The first monograph on a groundbreaking Surrealist masterpiece, Reading Claude Cahun's Disavowals offers a comprehensive account of Cahun's most important published work, Aveux non avenus (Disavowals), 1930. Jennifer L. Shaw provides an encompassing interpretation of this groundbreaking work, paying careful attention to the complex interrelationship between the photomontages and writings of Aveux non avenus. This study argues that the texts and images of Aveux non avenus not only explore Cahun's own subjectivity, they formulate a trenchant social and cultural critique. Shaw explores how Cahun's work both calls into question the dominant culture of interwar France - with its traditional gender roles, religious conservatism, and pronatalism - and takes to task the era's artistic avant-garde and in particular its models of desire. This volume cuts across the disciplinary boundaries of interwar art studies, demonstrating how one artist's personal exploration intervened in wider contemporary debates about the purpose of art, the role of women in French culture, and the status of homosexuality, in the aftermath of World War I.

William Wegman is a world-renowned American artist whose paintings, photographs, videos and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. Today he is perhaps best known for his collaborations with his longstanding muses, an ever-expanding cast of Weimaraners, for whom performing elaborate scenarios or merely posing demurely for their portraits comes as second nature. Curated in close collaboration with distinguished photography author William A. Ewing, William Wegman: Being Human is the most extensive collection of Wegman's photographic work yet to be published. The book is organized thematically, presenting a wealth of exceptional work in such a way as to highlight the versatility of Wegman's everinventive mind as he explores what it means to be human. From portraits of characters we so easily recognize - a suburban housewife, a famous actor, a nightclub singer, a golfer dressed in plaid - to imagery that toys with a wide range of visual languages, Wegman quotes freely from fashion photography, Cubism, colour theory, the tradition of the nude and the history of art itself. Essays and an interview explore Wegman's approach to his subjects and their life in the studio. With over 300 images made over the last four decades, many published here for the first time, William Wegman: Being Human will delight and engage both those who are new to Wegman's work and those who have admired his art for many years.

'The Chateau de Versailles is a real photographic challenge because it is so huge: there is an infinite number of possible points of view and they are never the same, depending on the time of day, the weather or the season... There are always new photos to take, to contemplate, to dream of. It is a demanding place that stimulates creativity and encourages you to look at it again and again' Thomas Garnier Versailles is one of the most photographed places in the world, but only four people have the privilege of being the Palace's official photographers. They have uniquely unfettered access to the secrets that lie within, outside and beneath this enormous domain where they spend their days - and sometimes their nights. Now, for the first time, they open their personal albums to offer a wealth of impressions and responses. Two hundred and fifty previously unpublished photographs reveal a plethora of outstanding artworks, the private apartments of Louis XIV, MarieAntoinette and Madame de Pompadour, magnificent galleries, the delightful Orangerie and more, all accompanied by texts that provide a lively introduction to daily life at the Chateau and its momentous history. This is a monumental volume on a scale that matches the grandeur of the worldrenowned Palace it celebrates.

Introduction by Jonathan MontaldoForeword by Brother Patrick Hart, OCSO

For twenty-seven years, renowned and beloved monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) belonged to Our Lady of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery established in 1848 amid the hills and valleys near Bardstown, Kentucky. In Thomas Merton's Gethsemani, dramatic black-and-white photographs by Harry L. Hinkle and artful text by Merton scholar Monica Weis converge in a unique experience for lovers of Merton.

Hinkle was allowed unprecedented access to many areas inside the monastery and on its grounds that are generally restricted. His photographs invite the reader to experience the various knobs, lakes, woods, and hermitages Merton sought out for times of solitude and contemplation and for reading and writing. These unique images, each accompanied by a passage from Merton's writings, evoke personal reflection and a deeper understanding of how and why Merton came to recognize himself as a part of his Kentucky landscape.

Woven throughout the book, Weis's text explores Merton's fascination with nature not only at Gethsemani, but during his early childhood, throughout his spiritual conversion to Roman Catholicism, and while a member of the Trappist community. She examines how Merton's lifelong interaction with nature subtly revealed and informed his profound spiritual experiences and his writing about contemplation. Thomas Merton's Gethsemani replicates Merton's path on his solitary hikes in the woods and conveys the wonder of the landscapes that inspired him.

Cumberland Island is the largest and most beloved of the Georgia barrier islands. Although it can be reached only by boat, more than forty thousand people make the trip each year to enjoy the island's natural splendor and solitude. As on most barrier islands, human activity has long been a shaping force on Cumberland. It is among the few islands, however, that we have let return to a relatively natural state. With its expansive oceanfront beaches, dunes, interior maritime forests, freshwater ponds, tidal creeks, and salt marshes, Cumberland Island is all the more special for its restored natural environment. In The Seasons of Cumberland Island, naturalist and photographer Fred Whitehead captures the unique allure of the island's flora and fauna in 118 stunning full-color photographs. Moving through seasons punctuated by the comings and goings of such animals as the migratory birds that pass through in autumn and spring and the loggerhead turtles that nest here in summer, the photographs reveal the subtle but important effect of cyclical change on the island's ecosystems. The lush color images, which are often paired with detailed captions, include spectacular views of muscadine vines and Virginia creeper in autumn, a prowling bobcat in winter, a nest of pileated woodpeckers in the spring, and a green tree frog announcing an impending summer rain shower. Featuring an introduction on the importance of the complex ecosystems of barrier islands like Cumberland, the book informs as it enchants. Here is a stunning tribute to Cumberland's sublime treasures that also serves as a thoughtful reminder to respect and protect the wildness of our barrier islands.

In rural Japan the passage of the year is marked by festivals and rituals that have changed little for centuries. Elaborate outfits, crafted from textiles as well as branches, straw and elements sourced from the natural environment, are donned in agricultural and fishing communities throughout Japan to celebrate seasonal rites of fertility and abundance. Yokainoshima (literally 'island of monsters') explores the extraordinary ranges of masks, costumes and characters that reappear with each returning season. Charles Freger's photographs combine acute documentary attentiveness with individual portraiture in an entirely fresh and distinctive style. Toshiharu Ito and Akihiro Hatanaka, both specialists in Japanese folk culture and anthropology, analyse Freger's photographs, setting the huge variety of eclectic clothing in ethnographic context and describing the local festivals, dances and rituals. A final illustrated reference section describes individual costumes and masks.