Viking Art James Graham-Campbell Thames&Hudson

Colombia's contemporary art scene - one of the most vibrant in Latin America - nevertheless remains relatively undocumented outside that country. With profiles of 90 key players and four critical essays, "Contemporary Art Colombia" captures the renewed dynamism of the Colombian art world • "Contemporary Art Colombia" features the key figures, museums and spaces so integral to the booming Colombian art scene, including public institutions such as the Museo del Banco de la Republica in Bogota and the Medellin Museo de Arte Moderno; private initiatives such as Art Fair ArtBo; private institutions such as Flora and Fundacion Misol; commercial galleries such as Bogota-based Casas Riegner and Instituto de Vision; artists such as Doris Salcedo, Carlos Motta, Edinson Quinones, and Oscar Munoz; and well-established figures like Celia de Birbragher, the founder and editor of Latin America's leading art magazine, ArtNexus

"Modern Art Explorer" is a witty and brilliantly illustrated introduction to modern art for children that takes readers undercover to discover the stories behind thirty famous artworks from the Centre Pompidou's collection in Paris. By going behind the scenes and turning each artwork inside out, young readers will see that artworks aren't remote monuments but real things that are shaped into being by ideas, inspirations, human lives, world events and the materials artists use • Children will be entertained and intrigued by a variety of engagingly specific details and buoyed by their ability to understand what these works of art are all about. Award-winning illustrator Serge Bloch's cheeky, comic and energetic illustrations serve to illuminate the information and the ideas in each artwork

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of the most admired and famous painters of all time, and the architect of Impressionism: a revolution that gave birth to modern art. His technique - painting out of doors, at the seashore or in the city streets - was as radically new as his subject matter, the landscapes and middle-class pastimes of a newly industrialized Paris. Painting with an unprecedented immediacy and authenticity, Monet claimed that his work was something new: both natural and true • In this new introductory study, James H. Rubin - one of the world's foremost specialists in 19th-century French art - traces the development of Monet's practice, from his early work as a caricaturist to the late paintings of waterlilies and his garden at Giverny

In the last few decades, the world of contemporary art has become more globalized and visible than ever before. And yet this world has long been perceived as closed and obscure, provoking in the uninitiated a range of responses from reverence to bafflement and rage. Taking the reader on a cross-continental journey through a notional calendar year in the field of art, Matthew Israel lifts the veil on a world that emerges from his narrative as diverse, adventurous, nuanced and meaningful to all. From Los Angeles to Hong Kong via Paris and New York, the author travels among the world's best-known artists, curators, critics, gallerists and institutions as they work towards some of the art world's most defining international events • A Year in the Art World relates the exploits of a curious insider, who ventures deep into the workings of the art industry to ask: what is it that people in the art world actually do? What drives an interest in working with art? How do artworks acquire value? And how has technology transformed the art world of today? Israel combines in-depth personal profiles with expert context to reveal both new and longstanding artworld realities

The visual arts enrich our lives in many ways: bringing innovative ideas and the pleasures of beauty and emotion, but they can also confound. "How To Understand Art" sets out to enhance the viewer's experience by breaking down the elements of art and sculpture to provide a firm basis for simple enjoyment as well as further investigation • With 100 visual examples drawn from across the globe, the stress is on how to assess art objectively - a key skill for any art student, museum visitor or cultural enthusiast. Janetta Rebold Benton guides the reader to re-evaluate their experiences of looking at art by learning to move beyond "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like", and shift towards an understanding of "why I like it" • Materials and techniques are discussed - drawing, painting, printing, photography, sculpture and decorative art - making it possible to assess what can (and cannot) be done in certain media

"Making Sense of Buddhist Art & Architecture" is designed to equip the cultural tourist and art student with the means to interpret each painting, building, or artifact in terms of the iconography and symbolism of the Buddhist religion. With reference to 100 clearly illustrated and diverse historical works, readers will learn to identify the telling details that mean so much to Buddhist devotees. The book's layout is both visually striking and accessible. Each double-page spread features a full-page colour photograph of either a detail of the work or it's context, depending on the subject, with a second photograph chosen to illustrate important aspects of the work. Alongside is a detailed exposition of the work's significance in Buddhist art history and philosophy, with key historical facts about the work, including where it may be seen today

Real Nordic Living celebrates the impact that Scandinavian culture has had internationally on art, design, fashion, food, and interiors, while seeking out the creatives and tastemakers who are bringing this covetable lifestyle to the general public • The book is divided into five themed chapters: Art and Artists, Design, Food and Drink, Fashion, and Travel and features interviews with designers, artisans, restaurateurs, and bloggers, who share their insider knowledge on the best products, brands, trends, and locations that embrace the Nordic lifestyle • Including profiles of more than 100 designers, this book is essential reading for the young and stylish, and anyone for whom Scandinavian living is a dream and aspiration

"Why Your 5 Year Old Could Not Have Done That" is Susie Hodge's passionate and persuasive argument against the most common disparaging remark levelled at modern art. In this enjoyable and thought-provoking book, she examines 100 works of modern art that have attracted critical and public hostility - from Cy Twombly's scribbled Olympia (1957), Jean-Michel Basquiat's crude but spontaneous "LNAPRK" (1982), to the apparently careless mess of Tracey Emin's My Bed (1998) and explains how, far from being negligible novelties, they are inspired and logical extensions of the ideas of their time. She explains how such notorious works as Carl Andre's Equivalent VIII (1966) - the infamous bricks - occupy unique niches in the history of ideas, both showing influences of past artists and themselves influencing subsequent artists

This accessible overview is invaluable for the way in which it makes coherent sense of the often-bewildering diversity of styles, forms, media, techniques, and agendas that proliferate in contemporary art. Extensively revised and expanded since it was first published, Michael Archer's acclaimed book is brought fully up to date in this new edition through the addition of a new chapter on developments in contemporary art since 2000. Art Since 1960 remains an indispensable source of information on the evolution of art over the past five and a half decades

"Art Day by Day" presents snapshots of the most exciting, unusual and noteworthy art events from around the world and throughout history through direct testimonies, eyewitness accounts and contemporary chroniclers • Each day has it's own section, starting with an extended quote giving artists, critics and commentators their voice to speak directly to us, followed by a brief explanatory text, and ending with other important events in art on that day e.g. births, deaths and exhibition openings. Not every entry is momentous, but all are significant. Yes, there are thefts, murders, artistic mishaps and eureka moments, but there are also more relatable episodes such as President Theodore Roosevelt's doodles, Michelangelo writing to his nephew about his kidney stones and Monet getting the green light for his water garden

From land art and earthworks in the 1960s to conceptual art of the new millennium, ecology-focused art has been a prominent genre in the art world for decades. This book offers a look into the recent explosion in contemporary art that deals directly with nature, the environment, climate change, and ecology. Organized into six thematic chapters, Art & Ecology Now moves through the various levels of artists' engagement, from those who document and reflect on nature, to those who use the physical environment as the raw material for their art, and committed activists who set out to make art that transforms both our attitudes and our habits. More than 300 color illustrations feature the work of over 90 artists, including Allora & Calzadilla, Edward Burtynsky, Tue Greenfort, Hans Haacke, Eva Jospin, Nadav Kander, Yao Lu, David Maisel, Gustav Metzger, Svetlana Ostapovici, Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, Berndnaut Smilde, and more

Mark D. Fullerton blends the art of the Roman period with its history of political intrigue, military and religious ideologies, and intercultural interaction. The book not only explores the art of Rome itself but also that of the Roman provinces, including Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Greece and the British Isles, showing how Roman art drew from and influenced the wider ancient world • Each of the book's four parts opens with a timeline and historical overview, allowing the reader to better understand how the art relates to the political and social lives of the people of ancient Rome. Individual chapters begin with a map of Rome, illustrating how the city changed over centuries of rebuilding and reimagining • With an introduction, "What Is Roman about Roman Art?", and "Materials and Techniques" features on the artistic innovations introduced by the Romans, such as concrete, linear and atmospheric perspective, and mosaic, the book explores how Roman influences still affect the art and architectural world today