Thames&Hudson Modern Art in Detail Hodge Susie

While acknowledging the legacy of Herbert Read’s classic 1959 study A Concise History of Modern Painting in the World of Art series, academic and artist Simon Morley places the foundation of modern art much earlier than Read, at the emergence of Romanticism and the dawn of the industrial age. Structured loosely chronologically by period, the focus is as much on individual artists as well as movements, with works discussed within a broader context - stylistic, historical, geographical, and gender and ethnic frames - themes that recur throughout the chapters. Generously illustrated, the global and diverse range of artists featured include William Blake, Edouard Manet, Hilma af Klint, Kazimir Malevich, Willem de Kooning, Amrita Sher-Gil, Faith Ringgold and Kehinde Wiley

Fulfilling a need for an accessible, affordable introduction to a subject of sustained and growing significance in contemporary culture, this volume in the World of Art series redefines contemporary Chinese art in the last forty years since the end of China's Cultural Revolution, placing it in the context of unprecedented cultural, political and urban transformation • This book offers neither an art historian's chronological review of Chinese art in post-Mao China, nor does it join the debate of previous terminologies coined by art critics; instead, it provides the most up to date understanding of contemporary Chinese art through original research and informed curatorial perspectives on the selected representative work, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, installation, video, performance and participatory art

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

The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs capture the imagination of the modern world. Vivid, graceful forms decorating monuments that emanated ambition and authority spark our wonder about this distant culture. Ever youthful and elegant men and women encounter odd, animal-headed gods and monsters amid scenes of work and leisure, in a paradise of plain, bright colours, where hieroglyphic texts hint at grand ideas • The tombs and temples of ancient Egypt reveal how art and monumental building first flowered at the heart of civilization. Among the great creative achievements of ancient Egypt we discover a set of constant forms: archetypes in art and architecture that state clearly and concisely the contemporary view of authority, divinity, beauty and meaning

One Saturday evening, sisters Pip and Maisie are sitting in the warm snug of their grandparent's cottage on the edge of a forest in Scotland. Maisie is restless and longs for adventure, but life at the cottage is always slow. When a bright light suddenly falls from the sky into the forest next door, Maisie can't believe her luck - finally an adventure has come her way! She has boots on and torch in hand before Pip has even put down her hot chocolate • Maisie is desperate to discover the special something as quickly as she can. As the two sisters journey through the dark forest towards the gradually receding light, her imagination runs riot - perhaps it's space treasure, gold dust, or maybe even a creature from outer space! Pip, meanwhile, takes in the dark shapes and strange sounds around her, tentatively adjusting to the forest and its wild inhabitants

A new translation of Giorgio Vasari's Life of Raphael, fully illustrated, that presents Vasari's appealing narrative with new precision • Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, written in 1550 and 1568, is a classic text of cultural history. This monumental assembly of artists' lives from Giotto to Michelangelo paints a vivid picture of the progression of art in the hands of individual masters • This illustrated stand-alone edition of Vasari's Life of Raphael offers a new translation of this rich and remarkable life, elegantly rendering Vasari's literary text in modern terms. A work of authoritative skill and precision, this new translation preserves Vasari's exciting narrative, alongside beautifully reproduced color illustrations

This sweeping overview of Rembrandt's extraordinary achievement as a draughtsman fills a gap in the otherwise enormous literature on the artist. Beautifully illustrated, mostly in colour, the more than 150 drawings - culled from a corpus of some 800 - are discussed in detail. The drawings span Rembrandt's entire productive life as an artist, from early self-portraits in the 1620s to late drawings from the 1660s of the victim of an execution, a state coach, and historical and mythological images. The scope of the book allows readers to delve into the very broad range of Rembrandt's oeuvre of drawings

In Japanese life and culture, there has never been a clear distinction between art, craft and design. Generations of artisans have for centuries forged and refined their crafts, which have become the envy of the modern world. Regions of Japan are renowned for specific traditions, many of which are born of local materials and the natural settings in which they are produced • Visitors and craft and design enthusiasts have long known about the high quality of craftsmanship and the unique quality of these makers and the objects they create, though few are taken outside the country. Spurred by an awareness of the unseen treasures produced by these craftspeople, designer-authors Uwe Roettgen and Katharina Zettl set out across the country to find the finest examples, to document the makers and their workshops and the rural landscapes that surround them

In this lavish collection Jйrфme Gautier collects the outstanding elements of Diors style for every generation since 1947, pairing classic and contemporary photographs together with some exquisite rarities. Christian Diors New Look amazed the world as it emerged after wartime austerity, and reset the boundaries of modern elegance. Diors search for the perfect line and the ideal silhouette continues with couturiers of the first rank: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferrй, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri have all made their distinctive contribution. In these pages, the most beautiful fashion plates from Diors own time sit beside examples of the houses creations from each decade. This beautiful volume honors and celebrates Dior past and present with undisputed elegance and panache

In 1907 Edward VII commissioned Peter Carl Faberge - court artist-jeweller to imperial Russia - to produce miniature sculptures of animals on the royal estate at Sandringham. Designed to please Queen Alexandra, the project was suggested by the king's mistress Alice Keppel (the Duchess of Cornwall's great grandmother). The best craftsmen were sent to Norfolk to make wax models which were then taken to Russia to be rendered in hardstones, gemstones, gold, silver and platinum as directed by Faberge himself • Faberge's most ambitious venture in England showed the naturalistic genius of his workshops in St Petersburg and Moscow. It also crowned his career of patronage by the two Danish princesses, Alix and Dagmar, who married British and Russian princes and later became queen-empresses of rival empires

In this gorgeously inspirational and effortlessly practical book, Charlotte Coote guides readers through the process of designing a space, from creating the original design brief through to the finished room. Using her five principles of design - timelessness, authenticity, lifestyle, scale and quality - Charlotte shows how to balance comfort and style, light and shadow, colour and neutrals, old and new. Charlotte's bold and decisive style is like a breath of fresh air, with easy-to-follow tips and ideas for wall colours, kitchen finishes, furniture and fabrics to achieve rich and layered interiors • An essential stylebook, Colour Is Home will help you create a home that will stand the test of time

What makes great art great? Why do some works pulse in the imagination, generation after generation, century after century? From Botticelli’s Birth of Venus to Picasso’s Guernica, some paintings and sculptures have become so famous, so much a part of who we are, that we no longer really look at them. We take their greatness for granted; our eyes have become near-obsolete. We need a new way of seeing • Unsatisfied with traditional interpretations of masterpieces, which are so often interested only in learning about art, and not from it, Kelly Grovier combed the surface of revered works from the Terracotta Army to Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits, in a quest to find the key to their lasting power to move and delight us. He discovered that every truly great work is hardwired with an underappreciated detail that ignites it from deep within