Thames&Hudson Andre Fu. Crossing Cultures with Design Shaw Catherine

Neutral hues, an ill-fitting man's suit and wiggling locks of cut hair supplant Frida Kahlo's (1907-54) usual lively color palette, indigenous Mexican dress and long plaits in Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940). Nevertheless, the painting remains unmistakably Kahlo's. In the wake of a divorce from artist Diego Rivera, Kahlo turns to her favorite genre, self-portraiture, to express her deepest emotional and psychological urges. Inscribed with the lyrics of a popular song that translate as "Look, if I loved you it was for your hair. Now that you're without it I no longer love you", the work oscillates between evocations of a popular culture shared by many and unflinching forays into the private sphere. Curator Jodi Roberts essay, too, moves between the public and the private as it situates Kahlo's painting in the context of the Mexican Revolution's legacy, the Surrealist tradition and the artist's own life to explore the ways in which Kahlo constructed and reconstructed her own identity

Unperson is one of the first photo books of North Korean Defectors. The 15 intimate portraits and the stories of the brave people who decided to take that chance to flee to South Korea. The road to South Korea is dangerous and can take years with the many different borders of Mongolia, Laos, Thailand, and China. The people fleeing are filled with the fear of being arrested and sent back to labour camps. Once they arrive in South Korea, they often struggle to find a new identity, lost between their North Korean past and South Korean future. Tim Franco travelled to the crossing points, aiming to capture the diversity of landscape that is the background of North Korean defection. He chose to use an 8x10 camera with Polaroid film to capture each defector

This beautifully illustrated book brings to life the greatest treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Fifty of the most important objects on display today are each accompanied by a short, accessible text giving the reader just enough information to understand their relevance and importance while retaining a sense of wonder at these ancient artefacts • Each carefully selected object is presented with a full-page colour image and a facing text explaining what the object is, where it was found and why it was buried with the young Pharaoh. There are quotes throughout the text from Howard Carter on his discovery of the tomb in 1922. An introduction by the esteemed Egyptologist Garry Shaw gives a brief overview of the history of ancient Egypt and sets out what we know about the life and times of the young king

Loaded with hundreds of photographs of high-end homes and interiors, these gorgeous books is a treat for lovers of residential architecture and a resource for people planning to build their own house • Featuring some of the world's most aesthetically creative and environmentally conscious residential design and construction, this gorgeous collection reflects homes with a deep reverence for their natural and cultural contexts, from coastal dwellings to contemporary urban dwellings and mountain cottages With 30 leading pioneers of the green movement, this informed overview spotlights architects from such firms as Christopher Wright, Coates Design Architects, Nathan Good or Robert Hutchison

John Galliano’s (b. 1960) ascent in the world of fashion design was swift and filled with acclaim for his bold, quick-witted sensibility and his theatrical flair. He became head designer for Givenchy in 1995, and then for Christian Dior in 1996, and directed his own fashion label between 1996 and 2011. He was named Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards four times. Currently creative director of the Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela, Galliano has fascinated the fashion world with his often outrageous and whimsical creations, including some of the most memorable collections of the 20th century: from the iconic Suzie Sphinx collection to luxurious and edgy reinventions of Chinese, Peruvian, Yemeni, or Mongolian costumes • Unfolding chronologically with short texts by fashion expert Claire Wilcox introducing each collection, John Galliano: Unseen captures the designer’s mesmerizing creations for his eponymous label (including rich and idiosyncratic details) and the intense backstage work of Galliano’s trusted collaborators

What makes Scottish art Scottish? In this now classic text, Murdo Macdonald explores the distinctive characteristics of Scottish art over the centuries - such as the heritage of Celtic design with it's emphasis on intricate pattern; the importance of the landscape, particularly the Highlands and the sea; and a close connection with France. It ranges from the earliest art to survive - Neolithic standing stones - through the art of the Picts and Gaels, and the tumultuous centuries of the Reformation, to the great flowering of Scottish art in the Enlightenment. The final chapters focus closely on art produced since 1900, with succinct and revealing analyses of the Scottish Colourists and the major figures of contemporary art in all media. Masterpieces from the Book of Kells to paintings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Joan Eardley are illustrated in full colour, and such key works are set in a clearly explained historical context throughout

A gorgeously illustrated survey of chinoiserie from the 18th century to today • Chinoiserie is a term for Western art and design inspired by a largely invented vision of China. Marco Polo’s sensational account of his visit to the exotic East in the 13th century sparked a fascination with China that reached a fever pitch in the 18th century and continues to this day. Art historian and artist Aldous Bertram has long been captivated by chinoiserie. He organizes Dragons & Pagodas by theme, including porcelain, color and pattern, flora, fauna, people, architecture and tropical exoticism. Each chapter is bursting with images of everything from grand European summer palaces and whimsical pagoda follies to charming details of screens, porcelain figurines and ornate plasterwork, from modern rooms swathed in floral wallpaper to paintings, tapestries and palm-topped columns

The extraordinary life story of Song Huai-Kuei, better known as Madame Song, follows the arc of 20th-century history. Artist, entrepreneur and impresario, Song broke cultural barriers for love, transcended Cold War borders for her art, and laid the foundations for a global fashion industry. With her cosmopolitan outlook, she defined an influential vision for Chinese culture on the world stage and asserted an Asian perspective in 21st-century art and design. Madame Song is a name that everyone interested in the roots of contemporary visual culture needs to know • At the heart of this volume is a critical biography that explores Song's youth in revolutionary China, her cross-cultural marriage to Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov, her success within avant-garde circles in Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War, and finally her efforts within China to revive traditional aesthetics in tandem with the explosive rise of global couture

Monocle's latest book is a celebration of the Nordic region, with some surprises, quirks and - maybe - a sauna or two along the way. Monocle's journalists, editors and photographers have returned time and again to all corners of northern Europe for insights, inspiration and ideas for living better • This book isn't about hammering the overhyped hygge trend or fussing over foamy food. Much the opposite - it's about a shared but distinct set of values that have helped varied nations excel in quiet diplomacy, thoughtful design and reasoned debate. Monocle looks beyond the cliches and uncovers the folks, firms and stories that help the region rank highly for everything in everything from art and architecture to eating well • Far from lumping these different nations together, the Monocle team will highlight the people, places and products that show the Nordics in all their nuances: lessons we can all learn from makers in Norway's high north or retailers reaching higher in Reykjavik; the firms building bridges in Denmark or selling Swedish soft power abroad

Devoted to all-white houses, this book celebrates the ever- popular "non-color" as a perfect backdrop for contemporary lifestyles • Sometimes seen as an absence of color, white in fact reflects the purity of the entire spectrum. In the history of design, white houses often embody the bright, clean clarity associated with twentieth-century giants Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Richard Meier • White Houses presents the most striking, innovative, and unusual white houses by contemporary architects, spanning the globe from Asia to the Americas. The featured houses represent every scale and a wide range of locations and terrains, from seaside retreats to space-saving urban homes and grand country residences. From radical new takes on traditional building forms in Latin America to state-of-the-art urban projects in Europe and Japan, each house employs the apparent simplicity of white to reflect light and accent materiality, pressing the frontiers of form to the point of abstraction

An intimate visual archive of design inspiration from celebrated designer Rose Tarlow • Inspired by memories of her East Coast childhood home, Windrift, lost in a fire more than 50 years ago, Rose Tarlow showcases three of her family houses in this deluxe slipcased volume. Often referred to as "the decorator's decorator," Tarlow has a distinctive style that has won her numerous international accolades, and her own houses are the embodiment of her design philosophy, exuding charming eccentricity and uncompromising quality. Featuring her family homes in Stone Canyon and Santa Barbara, California, and Provence, France, Three Houses presents Tarlow's own personal archive-a treasure trove of precious memories and design inspiration for generations to come

Known for his multi-storey murals gracing buildings all over the world, Melbourne-based artist Rone uses his work to explore the friction and connection between beauty and decay, youth and ruin • Rone was a seminal figure in the explosive Melbourne street art scene of the early 2000s. With his beginnings in street art, stencil and screen printing, Rone is now best known for his haunting images of women's faces, rendered in arresting detail on silos and store fronts, museums and apartment blocks. His immersive installations have continued his investigation into divergent themes of beauty and ruin, materiality and loss, through the transformation of condemned, derelict or forgotten spaces - with each artwork painstakingly produced, only to be destroyed