Category Archives: Travel Guides
African Art
The art of the Fang, the BaTeke, the BaKota and other African peoples is extremely vigorous and shows brilliant sense of form. The substantial aesthetic impact of their works upon the development of 20th-century Western art – on Picasso, Derain, Braque and Modigliani, among others – continues to this day. This survey reveals the astonishing
The Empire of Death
Paul Koudounaris` “Empire of Death” is a dark, macabre, and intriguing look into Ossuaries and Charnel Houses. Visitors to the Paris catacombs were once greeted with a sign telling them that they were entering “THE EMPIRE OF DEATH”, and this book goes some way in explaining why.This riveting book takes the reader on a tour
Art of the Andes
This wide-ranging survey, now established as the best single-volume introduction to Andean art and architecture on the market today, describes the strikingly varied artistic achievements of the Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Nasca, Chimu and Inca cultures, among others. For this fully revised third edition, Rebecca Stone has rewritten and expanded the text throughout, touching on many
The Last Colonial
This is an autobiography in essays that conjures up a truly unique portrait of a world that is fast disappearing. Christopher Ondaatje is a true child of the British Empire. Born in Ceylon in 1933 and brought up on a tea plantation, he was sent as a teenager to boarding school in England. But soon
Egyptian Art
The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs continue to 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
Chinese Lives
China is the most populous country on earth, with the longest history of any modern nation. In the 21st century, it is clear that Chinas future, as a political and economic world power, is set to be as significant as its past, and its achievements still depend upon its people. This book tells the story
In Search of a Masterpiece
If you find yourself in Hull, Cork or Dundee, what paintings should you go and look at? Many masterpieces are waiting for you around the British Isles, sometimes neglected, in our galleries and museums. Here, broadcaster, critic and President of the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), Christopher Lloyd, identifies over 265
Vincent`s Trees
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) felt a profound empathy with the natural environment, and considered the spiritual essence of trees to be comparable with that of human figures. “Vincents Trees” traces Van Goghs development as a painter of trees in the natural landscape from his home province of North Brabant, through Paris to Provence. Ralph Skeas
Mapping it out: An Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies
Over 130 leading lights from different fields artists, architects, writers and designers, geographers, mathematicians, computer pioneers, scientists make sense of exterior and interior worlds through highly personal and imaginative maps and charts. Some have translated scientific data into simplified visual language, while others have condensed vast social, political or natural forms into concise diagrams. Many
Cathedrals of England
With enthusiasm and learning, Alec Clifton-Taylor leads us through nine centuries of English cathedral architecture and decoration, from their Norman beginnings through the flowering of Gothic to the concrete and metal structures of the twentieth century. 203 illus., 4 in color.
Hawksmoor ( Architect of Some of London`S Most Prominent Landmark
Nicholas Hawksmoor was the architect of some of London`s most prominent landmarks – St Mary Woolnoth in the City; St George`s, Bloomsbury; Christchurch, Spitalfields; and part of Greenwich Hospital – and of other notable English buildings, such as All Souls, Oxford, and the Mausoleum at Castle Howard. Yet he has been comparatively little studied and
Symbolist Art
Though the Symbolist heyday in Paris was short-lived, the movement had an influence on painting in both duration and geographical range. Important Symbolist painters were at work in places as remote from one another as Munch in Oslo, Klimt in Vienna, and the young Picasso in Barcelona. It is through Symbolism, too, that the relationship
English Parish Churches
The late Sir John Betjeman described this volume as “a gem of a book…condensed knowledge without being stodgy, affectionate without being mawkish.” From the Saxon simplicity of the little church of St. Lawrence at Bradford-on-Avon to the late Victorian splendor of Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London, Edwin Smith`s photographs of parish churches epitomize English history
Irish Art – A Concise History
Bruce Arnold traces the complex evolution of Irish art through three millennia, showing how it has drawn on Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Mediterranean sources. The author repatriates Irish artists who are frequently regarded as “English”–including William Mulready, Daniel Maclise and James Barry– and explores how Irish paintings and sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, metalwork and architecture together
World War II: Infographics
The mass of available data about World War II has never been as large as it is now, yet it has become increasingly complicated to interpret it in a meaningful way. Packed with cleverly designed graphics, charts and diagrams, `World War II: Infographics` offers a new approach by telling the story of the conflict visually.
Dictionary Of British Art
Here, in a single, concise volume, is all that every art lover and student will ever want to know about the most popular and significant event in the history of painting. Some 300 entries cover not only the lives and careers of the main participants (painters, critics, patrons, dealers and collectors, as well as writers
Standing With Stones
Across the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland lies an unsurpassed richness of prehistoric heritage. “Standing with Stones” is a personal voyage of discovery, taking the reader to over a hundred megalithic sites in a photographic journey through the British Isles. The book is divided into regions, and each site featured is given its
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh`s finest work dates from about a dozen intensely creative years around 1900. His buildings in Glasgow, and especially his craggy masterpiece the Glasgow School of Art, are more complex and playful than any other work in Britain at that time. His interiors, many of them designed in collaboration with his wife, Margaret
Lost Tombs of Thebes
The Lost Tombs of Thebes – Life in Paradise is a lavish, photographic collection celebrating the hundreds of unique and wonderfully decorated tombs uncovered in the Theban massif of southern Egypt. Buried at the site are courtiers and high officials, as well as the very artisans who themselves worked on the royal tombs. Just a
Indian Art -Concise History
This survey, spanning 4000 years, traces the rich visual expression of one of the world`s most ancient cultures through the varied arts of India. From the beginnings in the Indus valley, through the masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu art, to the coming of Islam and the eclectic culture of the Mughal court, the country`s artistic
