Italian Renaissance Courts. Art, Pleasure and Power Cole Alison Laurence King Publishing

When was art's first kiss? Who painted the first ever smile and the first self-portrait? When did Western art first depict a Black person or approach feminism? And why were each of these firsts so important? This book answers all these fascinating questions and more • Art Firsts explores 30 groundbreaking works to piece together an original approach to looking at and appreciating art, as well as understanding where it has come from and how it relates to you. Each first is approachable and engaging, while each work is simply and satisfyingly explained. Every work is also fully illustrated, and its significance is shown through images of the subsequent artists directly inspired by them • This book offers a refreshing and fascinating narrative for those curious about why so-called 'masterpieces' are so important and how the story of art can be boiled down to flashes of fascinating brilliance

A concise and accessible pocket guide to the forces that have shaped world art • Provides a compelling look at the ideas that have changed art through the millennia • Compiled as a mix of beautiful images and information text, this book covers the history of art in an innovative way • Illustrated with historical masterpieces and packed with fascinating contemporary examples • Concise edition from the bestselling 100 Ideas series • The perfect gift for art and history lovers alike • From the earliest cave paintings through to the internet and street art, this inspiring book chronicles the 100 most influential ideas that have shaped the world of art. Arranged in broadly chronological order, it provides a unique and compelling take on the history of art

A unique collection of previously unseen images spanning Steve McCurry's extraordinary career • Steve McCurry is known for creating some of the most iconic images of recent times and in this new collection, he shares previously unseen photographs from his incredibly rich archive. In Search of Elsewhere takes us across the globe and reveals the diversity of human life. From India, Myanmar and Cuba, to Togo, Ethiopia, Macedonia and the monasteries of Tibet - McCurry offers a new perspective on many of the locations across the globe. Each image is reproduced at large format and in remarkable detail and this new compilation reveals the incredible depth of his work • "I compare photography to food, air, and sleep...this creative energy, this impulse, is what gives us purpose, pleasure, joy, happiness and love

Modern art begins with Goya. He was the first to create works of art for their own sake, and he lived in a time of incredible cultural and social dynamism when the old concepts of social hierarchy were being shaken by the new concept of equality for all • He saw his world ripped apart by Napoleon's armies and then suffered the reactionary backlash as the old order was restored. Against this epic canvas, Goya painted his own observations of humanity, transforming his youthful images of gaily dancing peasants into his mature penetrating studies of human suffering, despair, perseverance and redemption • Goya's art rises above the chaos of his times, and signals the real revolution of personal expression and independent spirit that would be the generative force behind the modernist movement in art

Inspiring readers through iconic images and playful copy, the bestselling Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs has been revised and updated to include new photographers, a brand-new chapter on the art of feeling, and the latest hands-on tips. Striking images from a diverse range of acclaimed contemporary photographers, such as Anastasia Samoylova, Zanele Muholi, Nadine Ijewere, Campbell Addy and Tyler Mitchell, now join the masterpieces of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Dorothea Lange and Martin Parr • Ideal for users of phone, mirrorless and DSLR cameras, the book is split into six sections, covering composition, exposure, light, lenses and the art of seeing and feeling. Thought-provoking images by iconic photographers serve to illustrate points and encourage readers to try out new ideas

Artless presents some of the most compelling images created by contemporary artists and illustrators using the simplest of tools, from coloured pencils, Sharpies, crayons and watercolours to clay, found objects, Sellotape and card, or scissors and glue, creating images that are arresting because of their originality and spontaneity • Through individual interviews with 49 artists, Artless looks at how and why these particular artists find the intimate connection between the unassuming tools they use and the art they create. The end results are images imbued with a great sense of fun and spontaneity

Paul Gauguin created some of the most advanced art in a brilliant generation of artists - all of whom struggled against the stifling conformity of the late 19th century's artistic mainstream • He created paintings whose radically simplified lines and colours echoed the unschooled art of the rustic and native cultures he loved. After his famously disastrous stay with Vincent van Gogh in southern France, Gauguin escaped European civilization for the Polynesian islands. Immersing himself in the culture, he produced a series of radiant canvases and powerful sculptures - his last great works • From his childhood in Peru to his experiences in Tahiti, the story of Gauguin's life is recounted in authoritative text by an expert on the Post-Impressionists and compelling imagery by an award-winning illustrator

Paul Cezanne challenged convention and pioneered new possibilities in painting. He was remarkable for his ability to perceive and paint aspects of everyday life in ways that revealed dynamic yet deeply harmonious visions of the world • But the intellectual and emotional difficulties of his achievements were considerable. Mainly self-taught, most of his career was plagued by rejection. The critics, and the public, disliked his paintings, and in 1884 Cezanne declared that Paris, the centre of the nineteenth-century art world, had defeated him. Repeatedly, he retreated into self-doubt and bad temper • This book follows Cezanne on his extraordinary artistic journey, focusing on his formative discoveries, made not in the flashy, fashionable metropolis of Paris but in provincial and rural France, often in isolation

Artemisia Gentileschi was the greatest female artists of the Baroque age. In Artemisia Gentileschi, critic and historian Jonathan Jones discovers how Artemisia overcame a turbulent past to become one of the foremost painters of her day • As a young woman Artemisia was raped by her tutor, and then had to endure a seven-month-long trial during which she was brutally examined by the authorities. Gentileschi was shamed in a culture where honour was everything. Yet she went on to become one of the most sought-after artists of the seventeenth century. Yet she went on to become one of the most sought-after artists of the seventeenth century. Gentileschi's art communicated a powerful personal vision. Like Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois or Tracey Emin, she put her life into her art

Mercurial, saturnine, scandalous and unpredictable, Caravaggio - as a man, as a character and as an artist - holds dramatic appeal • He spent a large part of his life on the run, leaving a trail of illuminated chaos wherever he passed, most of it recorded in criminal justice records. When he did settle for long enough to paint, he produced works of staggering creativity and technical innovation • He was famous throughout Italy for his fulminating temper, but also for his radical and sensitive humanisation of biblical stories, and in particular his decision to include the brutal and dirty life of the street in his paintings. Caravaggio was a rebel and a violent man, but he eyed the world with deep empathy, realism and an unrelenting honesty

In the 1950s the space race between the USA and the USSR was well and truly on, and was for both a matter of pride and propaganda. But before man ventured into the cosmos, his four legged friends would pave the way for space exploration • The first canine cosmonaut was Laika, meaning "barker". The little stray could never have anticipated that she would one day float 200 miles above the Moscow streets. She would be canonized as a proletarian hero, appearing on stamps, postcards and souvenirs. Her successors were Belka and Strelka, the first dogs to successfully return safely to Earth, and with them, the cult of the space dog was born • In a regime that eschewed celebrating individual achievement, the space dogs became Soviet superstars, with a vast array of merchandise, books and films in their honour

In Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori uses plant science to illuminate how trees play a role in every part of human life, from the romantic to the regrettable. From the trees of Britain, to India's sacred banyan tree, they offer us sanctuary and inspiration - not to mention the raw materials for everything from aspirin to maple syrup • Stops on the trip include the lime trees of Berlin's Unter den Linden boulevard, which intoxicate amorous Germans and hungry bees alike, the swankiest streets in nineteenth-century London, which were paved with Australian eucalyptus wood, and the redwood forests of California, where the secret to the trees' soaring heights can be found in the properties of the tiniest drops of water • Each of these strange and true tales - populated by self-mummifying monks, tree-climbing goats and ever-so-slightly radioactive nuts - is illustrated by Lucille Clerc, taking the reader on a journey that is as informative as it is beautiful