This slim but explosive glossy-magazine-sized paperback, designed by the talented Japanese art collective, Enlightenment, and edited by the Tokyo-based curator and gallerist, Hiromi Yoshii, collects new work by a small and tightly interrelated group of Japan's most exciting new artists, all of whom are involved in portraying what could be described as a 'post-reality world.' Brought together by Yoshii for the exhibition, After the Reality, at New York's Deitch Projects this past summer, the works present a blend of fantasy and reality, fears and emotions, all set amidst an optimistic embrace of life and a foreboding of death. Featuring works on canvas by Yoshitaka Azuma, C-prints by Enlightenment, Watercolors by Koichi Enomoto, video collages and drawings by Taro Izumi, drawings and installation work by Soichiro Matsubara and more drawings and video clips from Aya Ohki, it's a skinny, sexy glimpse into what's happening in Japanese contemporary art right now.

Following World War II, Western painting went in completely new directions. A young generation of artists turned their backs on the dominant styles of the interwar period: Instead of figurative representation or geometric abstraction, painters in the orbit of Abstract Expressionism in the US and Art Informel in Western Europe pursued a radically impulsive approach to form, color, and material. As an expression of individual freedom, the spontaneous artistic gesture gained symbolic significance. Large-scale color-field compositions created a meditative space for ruminating the fundamental questions of human existence. The exhibition and catalogue examine the two sister movements against the background of a vibrant transatlantic exchange, from the 1940s through to the end of the Cold War. This lavishly illustrated volume brings together works by more than 50 artists, amongst them Alberto Burri, Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, K. O. Goetz, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Georges Mathieu, Joan Mitchell, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Judit Reigl, Mark Rothko, Hedda Sterne, Clyfford Still, and Jack Tworkov.

"Cadavers, camera, action!" ("The New York Times Book Review"). From the advent of photography in the 19th and into the 20th century, medical students, often in secrecy, took photographs of themselves with the cadavers that they dissected: their first patients. Featuring 138 of these historic photographs and illuminating essays by two experts on the subject, "Dissection" reveals a startling piece of American history. Sherwin Nuland, MD, said this is "a truly unique and important book [that] documents a period in medical education in a way that is matched by no other existing contribution." And Mary Roach said Dissection "is the most extraordinary book I have ever seen--the perfect coffee table book for all the households where I'd most like to be invited for coffee."

Rachel Garfield uses video, painting and photography to make work, which explores the gap between an individual's perception of their identity and the perceptions of others. A common theme in all her works, in whatever medium, is the way in which they layer multiple experiences and viewpoints. The presence of the artist as both subject and interviewer is also a recurring feature. The work places stereotypes alongside the subject of those stereotypes, to examine issues of identity, racism and belonging. However, the viewer is offered no easy pointers as to how to respond. Garfield presents us with a complex, multi-faceted view of the individuals concerned, and their relationship to their communities and histories.

This vibrant reference guide profiles 50 major artists alongside their representative works. The entries are presented in an eye-catching format that includes brief biographies and critical analyses, alongside illustrations of the artists' most famous works. Featuring 200 full colour illustrations this book also includes a glossary of important terms, information about relevant movements and techniques, and a timeline that puts the artists in context. Arranged chronologically, the selection of artists includes every major artistic movement and development since the Gothic period, giving readers a clear understanding of the evolution of the visual arts. Perfect for casual reading or easy reference, this accessible overview is a fun and practical art history lesson that everyone can enjoy.

Explore the extraordinary Rick and Morty artwork from the sell-out Gallery 1988 exhibition in this exclusive collection. Delve into the worlds of Rick and Morty in this stunning memento showcasing the best of the Gallery 1988 exhibition. Together with Adult Swim, the gallery commissioned a series of art pieces to celebrate moments, characters, storylines and episodes from the show. The event was a huge hit and the limited pieces sold out at one one-hundredth the speed of reality. Rick and Morty: Show Me What You Got allows fans to explore the stunning artwork from the exhibition. Artists have contributed passionately made posters, sculptures, book covers, hip flasks and much more to commemorate this beloved series. Discover what inspired them, see their work in progress, and enjoy a collection of stunning, original Rick and Morty artwork.

This landmark volume offers a major re-assessment of the art that emerged in Britain in the twenty years following the end of the Second World War: a period of anxiety, profound social change and explosive creativity. Published to coincide with the Barbican Centre's 40th anniversary, it draws together the work of fifty artists, exploring a period straddled precariously between the horror of the past and the promise of the future. Spanning painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and photography, Postwar Modern will explore a rich field of experiment which challenges the idea that Britain was a cultural backwater at this time. Through new texts by Jane Alison, Hilary Floe, Ben Highmore, Hammad Nassar and Greg Salter, the book looks afresh at celebrated artists such as Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Eduardo Paolozzi, shown in dialogue with lesser-known figures. These will include those, like Francis Newton Souza, Avinash Chandra and Robert Adams, who were acclaimed by contemporaries but neglected in subsequent history-making; others, like Kim Lim, Anwar Jalal Shemza and Franciszka Themerson, are only now attracting the attention they deserve. Throughout their work, vital shared preoccupations become visible: gender, class, race and nationhood; the body, the bombsite, and the home. It is a period resonating strongly with our own: as the UK emerges from more than a decade of austerity and confronts the challenges of post-pandemic reconstruction, society is asking similarly deep questions about who we want and need to be.

For centuries the natural life of the British Isles has captured the imagination of both artists and scientists. The Art of British Natural History explores the many different ways in which Britain's flora and fauna have been documented, from engravings and watercolours to ink and charcoal drawings.The Art of British Natural History is illustrated with over 100 specially selected artworks from the collections of the Natural History Museum's Library and Archives. Together these images span 300 years of British history and include the works of major figures such as William MacGillivray, Moses Harris, Edward Wilson and Ernest Mansell. Andrea Hart's accompanying essay reveals that these images are both beautiful to look at and have also played a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge in Britain. She also traces how these images have influenced the history of printing, art, and popular culture.

A revelatory and informative presentation of the anti-apartheid posters created by Medu Art Ensemble

A revelatory and informative presentation of the anti-apartheid posters created by Medu Art Ensemble

Formed in the late 1970s, Medu Art Ensemble forcefully articulated a call to end the apartheid system’s racial segregation and violent injustice through posters that combined revolutionary imagery with bold slogans. Advocating for decolonization and majority (nonwhite) rule in South Africa and neighboring countries, Medu members were persecuted by the South African Defense Force and operated in exile across the border in Botswana.

The People Shall Govern! features nearly all the surviving posters that Medu created between 1979 and 1985. These objects are exceedingly rare, as they were originally smuggled into South Africa and mounted in public places, where they were regularly confiscated or torn down on sight. Offering new insight into the conceptual framework of Medu’s working practice and featuring a beautiful silkscreened cover, this volume examines the continuing relevance and impact...

Desperately Young introduces the masterpieces left behind by some of the greatest rising stars in fine art - all of whom died before their thirtieth birthday. Precocious talent seeps from each artist's work, along with a sense of unfulfilled potential. Informative biographies detail their legacies, while their tragic deaths lead us to wonder what heights they might've reached, had their lives not been cut short. Richly illustrated, Desperately Young presents prime examples of each artist's work, demonstrating how our cultural heritage is just a little narrower for their loss. From Europe to America to Japan and the Indian Subcontinent, the mid-14-hundreds to the late 20th century, this book hails the acknowledged greats and introduces those who died before they could leave an indelible mark on history. A compendium of 109 artists who fell prey to sickness, warfare, heartbreak or bad luck, Desperately Young is the only book to provide an in-depth study of artists who died young. Contents: With works from Tommaso Masaccio, Frederic Bazille, Thomas Girtin, Egon Schiele, Henri Regnault, Ernst Klimt, Jeanne Hebuterne, Kaita Murayama, Hermann Stenner, Maurycy Gottlieb, Fyodor Vasilyev, Marie Bashkirtseff, Richard Parkes Bonington, Luisa Anguissola, Walter Deverell, August Macke, Pauline Boty and Jean-Michel Basquiat - among many others.

The Akademie der Kunste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin has carried out its task of promoting the arts in Germany since the year it was founded in 1696. From the outset, master builders have been eligible to become members. The architect Hans Scharoun laid the groundwork for establishing the architectural archive. As the first post-war president of the academy in West Berlin, he was eager to document twentieth-century architecture in the Archive. Besides the story lying behind the assembly of a collection, this publication presents all seventy-one archives and eighty collections, including short biographies of the originators and the nature and scope of inventories. The Preussische Akademie (Prussian Academy) is represented among other things by drawings by Friedrich Gilly from the end of the eighteenth century. Expressionist designs by Bruno Taut, Alfons Anker, Paul Goesch and Adolf Behne in particular are to be found in rich abundance. In common with the archives of Richard Ermisch, Paul Baumgarten and Thilo Schoder, these offer a chronicle of the 1920s. One focus of the collection is devoted to the archives of Second World War emigre architects, among them Adolf Rading, Gabriel Epstein, Julius Posenerand Konrad Wachsmann. The post-war period and the booming 1960s are represented by the archives of Hermann Henselmann, Walter Rossow, Bernhard Hermkes, Werner Hebebrand, Werner Duttmann and Heinz Graffunder. Archives and collections which can be traced back beyond the turn of the twenty-first century emerged from Joerg Schlaich, Kurt Ackermann, Szyszkowitz + Kowalski and Valentien + Valentien. On offer for the first time is an overview in print form of these archives acquired by the Academy up to the present day - archives of architects, engineers, landscape architects and architectural photographers and critics alike. This publication presents an excerpt from around half a million documents.

Under the ambiguous term HUNT (English: the hunt; Estonian: the wolf), Kadri Malk unites her collection of contemporary art jewellery. As a lone wolf, the Estonian artist and teacher compiled the pieces in her eternal hunt for beauty, mystery and creativity. Since jewellery is designed to be worn, Malk's fellow artists are not only immortalised in these works; they also pose in portraits alongside their favourite pieces. The jewellery is thus brought to life on the bodies of the collector's friends and companions. Text in English and Estonian.

In ancient Greece, funerary monuments were visual expressions of mourning that provided the opportunity for the living to commemorate and communicate with the dead. Today they offer a wealth of information about the deceased and the communities of which they were a part, for example, their status, material aspects of their lives, and how they wanted to be depicted. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the finest collections of Greek funerary monuments outside of Greece. This richly illustrated volume, by renowned author Paul Zanker, presents more than 50 outstanding examples, created from the 7th to the 2nd century B.C., that represent a variety of media and geographical regions. Through their shared focus on memorialising the dead, these extraordinary works of art offer insights into all facets of life in ancient Greece.

In the 19th century, numerous photographers chose the same motifs as Impressionist painters: the forest of Fontainebleau, the cliffs of Etretat or the modern metropolis of Paris. They, too, studied the changing light, seasons and weather conditions. From its inception, photographers pursued artistic ambitions, as evidenced by their experimentation with composition and perspective, by means of various technical procedures. Until the First World War, the relationship between photography and painting was characterized both by competition and mutual influence. The exhibition and catalogue examine these interactions and illuminate the development of the new medium from the 1850s to its establishment as an autonomous art form around 1900. With contributions by: Dominique De Font-Reaulx, Monika Faber, Matthias Kruger, Ulrich Pohlmann, Esther Ruelfs, Helene Von Saldern, Bernd Stiegler, and Daniel Zamani.

As prominent members of the Victorian cultural and artistic world, Sir Charles and Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, along with their nephew Charles Locke Eastlake, enjoyed the friendship and support of influential figures including Prince Albert, Sir Thomas Lawrence, J. M. W. Turner, and Sir Robert Peel. This fascinating original biography brings the unique personality of each of the Eastlakes into sharp focus while also exploring their important contributions during the early days of the National Gallery. Charles Eastlake, an artist and connoisseur, was chosen to be not only the President of the Royal Academy from 1850, but also the National Gallery's first Director in 1855. With his capable wife, a literary critic and art historian in her own right, he traveled throughout Europe acquiring significant paintings for the Gallery and implementing important changes to their display and description. Nephew Charles, an architect and popularizer of the Arts and Crafts style, was Keeper at the National Gallery from 1878 to 1898. Art for the Nation tells the remarkable story of the Eastlake family's devotion to art and to the National Gallery during its crucial formative years. Published by National Gallery Company / Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: National Gallery, London (07/27/11-10/30/11)

"9 Artists" is an international, multigenerational group exhibition that considers the mutable and mutating role of the artist in contemporary culture. Bringing together the expansive practices of some of the most provocative and engaged artists working today--Yael Bartana, Liam Gillick, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Renzo Martens, Bjarne Melgaard, Nastio Mosquito, Hito Steyerl and Danh Vo--the show examines ways that they negotiate the complicities and contradictions of living in an ever more complex and networked world. Rarely considered together, they each use their own backgrounds or identities as material, frequently in antagonistic or subversive ways. For this catalogue, each artist has contributed a 16-page artist's book exploring some aspect of their practice, often in collaboration with other artists, writers, or designers including Karl Holmqvist, Phung Vo, Galit Eilat, Vic Pereiro, An Art Service, Federica Bueti and T.J. Demos. Some contributions are purely visual; others entirely textual, ranging from new essays to ghostwritten letters, cease and desist orders, and cinematic diaries. An accompanying compendium of works provides a visual journey through past projects and ephemera, setting up an associative conversation between the artists' works. Additionally, exhibition curator Bartholomew Ryan's essay weaves together their various approaches, placing them in the context of broader contemporary art practice and the complex world we inhabit. As each artist has developed strong networks of collaborators, the volume is anticipated as a means to promote and create dialogue between the participants and their respective communities.

Sharing their insights in compelling interviews, 38 of today's Black ceramists demonstrate a diversity of studio practices and ways of using clay, together with more than 250 stunning photos of their work. Especially crucial in light of the times, this book helps disperse the fog of noninclusion. With the goal of giving the artists the recognition long overdue them, donald a clark and Chotsani Elaine Dean begin by grounding us in history and context. The authors take us through time, explaining recent important research from Drayton Hall in South Carolina, for example, and other work that has helped honor the contributions, presence, and experiences of African Americans in ceramic history in America. Bringing us to today, clark and Dean present for each of 38 contemporary ceramic artists an introduction, an interview with the artist, and photos highlighting some of their work. This important and necessary information, with its impact on the medium as a whole, is beautifully and engagingly presented to makers and craft appreciators alike.

A full career retrospective of one of the greatest and most popular living artists, lavishly illustrated with works from across the artist's six-decade career David Hockney has been delighting and challenging audiences for almost sixty years. Working in an extraordinarily wide range of media with equal measures of wit and intelligence, his art has examined, probed and questioned how the perceived world of movement, space and time can be captured in two dimensions. This lavishly illustrated publication reasserts Hockney as a serious thinker and a highly innovative artist constantly challenging the conventions of artistic expression, without losing the characteristic verve, humour and colour of the work. Showcasing over 200 works (including painting, drawings, photographs, watercolours, iPad drawings, and his most recent multi-screen works) from across the six decades of his remarkable career, the book will delight existing fans of the artist, while giving new audiences the fullest possible introduction to his life and work.

"Doing is living. That is all that matters."-Ruth Asawa Throughout her long and prolific career American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) developed innovative sculptures in wire, a medium she explored through increasingly complex forms using craft-based techniques she learned while traveling in Mexico in 1947. In 1949, after studying at Black Mountain College, Asawa moved to San Francisco and created dozens of wire works, among them an iconic bronze fountain-the first of many public commissions-for the city's Ghirardelli Square. Bringing together examples from across Asawa's full and extraordinary career, this expansive volume serves as an unprecedented reorientation of her sculptures within the historical context of 20th-century art. In particular, it includes careful consideration of Asawa's advocacy for arts education in public schools, while simultaneously focusing on her vital-and long under-recognized-contributions to the field of sculpture. Insightful essays explore the intersection of formal experimentation and identity to offer a fresh assessment of this celebrated artist. Richly illustrated with exquisite new installation views, Ruth Asawa: Life's Work introduces original scholarship that traces the dynamic evolution of form in the artist's work.