Thames&Hudson
Количество страниц 248

Описание:
The Russian Empire was among the most mysterious of the world's great powers, profoundly torn between a rural population living almost medieval lives and industrial and social change in the cities. The tsar's gigantic realm struggled with the advent of modernity and with its own internal contradictions between Asia and Europe, faith and science, different ethnic groups, and the divergent interests of the aristocracy, the middle classes, the urban workers, and the rural poor: a continent of contradictions from abject poverty to fairy-tale wealth captured by authors from Tolstoy to Chekhov, from Gogol to Gorky. Twilight of the Romanovs opens a door into the world of pre-revolutionary Russia using original photographs taken during the last decades of Romanov rule. They include remarkable color images created using an early three-color-plate technique that brings the remote past to life. Our companions on this journey include the Scottish photographer William Carrick, Americans George Kennan and Murray Howe, the German-Russian Carl Bulla, Sergey Produkin-Gorsky, and the writers Leonid Andreyev and Anton Chekhov, together with many anonymous others.These photographs are snapshots of a vanished world, yet they reveal a surprising continuity: despite the subsequent revolution, faces, buildings, and landscapes still resonate with those who see them a century and more later.

Описание:
The book includes examples from the 1960s through to the 1980s, but focuses on posters produced during Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign initiated in 1985. These posters attempted to sober up Soviet citizens by forcing them to confront the issues associated with excessive alcohol consumption. This government-led urgency allowed the poster designers to present the anti-alcohol message in the most graphic terms: they depicted drunks literally trapped inside the bottle or being strangled by "the green snake". Their protagonists are paralytic freeloaders and shirkers who always neglect their families, drive under the influence, produce substandard work, are smashed when pregnant and present a constant danger to fellow citizens. A two-part essay by renowned cultural historian Alexei Plutser-Sarno attempts to explain, from a Russian perspective, the reasons behind this phenomenon.

Описание:
The mission of art is to express each nation s aesthetic values in accordance with the beauty of its soul. The mission of the artist is to teach people to love that beauty. Alphonse Mucha Alphonse Mucha was an extraordinarily prolific and versatile artist who made his mark in the diverse fields of design including posters, jewelery, interior decoration, theater, and packaging and product designs as well as in painting, book illustration, sculpture, and photography. He is one of the best-known Czech artists to wide international audiences today and rose to fame in fin-de-siecle Paris with his elegant designs for theater posters for Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous French actress of the time, and decorative panels (panneaux decoratifs) featuring gracefully posed women. For those posters, Mucha created a distinctive style le style Mucha characterized by harmonious compositions, sinuous forms, organic lines, and a muted palette, which became synony-mous with the newly emerging decorative style of the time Art Nouveau. By the time of the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, Mucha had become a leading figure in this decorative-art movement, and he defined the look of the era. The catalog explores the development of Mucha's career and overall achievements as a multifaceted and visionary artist. It is divided into six sections highlighting Mucha's personality as a Bohemian; a picture maker for people; a cosmopolitan; a mystic; a patriot; and a philosopher.

Описание:
This book is Korean photographer Jongwoo Park's (born 1958) photo-documentation of the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ of Korea, the strip of land dividing North and South Korea.About 154 miles long, 3 miles wide, and 37 miles from Seoul, this buffer zone between the two countries is, despite its name, one of the most militarized borders in the world.

Описание:
In 2009, plans by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to transform part of Broadway including Times Square into a pedestrian area caused a sensation, not just in the city but internationally. Urban areas where pedestrians have right of way over vehicles are becoming increasingly important in the modern city and have enjoyed growing popularity since the 1950s. Not only do they increase the quality of life of the residents, they also become an increasingly important locational factor. In general there are two types of pedestrian zones: the first serves primarily as an alternative transit route without cars, while the second is dedicated to shopping and entertainment in the form of traffic-free shopping streets and open pedestrian areas within shopping malls. Based on a careful selection of projects this volume presents the functional and design variety of these popular urban spaces.

Описание:
Lucian Freud (1922-2011), widely regarded as the greatest figurative painter of his time, spent seven months painting a portrait of the art critic Martin Gayford. The daily narrative of their encounters takes the reader into that most private place, the artist's studio, and to the heart of the working methods of this modern master both technical and subtly psychological. From Man with a Blue Scarf emerges an understanding of what a portrait is, but something else is also created: a portrait, in words, of Freud himself. This is not a biography, but a series of close-ups: the artist at work and in conversation in restaurants, taxis, and his studio. It takes one into the company of the painter who was a friend and contemporary of Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and Francis Bacon, as well as writers such as George Orwell and W.H. Auden. Now for the first time as a compact paperback, this book is illustrated with works by Lucian Freud, telling photographs of Freud in his studio, and images by great artists of the past, such as Vincent van Gogh and Titian, who are discussed by Freud and Gayford. Full of wry observations, the book reveals how it feels to pose for a remarkable artist and become a work of art.

Описание:
The paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are widely known and loved, but this book newly available in paperback presents a comprehensive survey of the intimate world of the Pre-Raphaelites drawings. Works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais are set beside those of their followers Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and Ford Madox Brown, as well as lesser-known figures such as James Collinson and Frederick Sandys. Copiously illustrated with Pre-Raphaelite drawings from public and private collections around the UK, the book features an illuminating text by the renowned art historian Colin Cruise, offering a fresh and intimate perspective on this much-loved group of artists. "Highly readable a fresh and intimate look at a compelling subject". ("Good Book Guide"). "A lasting contribution to the study of Pre-Raphaelite drawings". ("The Burlington Magazine"). "Packed with illustrations and an illuminating text". ("RA Magazine"). "A totally rewarding book in every way: it is a joy to look at and a delight to read". ("Artist").

Описание:
Natural Elegance showcases the award-winning interiors of WRJ Design, headquartered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and led by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer. The firm's homes are set against the backdrop of dramatic western landscapes from the Rockies to the Pacific. Their interiors are infused with a unique elegance one versed in the beauty of the wilderness combined with sophisticated contemporary design. Juxtaposing a warm palette with rugged elements, they create homes that have a deep connection to the natural world just outside the windows. Illustrated with photographs by the masterly William Abranowicz, the book features more than a dozen gloriously sited houses decorated in WRJ's signature rustic yet refined style.