"Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections" encompasses the geographic regions of Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant, and Anatolia and Iran, and explores several broad themes found in the art of the ancient Near East: gods and goddesses, men and women, and both real and supernatural animals. These art objects reveal a wealth of information about the people and cultures that produced them: their mythologies, religious beliefs, concepts of kingship, social structures, and daily lives.

Trudy Kawami is director of research at the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in New York. John Olbrantz is the Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

A unique portrait of nineteenth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of the first generation of British photographers This book examines the ways in which the new medium of photography influenced the British experience, appreciation, and perception of Italy in the nineteenth century. Setting photography within a long history of image making-beginning with the eighteenth-century Grand Tour and transformed by the inventions of William Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre-this beautifully illustrated book features many previously unpublished images alongside the work of well-known photographers. The sixteen essays in this volume explore photography as a vehicle for visual translation and cultural exchange. Distributed for the Yale Center for British Art

An introduction to the design, production and use of luxury embroideries in medieval England (c. 1200-1530) In medieval Europe, embroidered textiles were indispensable symbols of wealth and power. Owing to their quality, complexity and magnificence, English embroideries enjoyed international demand and can be traced in Continental sources as opus anglicanum (English work). Essays by leading experts explore the embroideries' artistic and social context, while catalogue entries examine individual masterpieces. Medieval embroiderers lived in a tightly knit community in London, and many were women who can be identified by name. Comparisons between their work and contemporary painting challenge modern assumptions about the hierarchy of artistic media. Contributors consider an outstanding range of examples, highlighting their craftsmanship and exploring the world in which they were created. Published in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum

This beautifully illustrated book explores the artistic roots of Flemish identity during the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. Through art, essays, poems, and reflections by artists, academics and collectors, it revives the cultural context of the Flemish Belle Eqoque. Featured here are works by Emile Claus, Valerius De Saedeleer, George Minne and Gustave Van de Woestyne, James Ensor, Rik Wouters and Leon Spilliaert, Constant Permeke, Gust De Smedt, Frits Van den Berghe and Edgard Tytgat.

This lavishly illustrated volume, demonstrating the scope and depth of the vast and remarkable global collections of the Fowler Museum at ucla, has been produced as part of the ongoing celebration of the institution's fiftieth-anniversary year. It recalls many of the highlights of the Museum's formation, focusing not only on collections development but also on a long history of programmatic innovation. The book begins with an essay by the Museum's director, Marla C. Berns, which sketches the Fowler's history, and this is followed by a section reproducing in color and large format 250 stunning works from the collection. Berns's lengthy history of involvement with the Fowler - which began when she worked for the Museum as a graduate intern while pursuing her doctorate at UCLA - and the innovative strategies she has introduced, have uniquely situated her to author this book.

The passionately narrative and visual work of Alice Creischer (Berlin, 1960) brings to life the forms, moments, and situations of capitalisms history, tales of exploitation and the distortion of the basic principles of western democracy. Researching the phenomena by which financial corporations operate internationally, Creischer uses installations, drawings, collages, articles and texts to explore the relationships between official government policy, financial business and culture, and the origins of alienation and manipulation. A thought-provoking analysis of her ethical and critical perpectives on contemporary liberal governments and financial, political, and social crisis.

Jacopo Tintoretto (1518/19-1594) was among the most distinctive artists of the Italian Renaissance. Yet, although his bold paintings are immediately recognizable, his drawings remain unfamiliar even to many scholars. Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice offers a complete overview of Tintoretto as a draftsman. It begins with a look at drawings by Tintoretto's precedents and contemporaries, a discussion intended to illuminate Tintoretto's sources as well as his originality, and also to explore the historiographical and critical questions that have framed all previous discussion of Tintoretto's graphic work. Subsequent chapters explore Tintoretto's evolution as a draftsman and the role that drawings played in his artistic practice-both preparatory drawings for his paintings and the many studies after sculptures by Michelangelo and others-thus examining the use of drawings within the studio as well as teaching practices in the workshop. Later chapters focus on the changes to Tintoretto's style as he undertook ever larger commissions and accordingly began to manage a growing number of assistants, with special attention paid to Domenico Tintoretto, Palma Giovane, and other artists whose drawing style was infl uenced by their time working with the master. The book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, opening at the Morgan Library& Museum, New York, in 2018 and travelling to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in early 2019. All of the drawings in the exhibition are discussed and illustrated, and a checklist of the exhibition is also included in the volume, but the book is a far more widely ranging account of Tintoretto's drawings and a comprehensive account of his work as a draftsman.

Harry Potter: A History Of Magic is the official book of the exhibition, a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling and the brilliant curators of the British Library. It promises to take readers on a fascinating journey through the subjects studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - from Alchemy and Potions classes through to Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.

Each chapter showcases a treasure trove of artefacts from the British Library and other collections around the world, beside exclusive manuscripts, sketches and illustrations from the Harry Potter archive. There's also a specially commissioned essay for each subject area by an expert, writer or cultural commentator, inspired by the contents of the exhibition - absorbing, insightful and unexpected contributions from Steve Backshall, the Reverend Richard Coles, Owen Davies, Julia Eccleshare, Roger Highfield, Steve Kloves, Lucy Mangan, Anna Pavord and Tim Peake, who offer a personal perspective on their magical theme. Readers will be able to pore over ancient spell books, amazing illuminated scrolls that reveal the secret of the Elixir of Life, vials of dragon's blood, mandrake roots, painted centaurs and a genuine witch's broomstick, in a book that shows J.K. Rowling's magical inventions alongside their cultural and historical forebears.

This is the ultimate gift for Harry Potter fans, curious minds, big imaginations, bibliophiles and readers around the world who missed out on the chance to see the exhibition in person.

The Tyrolean State Museums, Innsbruck, Austria, hold a treasure-trove of over 5 million objects and offer an extensive, interdisciplinary program of exhibitions and events to introduce new audiences to the region and to explore the links between past and present. The core of the collection, the Ferdinandeum, is a sprawling art and culture complex that has continued to thrive since it was founded in 1823. Named after Archduke Ferdinand, it is the third oldest national Museum of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Inside, visitors can explore the Tyrol's past, present and future through archeological, historical, scientific, cultural, music and art exhibits that help define the Tyrol's place in the world. Thirty-seven significant objects were selected for this guide in order to highlight the wide range and complexity of the collections. Uncover the secrets of the Tyrolean at this world-class institution, which showcases the unique stories, events and characters that have helped shape the Tyrol's history.

An important and critical re-evaluation of the Galerie Espagnole, this book presents new interpretations of the special collection of Spanish (or purportedly Spanish) paintings formed under Louis-Philippe and exhibited in the Louvre from 1838 through 1848. Alisa Luxenberg undertakes a new examination of the Parisian collection in relation to its lesser-known Spanish homologue, the Museo Nacional in Madrid, a collection of mostly old master Spanish paintings and sculptures that was formed at the very same time. Revealing the political agendas behind each museum, and the different manners in which their goals were pursued, Luxenberg analyzes the critical and visual reception of the collections as well as their intersection with contemporary debates about aesthetics and patrimony, the role of the art museum, and national and international politics.

Showcasing marbled paper, paste paper, fold-and-dye papers, and more, this book reveals a little-known arts phenomenon from its grass roots in the 1960s to artistic heights in the following decades Pattern and Flow chronicles the flourishing of American decorated paper arts beginning in the 1960s and extending to the 2000s, with an ongoing legacy today. As knowledge and skills were shared across a grass-roots community in the 1960s, decorated paper became increasingly popular, with centers for the study of the book and paper arts emerging across the United States, and artists developing new, innovative styles of paper. The book begins with an introductory essay outlining the history of decorated paper arts in America up to the 1960s, followed by a chronological narrative, which surveys the development of the field and introduces the artists working from the 1960s to the 2000s, and an illustrated reference section with essential biographical and professional information for each artist. Designed to be an immersive experience, Pattern and Flow conveys the vivid visual world of American decorated paper, celebrating the variety and variations that are key features of the art. Stunning illustrations show designs with intricate, tessellated patterns and others that flow with forms and waves that seem liquid; some explore subtle, muted tones, while others are explosive in their use of brilliant colors. Distributed for the Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Grolier Club, New York (January 17-April 8, 2023)

LONG LISTED FOR THE WILLIAM MB BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2022. A major survey of Dame Laura Knight, first female Royal Academician and popular British artist of the 20th century. Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most famous and popular English artists of the twentieth century. She was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1965. In the following decades her realist style of painting fell out of fashion and her work become largely overlooked. A new generation has rediscovered her work, finding a contemporary resonance in her depictions of women at work, of people from marginalized communities and her contributions as a war artist. This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanies a major exhibition at MK Gallery, provides an overview of Knight's illustrious career: from her training at Nottingham Art School at the age of 13 and her time in North Yorkshire and Cornwall, to her visits to traveller communities and a segregated American hospital. It also features her circus, ballet and theatre scenes, paintings of women during the war and her late paintings of nature. The selection of over 160 works combines celebrated paintings with less known graphic and design works, including ceramics, jewellery and costumes that reflect the artist's enduring interest in the everyday activities of people from all walks of life.

This is the first full-length biography of Dorothy Morland (1906-99), to date the only female director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Based on unpublished letters and other archival sources, as well as interviews and personal recollections, this book traces her busy private and public life from the 1930s up until the 1990s. It tells the story of one of the unacknowledged contributors to the success of the ICA and to the understanding of the international avant garde in post-war Britain. As a female arts administrator, Dorothy Morland's work has been largely overlooked, and this book aims to highlight her significant contribution to the public understanding of modernism. She was part of a network which included the Surrealist Roland Penrose, art critic Herbert Read, architect Jane Drew and wealthy philanthropists, Peter Gregory and Peter Watson. She was also the protector and advocate for the Independent Group. Dorothy Morland always mixed business with pleasure (dancing with Picasso in Antibes while there on ICA business), and tirelessly oversaw the chaotic organisation that was the ICA in Dover Street from 1950 until 1968. After leaving the ICA she worked hard on assembly the organisation's archives and securing their safekeeping at Tate.

Like hardly any other artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir has shaped our understanding of the atmospheric figure paintings of Impressionism. His painting La fin du dejeuner, which has been in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt since 1910, is now the starting point for a far-reaching examination of an important source of inspiration that accompanied him throughout his life: the Rococo. Considered frivolous and immoral after the French Revolution, this style of painting experienced a renaissance in the 19th century and was widely celebrated during Renoir's lifetime. Published on the occasion of the Stadel Museum's major exhibition, this comprehensive volume explores Renoir's multifaceted connection to tradition through illuminating juxtapositions of his art with 18th-century works and contemporaries.

All Walks of Life offers a unique opportunity to get to know the 18th-century people of Saxony, Paris, London, and St. Petersburg through the Meissen porcelain sculpture of The Alan Shimmerman Collection. Johann Joachim Kaendler, along with his fellow modellers and painters at Meissen, captured glimpses of everyday life by paying meticulous attention to the smallest details: the carefully arranged tray of a trinket seller, the personal writing of a love letter, the larding tools of a cook preparing a hare. The Shimmerman Collection's focus on groups of town criers and artisans provides a fresh look at the creation, production, and distribution of Meissen porcelain. The publication includes the first comprehensive scientific analysis of a major collection of Meissen figures.

This timely study of Winslow Homer highlights his imagery of the Atlantic world and reveals themes of racial, political, and natural conflict across his career Long celebrated as the quintessential New England regionalist, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) in fact brushed a much wider canvas, traveling throughout the Atlantic world and frequently engaging in his art with issues of race, imperialism, and the environment. This publication focuses, for the first time, on the watercolors and oil paintings Homer made during visits to Bermuda, Cuba, coastal Florida, and the Bahamas. Among these, The Gulf Stream (1899), often considered the most consequential painting of his career, reveals Homer's lifelong fascination with struggle and conflict. Recognizing the artist's keen ability to distill complex issues, Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents upends popular conceptions and convincingly argues that Homer's work resonates with the challenges of the present day. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (April 11-July 31, 2022) National Gallery, London (September 10, 2022-January 8, 2023)

All of the artwork in this collection -- Skulls, Catrinas and Culture of the Dead share a common theme: a lust for life and reverence of death -- all explored in engaging paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture. This book represents a veritable compendium of skulls and Catrinas with impressive artistic scope, and a valuable source of inspiration for contemporary tattoo artwork. Skulls and Catrinas are the most significant attributes of Mexico's traditional celebration of The Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos. Such pleasures are brilliantly displayed in the artwork featured, in full vibrant colour, on the pages of this book. In this massive hardcover, Edgar Hoill has assembled renowned tattooists from around the world, who uniquely interpret the icons of this sacred day. The Calaveras, literally, "skulls" are artfully manifested in various forms among the artwork. Images of Catrina, the covert queen of the dead, within this book demonstrate how the artists view death as something to be laughed at and not feared. Also populating these pages are beautiful women with skeletal features transposed over their faces, bringing to mind the joy and suffering of love. Tattoo artists represented in this book: Jacky Rudy, Horiyoshi III, Italia Ruotolo, Chuey Quintanar, Colin Dale, Christin Hock Dolorosa, Dimitri, Paco Arias, Fredi Tut, Greg D., Rask Opticon, Derek Noble, Benjamin Estrada, Pablo Xno, Miguel Morales, Shige, Martin Martinez Castro, Roy Palma, Frank Chavez, Jesse Hernandez, Richie, Chamaco, Manson, Elvia Guadian, Paul Barrientos, Phillip Spearman, Ricardo Mendez, Abraham Ortega, AR Ink Bombers, El Chocky, Rob Struven, Diego Garcia, Gabriel Frias, Tony Boyd, Dr. Lakra, Steve Soto, Robert Atkinson, Mike, Roxi, Osiris, Stef De Bad, Dermafilia familia, Dan Chase, Indio Reyes, Chia, Krazy K, Tatu Baby, Khan, Javier Pina, Colin Dale, David Dettleoff, Jonathan Fernandez, Edgar Alvarez, Rich Martinez, Elvia Guadian, Paco Arias, Chuy Ortega, Electroshock, Pablo Ash, Kiki Platas, Liber Riot, El Chanok, Genziana, Jason Wheeler, Claire Octopus, Chamaco, Tony Mancia, Joe Romero, Ben Corn, Rojo, Paola Maria, Brian Everett, Vampiro, Juan Metal, El Chocky, Manuel Lorenzana, Paul Nguyen, Gator, Steph D., Rob Hill, Grim, El Buster, Manuel Valenzuela, Tracey, Tuich, Juan Arreguin, Kasuyoshi, Fide, Simone Pfaff, Justin Hendrick, Henri B., Yushi Takei, Homero Reyes, Jorge Issac Trujeque Gutierrez, Peque, Horikazu, Ricardo Mendez, Eric San, Federico Ruiz, Nervio, Colin Dale, Pedro Alvarez, Heidi Scheck, Mouse Lopez, Hector, Dermafilia familia, El Will, Nelson Acido Garcia, Morof, Tuer, Italia Ruotolo, Roxi Tattoo, Alex 'Kofuu' Reinke Horikitsune, Ina Trece, Sodapop, Karrona, Catalyst Butcher, Mike Sirot, Tofino Tattoo, Gajin Fujita, Steve Martin, Chino De Tepito, Will Contreras, Chuy Espinoza, El Whyner, Antonio Mejia, Listo Tj, Shane Tyner, Defer, Christina Ramos, Robert Cervantes, Shane Modica, Miguel Morales, Charlie Machete, Pedro Alvarez, El Sukre, Ching, Ocelotzin, Tony Chakal Serrano, Dawn Silva, JJ., Rudy Chee, Lorena Vuyovich, Carlos Macias, Chino De Tepito, Nelson Acido Garcia, Pedro Alvarez, Naualli Russo, Tatu Baby, Andres Juarez, Javier Hurtado, Tony Salgado, Horitaka, Aaron Hernandez, Melissa Reyes.