, models, paintings and ephemera about ocean liners to automobiles from the late 19th through to the mid-20th century. The aim was to provide a catalogue inviting viewers to consider the significant role of designers, illustrators and architects in the development of the newly emerging car culture and growing industry. A network of new showrooms displayed automobiles and served the needs of clients and salesmen and fuelled the imagination of prospective buyers with sleek poster designs for the Lincoln Zephyr gleaming, the Buick of 1939, to the light delivery car. Gorgeous full page colour illustrations show in-house styling studios at work for General Motors, the Sheller steering wheel, motor shows, the Ford tow truck, Goodyear tyres, the Dodge four-door Sedan 1948 to the REO Master Speed Wagon and a futuristic view of intercity transportation 1940 by John Ricketts, all in the finest sleek design. Streamlined cars, the convertible Victoria, the Duesenberg convertible, here are the glamour cars of the 30s and Chryslers built with quality, all making dreams come true. With biographies. Gorgeous colour plates, large spiralbound softback 102pp, 20 x 26 cm. Colour.

A winning combination of expertly curated and favourite National Geographic photographs, here are the most popular images of animals, landscapes, adventure and people with wanderlust. If you believe in the power of photography to change the world and love visual narrative which educates and illuminates, in these pages you will experience the cumulative voice from the company's iconic Instagram account with over one billion likes on its 7,000+ images posted. An Arctic fox checks out the camera with his irresistible face, a stylish couple rides in a motorboat in Chile in 1941 from an archive image posted on the site, endangered European bison in Poland lock horns, a boy and his pet baboon take a walk in Ethiopia, a prototype shark-deterring surfboard gets a test run in South Africa in an underwater shot of a real shark checking it out, a carer in panda costume in China, campfire embers in bright orange on the elk migration trail in Yellowstone National Park, a kitten's first Christmas, the thermal springs in Budapest with couples bathing on a rooftop, a Dogon funeral dance in Mali with the masked dancers on stilts, young hikers climbing and young Gentoo penguins descending into icy waters are shown on opposite pages, and a 1936 streamlined Mercury train pulls out of Cleveland, Ohio engulfing a skyscraper in its smoke. Small remainder mark. Fabulous quality colour book to browse into time and again, compact square 17.3cm, 336pp.
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A global bestseller, we are excited to have the updated edition which expands the scope of the book further into the 21st century. It is the most accessible, chronological introduction to art history from 28,000BC to the present and including 600 of the world's greatest works of art across all media - painting, sculpture, textiles, metalwork and ceramics and ranging from seminal masterworks to lesser-known pieces. Only here will you find Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon next to a face mask from Gabon, or Lucian Freud's Standing by the Rags alongside an Aboriginal Memorial from Australia. For each there is the country of origin like Mexico with a piece by Diego Rivera entitled Man Controller of the Universe together with dimensions and current location and year opposite Pierre Bonnard's Nude in the Bath from France 1937, Henry Moore's Recumbent Figure UK 1938 opposite Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion from Russia 1938, an Altar Head from Nigeria circa 1750 opposite Daruma in Red by Ekaku from Japan of the same date, the Middle Edo period, Rubens' The Horrors of War in Northern Baroque Style circa 1637, Belgium, opposite The Matsushima Screens from the same year in the early Edo period Japan. Super heavyweight Phaidon publication, 'truly the story of human creativity across time and space', and with informative text written by 35 of the world's leading museum curators, academics and archaeologists. With illustrated timeline, full index and extensive glossary of schools and movements. 656 pages, 22.7cm squared and 1,000 beautiful colour plates on quality glossy white paper. A terrific bargain price.

A Royal Academy of Arts publication on the Renaissance Woodcuts from the Collections of Georg Baselitz and The Albertina, Vienna. The chiaroscuro woodcut developed in Germany in the early 16th century. By printing from one or more colour blocks in addition to the customary line block, artists found they could create a dramatic interplay of light and shade - chiaroscuro, the word that came to define the genre. They used its painterly qualities to create both independent works of art and reproductions of drawings and paintings by others. This handsome publication reproduces more than 130 woodcuts from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, the Golden Age, in this fascinating history of the technique. It includes masterpieces by such well-known artists as Cranach, Beccafumi and Golzius, Ugo da Carpi, alongside other specialists and chapters cover Cremona and Bologna and developments in Italy. Today chiaroscuro woodcuts have once again become prestigious collectors' items and this tome is a rare opportunity to enjoy the creativity and technical brilliance of the artist and printmakers involved in this revolutionary printing technique. The story begins with the printer Erhard Ratdolt of Augsburg who played a key role in colour printing and who from 1476-1486 was active in Venice where he produced an edition of Euclid with a preface printed in gold. In his 1485 edition he used as many as three colours for the astronomical diagrams. 230 large glamorous pages with 120 masterpieces reproduced. 24.1 x 28cm, 2014 rare exhibition publication.

Curator of 20th century portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Paul Moorhouse introduces the key achievements of Cindy Sherman's career. Born in 1954, she is one of the most celebrated female artists of her generation. Manipulating herself as a model, she uses make-up, prosthetics and props to build up a tableaux and charades and play with imagery to conjure many diverse personae. These alter egos are set in dramatic contexts alluding to the visual conventions of film, TV and the media. Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein promoted a Pop Art movement in the USA and created new, figurative art that investigated the social revolution brought about by mass media and the values of popular culture. Cindy Sherman along with other contemporaries extended Pop's engagement with the Look of the contemporary world and responded to a society saturated by media-generated images. They explore the impact of cinema and many of these photographs can be seen with a Hitchcock film influence, television with the impact of Mary Tyler Moore and others, advertising, magazines, newspapers, catalogues and other publications which shaped how people think about themselves and their surroundings. Described as 'post modern', Sherman's approach shuns painting, drawing and sculpture and instead uses photography. It refers to more commonplace ways of representing urban existence as she interrogates modern life from media to pornography, often imbuing them with unexpected often enigmatic significance. Today her pioneering body of work has extended the language and potential of photography in unprecedented ways. The book ends with society photographs and clowns and along the way there are many images of Sherman herself in costume, of broken dolls in pornographic poses, contorted figures, disaster photographs taken between 1986 and 1990, pastiches of the Madonna and Child or Renaissance masterpieces with exposed breasts or lactating, a broken body with bottom in the air, distressed looking women, women carrying out everyday tasks, in silver gelatine prints and colour images. Often disturbing, inventive and creative, this is a fine Phaidon Press publication with complete list of works. Colour.
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From the much-lauded Art & Ideas series from Phaidon Press which 'boasts expert but undogmatic texts and a wealth of illustrations' - The Sunday Telegraph. This concise and authoritative study of the French Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) is an insightful reappraisal of the life and works of one of the most influential artists of the 19th century. Regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic School, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes, and his study of the optical effects of colour, profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist Movement. Dr Simon Lee considers Delacroix's life and art within the context of this tumultuous age in the years following the French Revolution and the rise of the British Empire. He looks at all the major works from Liberty Leading the People, Scenes from the Massacres of Chios with their Turkish costumes, Lord Byron in Arnaout costume, the female personification of the Greek nation half kneeling, hands outstretched, near bare breasted, dripping blood from the sleeve entitled Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi, Justice Wall, Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard to many frescoes and ceiling paintings such as the Chapel of Holy Angels, Saint-Sulpice, Paris, Orientalist works to portraits. Here are his paintings, drawings, lithographs and prints, generously illustrated and explored in depth. Heavyweight quality softback, 352pp, over 100 colour illus.

Showcasing the greatest collection of inspirational product design, here are 500 of the most innovative, beautiful products from the last five centuries that are still in production today. The book includes not only classic objects by Breuer, Le Corbusier, Eames, Castiglioni and Philippe Starck, but also anonymously designed pieces that have achieved perfection in design and functionality. These objects have shaped our society and improved the function of homes, offices and public buildings all over the world and this accessible guide documents not only the history of design, but also the history of taste and culture. We can appreciate by way of a half page colour photograph the object beautifully photographed together with the designer, dates and summary. Among our favourites are the Nuvola Rossa Bookcase of 1977 with its collapsable frame and six removable shelves, Ellen Levy's Aluminium Shelving Brackets, Starck's Ará Lamp of 1988, Post-It Notes 1980, Frank Gehry's Wiggle Chair of 1972, the Moulton Bicycle, the Tulip Chair, the Bisley Multi-drawer Cabinet of 1951, Alessi's Coffee Service of 1945 and more chairs and day beds and tables and the US tunnel mailbox and the Moleskine notebook (1850) and right back to Chinese Scissors of 1663 and the Arare Teapot of the 1700s, the Yale Cylinder Lock and the Swiss Army Knife of 1891. Compact, classy heavyweight, 500 colour photos, 512 pages.
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Beautiful Calla Lilies, Rams Head with Blue Morning Glory, Figures Under a Rooftop, A Nude Series, Flagpole, My Last Door, Abstraction White Rose, Black Iris, Winter Cottonwoods, Autumn Maple Leaves in the Trees section, Above The Clouds, On The Old Santa Fe Road and Storm Clouds Over Lake George, a Black Mesa landscape are among the temptingly colourful artworks in this collection. Georgia O'Keeffe's unique artistic vision made her one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) taught art in South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, and spent many years making art in New York and New Mexico. Beginning in the 1950s she travelled extensively around the world, and out of all these experiences, she distilled a style that is at once American and universal, cool and passionate. Reproduced in glorious colour here is a curator's collection from the premier collection of her work at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe New Mexico with a brief biographical overview and chronology. 80 page Abrams softback rare exhibition catalogue, 2003.