Kenneth Paul Block is one of the most influential fashion illustrators of the twentieth century. His childhood dream was "to draw glamorous ladies in beautiful clothes". After graduating from Parsons School of Design, his first job was at the powerful "Women's Wear Daily" in the 1950s, an association that lasted over thirty years and where Kenneth witnessed and recorded one of the most important periods in fashion history - the postwar shift as the exclusive world of couture transformed into pret-a-porter. Attending all the major fashion shows in Paris, London, and New York, Kenneth was the first one on the scene, drawing the latest style-setting clothes from such venerable houses as Balenciaga, Chanel, and Saint Laurent.He also documented the up and coming designers of the time, including Marc Jacobs, Perry Ellis, and Halston. He was well known in society, sketching Gloria Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Windsor. He reported on sensational parties in Palm Beach and New York attended by Babe Paley and Jackie Kennedy Onassis and created a unique archive of the era. "Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block" is the first monograph on the artist and brings together a lifetime of drawings, watercolours, and observations. Fashion illustration disappeared from publications as photography took over, giving added emphasis to this book as an important historical document. "Drawing Fashion", designed by Shahid & Company, captures a critical moment in time when fashion, art, and commerce coincided.

Shaping the Surface explores the history of modern British architecture through the lens of surface, materiality and decoration. Picking up on a trait that art historian Nikolaus Pevsner first identified as a 'national mania for beautiful surface quality', this book makes a new contribution to architectural history and visual culture in its detailed examination of the surfaces of British architecture from the middle of the 19th century up to the turn of the 21st century. Tracing this continuing sensibility to surface all the way through to the modern era, it explores how and why surface and materiality have featured so heavily in recent architectural tradition, examining the history of British architecture through a selection of key cultural moments and movements from Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts, to Brutalism, High-Tech, Post-Modernism, Neo-Vernacular, and the New Materiality. Embedded within the narrative is the question of whether such national characters can exist in architecture at all - and indeed the extent to which it is possible to identify a British architectural consciousness in an architectural tradition characterised by its continuous importation of theories, ideas, materials and people from around the globe. Shaping the Surface provides a deep critique and meditation on the importance of surface and materiality for architects, designers, and historians everywhere - in Britain and beyond - while it also serves as a thematic introduction to modern British architectural history, with in-depth readings of the works of many key British architects, artists, and critics from Ruskin and William Morris to Alison and Peter Smithson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Rogers and Caruso St John.

This book uses intermedial theories to study collage and montage, tracing the transformation of visual collage into photomontage in the early avant-garde period. Magda Dragu distinguishes between the concepts of collage and montage, as defined across several media (fine arts, literature, music, film, photography), based on the type of artistic meaning they generate, rather than the mechanical procedures involved. The book applies theories of intermediality to collage and montage, which is crucial for understanding collage as a form of cultural production. Throughout, the author considers the political implications, as collages and montages were often used for propagandistic purposes. This book combines research methods used in several areas of inquiry: art history, literary criticism, analytical philosophy, musicology, and aesthetics.

Together with important First Nations material, the Thomson Canadian Collection is the largest of all private holdings of Canadian art. There are rare and incomparable examples of Northwest Coast Aboriginal art. Krieghoff's inspired accounts of life in the Canadas, prior to Confederation, bring the light and atmosphere of history fully into the present. A staggering power to capture the fleeting and the fugitive in paint still distinguishes the work of the early 20th-century painter Morrice.

On the centenary of the fascist party's ascent to power in Italy, Curating Fascism examines the ways in which exhibitions organized from the fall of Benito Mussolini's regime to the present day have shaped collective memory, historical narratives, and political discourse around the Italian ventennio. It charts how shows on fascism have evolved since the postwar period in Italy, explores representations of Italian fascism in exhibitions across the world, and highlights blindspots in art and cultural history, as well as in exhibition practices. Featuring contributions from an international group of art, architectural, design, and cultural historians, as well as journalists and curators, this book treats fascism as both a historical moment and as a major paradigm through which critics, curators, and the public at large have defined the present moment since World War II. It interweaves historical perspectives, critical theory, and direct accounts of exhibitions from the people who conceived them or responded to them most significantly in order to examine the main curatorial strategies, cultural relevance, and political responsibility of art exhibitions focusing on the Fascist period. Through close analysis, the chapter authors unpack the multifaceted specificity of art shows, including architecture and exhibition design; curatorial choices and institutional history; cultural diplomacy and political history; theories of viewership; and constructed collective memory, to evaluate current curatorial practice. In offering fresh new perspectives on the historiography, collective memory, and understanding of fascist art and culture from a contemporary standpoint, Curating Fascism sheds light on the complex exhibition history of Italian fascism not just within Italy but in such countries as the USA, the UK, Germany, and Brazil. It also presents an innovative approach to the growing field of exhibition theory by bringing contributions from curators and exhibition historians, who critically reflect upon curatorial strategies with respect to the delicate subject of fascism and fascist art, into dialogue with scholars of Italian studies and art historians. In doing so, the book addresses the physical and cultural legacy of fascism in the context of the current historical moment.

This book, featuring the life and works of Ralph Blakelock, situates him in the context of American art. Representing over twenty years of study and the examination of several thousand works attributed to him, "Beyond Madness" reveals the unusual nature of Blakelock's life story as it offers clear parallels to his painting. Largely self-taught and supported by few patrons, Blakelock regularly struggled with the financial pressures of supporting his nine children and pursuing his art. Called both brilliant and doomed, and institutionalized on and off for the last decade of his life, he nonetheless created some of the most beloved--and some of the most frequently forged--paintings in the American canon. As in the author's own time, modern assessments of his work are often colored by notions of Blakelock the man, leading to a paradoxical legacy of suffering and hope, obscurity and prominence. Taking Blakelock's art on its merits, "Beyond Madness" stands as a testament to the indefatigable spirit of art scholarship as well as a tribute to the artist and his enduring passion for the creative process. It finally casts new light on the life and character of Blakelock and on the nature of the incomparable art he contributed to the American tradition.

Since it was first published in 1992, this book has become one of the leading anthologies of art theoretical texts in the English-speaking world. This expanded edition includes the best recent reflections, taking the anthology up to the turn of the 21st century. The book offers comprehensive representation of the theories which underpinned developments in the visual arts during the 20th century. As well as writings by artists, the anthology includes texts by critics, philosophers, politicians and literary figures. The content is clearly structured into eight broadly chronological sections, starting from the legacy of symbolism at the beginning of the century and concluding with contemporary debates about postmodernism. The editors provide introductions to all of the more than 300 texts, placing theories and critical approaches in context.

The Stebbins Collection - the private collection of Dr. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., the esteemed historian of American art and foremost expert on Martin Johnson Heade, and his wife, Susan Cragg Stebbins, successful author and art historian - consists of 70 American paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by 53 artists. Recently donated to The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Florida, this incredible collection includes remarkable works by American masters ranging from Martin Johnson Heade and Thomas Eakins to Fidelia Bridges and John La Farge, well-known artists Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran and little-known figures like Arthur I. Keller and Walter Granville-Smith. Publication in October 2021 will not only highlight the significance of this private collection built over a lifetime by the Stebbinses, but it is also a valuable contribution to the field of 19th and early-20th-century American art, and to the history of collections and collecting.

The collections of twentieth-century paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, have developed largely through the generosity of individuals. Notable among these in the early decades of the century were Frank Hindley Smith and Mrs W F R Weldon, while since the Second World War the Museum's collections have been enriched through gifts and requests from Thomas Balston, R A P Bevan, Molly Freeman, Christopher Hewett and others. This book gives the reader a taste of the wide range of the collection, with its representative group of Camden Town and Euston Road School pictures, and important early works by Bonnard, Picasso and Matisse.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than half of the world's population will have a depressive disorder at some point in their lifetimes. In The Aesthetics of Disengagement Christine Ross shows how contemporary art is a powerful yet largely unacknowledged player in the articulation of depression in Western culture, both adopting and challenging scientific definitions of the condition. Ross explores the ways in which contemporary art performs the detached aesthetics of depression, exposing the viewer's loss of connection and ultimately redefining the function of the image. Ross examines the works of Ugo Rondinone, Rosemarie Trockel, Ken Lum, John Pilson, Liza May Post, Vanessa Beecroft, and Douglas Gordon, articulating how their art conveys depression's subjectivity and addresses a depressed spectator whose memory and perceptual faculties are impaired. Drawing from the fields of psychoanalysis as well as psychiatry, Ross demonstrates the ways in which a body of art appropriates a symptomatic language of depression to enact disengagement - marked by withdrawl, radical protection of the self from the other, distancing signals, isolation, communication ruptures, and perceptual insufficiency. Most important, Ross reveals the ways in which art transforms disengagement into a visual strategy of disclosure, a means of reaching the viewer, and how in this way contemporary art puts forth a new understanding of depression.

An unconventional and illuminating new history of British landscape art in the post-war period In this trailblazing study, Margaret Garlake complicates traditional histories of British landscape art in the post-war period. Drawing together work from painters and photographers-many of them women-Garlake expands the conventional view of the genre to include both rural and urban subjects. In doing so, she brilliantly places the work within the context of physical changes wrought by postwar society, as the British countryside reverted to civilian use, cities were built, and artists adjusted to the landscape as a site of both tradition and modernity. Carefully researched and subtly argued, this book will deepen our understanding of a fascinating period in British art history. Distributed for Modern Art Press

The penultimate volume of the acclaimed catalogue raisonne showcases paintings of some of Sargent's favorite places and people After John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) determined to curtail his internationally successful portrait practice, he had more freedom to paint where and what he wanted. Volume VIII of the John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonne transports us to the artist's most beloved locations, often with his friends and family. In the paintings featured here, Sargent returned to subjects that had always held deep personal connections and artistic challenges: mountains, streams, rocks and torrents, figures in repose, architecture and gardens, boats and shipping. He had known and painted the Alps since childhood, and his new Alpine studies make up the greatest number of works in this book. Beautifully designed, this volume represents a continuation in organization and presentation of the high standards that mark the series, and documents 299 works in oil and watercolor. Each painting is catalogued with full provenance, exhibition history, and bibliography. Wherever possible, works are illustrated in color; some are accompanied by related drawings and comparative studies by Sargent's fellow artists. Contemporary photographs pinpoint the places and views that Sargent painted. Published in association with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

"Catherine Cusset's book caught a lot of me. I recognised myself" DAVID HOCKNEY "A perfect short expose of Hockney's life as seen through the eyes of an admiring novelist" Kirkus Reviews "Hers is an affirming vision of a restless talent propelled by optimism and chance" New York Times With clear, vivid prose, this meticulously researched novel draws an intimate, moving portrait of the most famous living English painter. Born in Bradford in 1937, David Hockney had to fight to become an artist. After leaving home for the Royal College of Art in London his career flourished, but he continued to struggle with a sense of not belonging, because of his homosexuality, which had yet to be decriminalised, and because of his inclination for a figurative style of art, which was not sufficiently "contemporary" to be valued. Trips to New York and California - where he would live for many years and paint his iconic swimming pools - introduced him to new scenes and new loves, beginning a journey that would take him through the fraught years of the AIDS epidemic. A compelling hybrid of novel and biography, David Hockney: A Life offers an insightful overview of a painter whose art is as accessible as it is compelling, and whose passion to create has never been deterred by heartbreak or illness or loss. Translated from the French by Teresa Lavender Fagan

Fragmentation of the Photographic Image in the Digital Age challenges orthodoxies of photographic theory and practice. Beyond understanding the image as a static representation of reality, it shows photography as a linchpin of dynamic developments in augmented intelligence, neuroscience, critical theory, and cybernetic cultures. Through essays by leading philosophers, political theorists, software artists, media researchers, curators, and experimental programmers, photography emerges not as a mimetic or a recording device but simultaneously as a new type of critical discipline and a new art form that stands at the crossroads of visual art, contemporary philosophy, and digital technologies.

Restoring a "perfect painter" to the Cubist canon Juan Gris (1887-1927) was central to the development of Cubism in the early 20th century. Though the writer and art collector Gertrude Stein considered him a "perfect painter," Gris's pivotal role within the movement has often been overshadowed. Cubism in Color: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris reveals the virtuosic range of the artist's short yet prolific career, illuminating his boundary-pushing contributions to Cubism. As a thorough examination of Gris's still lifes, Cubism in Color provides an important reassessment of this underappreciated artist, reestablishing his position as a modernist master. This fully illustrated volume traces the evolution of Gris's aesthetic and approach to still life through a selection of key works. It includes original essays by leading scholars in the field, offering new insights on Gris's elusive artistic process, the history of collecting his work in the United States and his native Spain, and his artistic legacy within modern and contemporary Latin American art. Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art and The Baltimore Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Dallas Museum of Art (March 14-July 25, 2021) The Baltimore Museum of Art (September 12, 2021-January 9, 2022)

With the words 'A new manifestation of art was ... expected, necessary, inevitable,' Jean Moreas announced the advent of the Symbolist movement in 1886. When Symbolist artists began experimenting in order to invent new visual languages appropriate for representing modern life in all its complexity, they set the stage for innovation in twentieth-century art. Rejecting what they perceived as the superficial descriptive quality of Impressionism, Naturalism, and Realism, Symbolist artists delved beneath the surface to express feelings, ideas, scientific processes, and universal truths. By privileging intangible concepts over perceived realities and by asserting their creative autonomy, Symbolist artists broke with the past and paved the way for the heterogeneity and penchant for risk-taking that characterizes modern art. The essays collected here, which consider artists from France to Russia and Finland to Greece, argue persuasively that Symbolist approaches to content, form, and subject helped to shape twentieth-century Modernism. Well-known figures such as Kandinsky, Khnopff, Matisse, and Munch are considered alongside lesser-known artists such as Fini, Gyzis, Koen, and Vrubel in order to demonstrate that Symbolist art did not constitute an isolated moment of wild experimentation, but rather an inspirational point of departure for twentieth-century developments.

Art AIDS America is the first comprehensive overview and reconsideration of 30 years of art made in response to the AIDS epidemic in the United States. This book foregrounds the role of HIV/AIDS in shifting the development of American art away from the cool conceptual foundations of postmodernism and toward a new, more insistently political and autobiographical voice. Art AIDS America surveys more than 100 works of American art from the early 1980s to the present, reintroducing and exploring the whole spectrum of artistic responses to HIV/AIDS, from in-your-face activism to quiet elegy.

`I'm for mechanical art', said Andy Warhol (1928-1987). `When I took up silkscreening, it was to more fully exploit the preconceived image through commercial techniques of multiple reproduction.' Printmaking was a vital artistic practice for Andy Warhol. Prints figure prominently throughout his career from his earliest work as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, to the collaborative silkscreens made in the Factory during the 1960s and the commissioned portfolios of his final years. In their fascination with popular culture and provocative subverting of the difference between original and copy, Warhol's prints are recognized now as a prescient forerunner of today's hypersophisticated, hyper-saturated and hyper-accelerated visual culture. Andy Warhol Prints, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Portland Art Museum - the largest of its kind ever to be presented - includes approximately 250 of Warhol's prints and ephemera from the collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, including iconic silkscreen prints of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. Organized chronologically and by series, Andy Warhol Prints establishes the range of Warhol's innovative graphic production as it evolved over the course of four decades, with a particular focus on Warhol's use of different printmaking techniques, beginning with illustrated books and ending with screen printing.

Art and the Nation State is a wide-ranging study of the reception and critical debate on modernist art from the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 to the end of the modernist era in the 1970s. Drawing on art works, media coverage, reviews, writings and the private papers of key Irish and international artists, critics and commentators including Samuel Beckett, Thomas MacGreevy, Clement Greenberg, James Johnson Sweeney, Herbert Read and Brian O'Doherty, the study explores the significant contribution of Irish modernist art to post-independence cultural debate and diverging notions of national Irish identity. Through an analysis of major controversies, the book examines how the reputations of major Irish artists was moulded by the prevailing demands of national identity, modernization and the dynamics of the international art world. Debate about the relevance of the work of leading international modernists such as the Irish-American sculptor, Andrew O'Connor, the French expressionist painter, Georges Rouault, the British sculptor Henry Moore and the Irish born, but ostensibly British, artist Francis Bacon to Irish cultural life is also analysed, as is the equally problematic positioning of Northern Irish artists.

This richly sumptuous edition reveals the exqusite complexity of the paintings by renowned Georgian artist Rezo Gabriadse. Enriched with a smartly designed autobiography by the artist. Painter, illustrator, sculptor, Screenplay author, journalist, costume and stage designer: The renowned Georgian artist Rezo Gabriadse (*1936) is all this and much more. Life itself is always at the centre of his oeuvre, with the tragi-comical moments of everyday existence that he captures in many different ways, through his enormously intentive spirit, his creative powers and his intelligence. Throughout "a delicate, melancholy undertone runs through the creations of this gentle poet, like a cantus fimrus," writes Michael Semff. Gabriadze's paintings and the gouaches, which tend toward the painterly, comprise the centrepiece of this richly illustrated volume. The art of a great man, whose works have already been seen in famous museums like the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Dostoyevsky Museum in Moscow, the Pushkin Museum and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. This multi-talent has drawn international attention, especially since opening his puppet theatre in Tiflis in 1981. This allowed him to fulfill one of his dearest wishes: to create a small universe in which all of the creative strings are held by his own hand, so to speak.

This book examines the legacy of international interwar modernism as a case of cultural transfer through the travels of a central motif: the square. The square was the most emblematic and widely known form/motif of the international avant-garde in the interwar years. It originated from the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich who painted The Black Square on White Ground in 1915 and was then picked up by another Russian artist El Lissitzky and the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg. It came to be understood as a symbol of a new internationalism and modernity and while Forgács uses it as part of her overall narrative, she focuses on it and its journey across borders to follow its significance, how it was used by the above key artists and how its meaning became modified in Western Europe. It is unusual to discuss interwar modernism and its postwar survival, but this book’s chapters work together to argue that the interwar developments signified a turning point in twentieth-century art that led to much creativity and innovation. Forgács supports her theory with newly found and newly interpreted documents that prove how this exciting legacy was shaped by three major agents: Malevich, Lissitzsky and van Doesburg. She offers a wider interpretation of modernism that examines its postwar significance, reception and history up until the emergence of the New Left in 1956 and the seismic events of 1968.

What is modern art? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it worth so much damn money? Join Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art. You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but Cezanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art, why your five year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? asks all the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask. Your next gallery trip is going to be a little less intimidating and a lot more interesting.