Phaidon Body of Art

A fresh and unconventional approach to exploring 6,000 years of art history through 800 masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art • Featuring more than 800 artworks from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, this groundbreaking book - organized by thematic keywords - draws upon The Met's online Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - offering fresh, unconventional ways of engaging with visual culture • Discover how artists see the world and inspire each other with common themes and sensibilities, materials and techniques. Flowers, for example, have been seen in art for millennia - from Tutankhamun to the Dutch Golden Age, from Van Gogh's still lifes to Georgia O'Keeffe's monumental close-ups. Seen side by side, Art = reveals new connections between artists of different times and places, offering a fresh perspective on beloved works

Visit the world’s greatest museum without leaving your home through this imaginary art museum – a visually spectacular survey of world art for middle-grade readers, curated in collaboration with a global team of experts and educators • This imaginary art museum is an educational and inspiring experience without the constraints of space and time. Discover beautiful reproductions from pre-history to the present, arranged in easy-to-navigate, colour-coded wings, galleries, and rooms, each with an informative narrative guide. Marvel at its remarkable range of styles and mediums – from classic to contemporary, and from paintings and sculptures to photographs and textiles. With a fold-out museum map and floor plans to follow, and interactive cross-referencing activities, this museum-in-a-book spotlights the iconic and important works and movements in art history and provides the perfect introduction to the history of human creativity

The most complete in-depth survey of global Mid-Century Modern homes ever published - more than 400 stunning homes from 40 countries, designed by more than 290 of the world's greatest architects • The love of Mid-Century style is at an all-time high, with a steady flow of exhibitions, house tours, and books celebrating its unique cross-generational appeal. This collection of more than 400 of the world's most glamorous homes from more than 290 architects, showcases work built between the 1940s and 1960s by such icons as Marcel Breuer, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, Lina Bo Bardi, Alvar Aalto, and Oscar Niemeyer alongside extraordinary but virtually unknown houses in Australia, Africa, and Asia. This stunning and thoroughly researched, comprehensive appraisal is a must-have for all design aficionados, Mid-Century Modern collectors, and anyone looking for inspiration for their own homes

From politics to religion, psychology to nuclear physics, learn how Dali's work embraces nearly every major historic development of the twentieth century • Although Salvador Dali’s characteristically provocative behavior and bizarre pictorial language made him an outlier in high society, his body of work reflects his century’s most important innovations and concerns. This introduction to Dali’s work features dozens of exquisite reproductions as it traces the artist’s development, life and career. Readers will learn how he was influenced by contemporaries Miro, Ernst, and de Chirico as well as by Raphael and Gaudi. It explores his early adoption of Surrealism, his fascination with the subconscious, and his antipathy toward war. Using quotes from the artist, it illustrates how Dali's return to the Catholic church and his interest in nuclear and atomic physics was manifested in his paintings and experiments in film

An Artist’s Insights on Art Appreciation • Written by a practicing artist, this book decodes and maps the basic elements of visual art, leading the reader to a greater understanding and appreciation. Not an art history lesson per se, this illustrated guide is rather a tool kit to make the study of art and a visit to the museum truly rewarding. An entertaining and informative read, The Joy of Art offers the reader • A working art vocabulary to help you identify and explain what you’re looking at • Answers to many of the questions you may have about visual art in general • A summary of the basic criteria to consider when looking at art • Highlights of the primary art genres and an introduction to the artists who pursued them • Many visual examples of aesthetic considerations and practices • Interesting facts about your favorite artists and clues to why they made the choices they did • A few games to test your new skills • The Joy of Art contains 150 color photographs and many interesting insights from an artist-author who takes readers behind the curtain and into the studio to uncover what actually goes into making a work of art

'Great art has dreadful manners...' Simon Schama observes at the start of his epic exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. 'The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed in short order to re-arrange your sense of reality...' • With the same disarming force, Power of Art jolts us far from the comfort zone of the hushed art gallery, as Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, altering the course of art for ever

This beautiful book brings you the very best of art throughout history - using a truly innovative timeline-led approach • Savour iconic paintings such as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper and Monet's Waterlilies, and discover less well-known artists, styles, and movements the world over - from Indigenous Australian art to the works of Ming-era China. And explore recurring themes, such as love and religion, and important genres from Romanesque to Conceptual art, along the way • Timelines of Art provides detailed analysis of the works of key artists, showing details of their technique - such as Leonardo's use of light and shade. It tells the story of avant-garde works like Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Lunch on the Grass), which scandalised society, and it traces how certain artists, genres or movements informed the works of others - showing how the Impressionists were inspired by Gustave Courbet, for example, or how Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese prints

Go on an artistic journey around the world in this children's introduction • Discover the power of art and be inspired by cultures from all over the world with this extensive children's guide. This book is the perfect introduction for young readers to the world of art and celebrates different styles from every continent! • Children aged 9+ can enjoy reading about early art right through to present day, and learn about the fascinating lives and achievements of great artists and sculptors, from Leonardo da Vinci to Tracey Emin and Henry Moore. All the essential information about art is covered, including the major movements, artists from around the world and techniques • Children's Book of Art is full of facts and photos highlighting artistic styles from across the globe, from the very earliest cave paintings through to Renaissance art and surrealism, via China's terracotta army and African sculptors

Artists’ homes from 1880 to the twentieth century • As treasure troves of creativity, the homes of artists reflect the intellectual worlds of their creators. Starting with the Villa Stuck in Munich—the aesthetic, conceptual cosmos and life’s work of the aristocratic artist Franz von Stuck—this unique volume integrates the artist’s house as a category into the international context and is the first to assign these buildings the status of major works. About twenty examples bring to life the fascination that these artistic fantasies hold for art lovers, including both existing projects and some which, although they have been lost, were of unique importance in their day and still retain their charisma. Along with paintings, sculptures, and photographs closely related to the houses, plans and models convey the correlation between art and life as well as the kind of harmony of the arts expressed in Richard Wagner’s historical concept of the total work of art

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

This new and updated edition adds new figures as well as historic documents. Of particular interest is the discovery of the long-lost marble figure Polar Bear last seen over 75 years ago in Paris, where it was exhibited for the first and last time at the 1943 Salon des Artistes Francais. Accompanying images of this important discovery are presented in this edition for the very first time. Over 26 years ago the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo’s rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life. The book dwells on the sources and inspiration of the Art Deco movement, with particular emphasis on sculptures created by Demetre Chiparus

In 2017 the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction for $450m. But is it a real da Vinci? In a thrilling narrative built on formidable research, Ben Lewis tracks the extraordinary journey of a masterpiece lost and found, lied and fought over across the centuries • In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci's small oil painting, the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction for $450m. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as saviour of the world is 'the rarest thing on the planet by the greatest human being who ever lived'. Its dazzling price also makes it the world's most expensive painting • For two centuries art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo's assistants in the first half of the sixteenth century