Classification and qualification seem almost to be the enemy of artistic endeavour. Yet in The Natural History of Vedovamazzei, the curator Mirta D'Argenzio has produced an elliptical collation of the artists' ideas and hopes that offers a remarkable insight into a rarely defined world, that of Vedovamazzei's creative process. Simeone and Stella were lovers, from Naples. They were, and are, artists, painters, sculptors. As a matter of course they sketched out ideas in drawings and watercolors, produced cartoons for future projects, dallied with line and colour for experimental concepts. Some of them didn't work or were put away for another day. These sketches, sometimes no more than doodles or jokes, were also their means of communication when one was away, so that at any moment, on their return, they would find a scrap with an illustration to muse over pinned to the wall. Mirta D'Argenzio, the art historian and curator, came across these fleeting memoranda and resolved to make sense of them, like an Egyptologist deciphering hieroglyphs or an entomologist ordering the development of the Wing-tailed Cabbage White. She set about classifying them into an almost scientific order, from their larval forms through the pupae to the first spread of wings. She has produced a collection of the sketches in eight sections that makes up a visual record of the nascent ideas of Vedova and Mazzei, even in the 21st century cognisant of the traditions of Leonardo. The result of her work is as if one were treading the hallowed halls of the Natural History Museum, with its polished cases of botanical and insect collections, minutely marked and classified by the scientist's copperplate hand. It is a dazzlingdisplay.

The first and highly-anticipated monograph on one of the most successful, collected, and exciting painters today Swiss-born Nicolas Party, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed artists working today, is known for his color-saturated paintings of everyday objects, with distinctly personal yet very accessible and recognizable imagery - bright, graphic patterns applied to canvases, ceramics, furniture, floors, ceilings, doorways, and walls. He captures the essence of his subjects in surprising ways, heightening their physical and emotional resonance. Fascinated by the power of paint to alter our perception of the built environment and, within a gallery context, how we experience art, Party regularly paints murals, either as stand-alone works or as carefully orchestrated settings for his practice. This is the first book dedicated to his practice and the first to examine in totality his career to date - it will be a must-read for collectors and followers of the contemporary art scene.

The first comprehensive assessment of Degas's legacy to be published in over two decades, Perspectives on Degas unites a team of international scholars to analyze Degas's work, artistic practice, and unique methods of pictorial problem-solving. Established scholars and curators show how recent trends in art historical thinking can stimulate innovative interpretations of Degas's paintings, prints, sculptures, and drawings and reveal new ideas about his place in the art historical narrative of the nineteenth-century avant-garde. Questions posed by contributors include: what interpretive approaches are open to a new generation of art historians in the wake of a vast body of existing scholarship on nineteenth-century art? In what ways can feminist analyses of Degas's works continue to yield new results? Which of Degas's works have received less attention in critical literature to date and what does study of them reveal? As the centenary of Degas's death approaches, this book offers a timely re-evaluation of the critical literature that has developed in response to Degas's work and identifies ways in which the further study of this artist's multi-facetted output can deepen our understanding of the wider scientific, literary, and artistic ideas that circulated in France during the latter decades of the nineteenth century.

Recognized as one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic artists of the postwar era, Cy Twombly left behind an oeuvre of incredible versatility, sensitivity and originality upon his death in 2011 at age 83. Working in the immediate aftermath of Abstract Expressionism, Twombly developed an intensely personal scription consisting of scrawled letters and words, in an effusive, calligraphic mark-making that suggests a kind of painted poetry. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture and photography with a restless energy, Twombly incorporated the gods of Ancient Greece, the poetry of Stephane Mallarme and the history, culture and mythology of the Occident into his art. "The Essential Cy Twombly," edited by Twombly's longtime collaborator Nicola Del Roscio, is the ultimate overview of his work, presenting the most important paintings and cycles of paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs from Twombly's diverse oeuvre. The most accessible survey of his work to date, this volume includes essays by Laszlo Glozer, Thierry Greub, Kirk Varnedoe and Simon Schama.
Edwin Parker (Cy) Twombly (1928-2011) was born in Lexington, Virginia. He lived and worked in New York in the early 1950s (where he met Robert Rauschenberg, with whom he was to have a long personal and artistic relationship) and studied at the legendary Black Mountain College in North Carolina before traveling around North Africa, Spain and Italy and ultimately settling in Rome before the end of the decade, just as the art world was shifting its center of gravity to New York. Best known for his paintings and drawings, often executed on a massive scale across multiple canvases, Twombly also made sculptures and photographs.

This first survey of Antonio Bernal's life and work, The Artist as Eyewitness features essays that assess his murals, situating them within the historical, political, and cultural frameworks of the Chicano movement. It also includes an analysis of Bernal's unpublished novel, Breaking the Silence; a biography of Bernal; reproductions of his artwork; and a selection of his writings. Drawing on personal correspondence and writings, photographs, and audiovisual materials that document Bernal's travels, artwork, and family history, this book offers an important contribution to Chicana/o studies and art history.

In February 1972 Henry Moore's sculpture studios in the English countryside at Much Hadham were filled with the preparations for his retrospective exhibition at Florence. In search of peace and quiet, he went into a smaller room overlooking the fields where a local farmer grazed his sheep. The sheep came very close to the window, attracting his attention, and he began to draw them. Initially he saw them as nothing more than four-legged balls of wool, but his vision changed as he explored what they were really like - the way they moved, the shape of their bodies under the fleece. They also developed strong human and biblical associations, and the sight of a ewe with her lamb evoked the mother-and-child theme - a large form sheltering a small one - which has been important to Henry Moore in all his work. He drew the sheep again that summer after they were shorn, when he could see the shapes of the bodies which had been covered by wool. Solid in form, sudden and vigorous in movement, Henry Moore's sheep are created through a network of swirling and zigzagging lines in the rapid and (in Moore's hands) sensitive medium of ballpoint pen. The effect is both familiar and monumental; as Lor

Part of a series of exciting and luxurious Flame Tree Sketch Books Combining high-quality production with magnificent fine art, the covers are printed on foil in five colours, embossed, then foil stamped. The thick paper stock makes them perfect for sketching and drawing. These are perfect for personal use and make a dazzling gift. This example features Van Gogh: Cafe Terrace.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Creative Realities: The Search for Meanings brings a unique approach to the difficult study of the creativity of artists through a researcher who is also an artist. Maxine Borowski Junge explores the creative processes of fourteen visual artists and writers through interviews and examination of their work. She accomplished this through a four part alternative realities perspective which also includes a documentation of her own work as an artist. The four case studies establish differences between the creative experience and the interaction with the outside world. Distinctive patterns of relationship are discovered between the artist in the creative mode and his or her personality in the outside world. The patterns noticed, designated 'The Ariadne Effect, ' represents the effect that the specific realities have on the creative process, yet noting that the particular universe does not create creativity.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The collection of essays presented in this volume represents some of the best recent critical work on William Blake as poet, prophet, visual artist, and social and political critic of his time. The critical range that is represented includes examples of Marxist, New Historicist, Feminist and Psychoanalytical approaches to Blake. Taken together, the essays consider all areas and moments of Blake's career as poet, from the early lyrics to his later epic poems, and they have been chosen to reveal not only the range of Blake's concerns but also to alert the reader to the rich variety of contemporary criticism that is devoted to him. Although the majority of essays are devoted to Blake as poet, others consider his work as printmaker, illustrator, and visionary artist. However severely individual essays choose to judge him, ultimately all the contributions to this book affirm Blake as one of the great geniuses of English art and letters. William Blake provides a valuable introduction by one of Britain's foremost critics and will be welcomed by students wanting to familiarise themselves with the work of Blake.

The historic encounter around 1911 between the composer Arnold Schonberg and the painter Wassily Kandinsky occurred at a moment when the first wild revolts against traditional art - Dada and Futurism - had just manifested themselves. This volume is a collection of the papers presented at the conference on Schonberg and Kandinsky at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in January 1993. The conference focused on the varying aspects of the avant-garde from 1910 to 1913, when both Schonberg and Kandinsky formulated their far-reaching views on the ways in which music and painting should develop, and discussed their common interest in new theatrical forms of presentation.

The historic encounter around 1911 between the composer Arnold Schonberg and the painter Wassily Kandinsky occurred at a moment when the first wild revolts against traditional art, Dada and Futurism, had just manifested themselves. Independently of those sometimes spectacular activities, both Schonberg and Kandinsky had already concluded that the material and the compositional methods they had relied on in the past were exhausted and did not satisfy the development of their artistic ideas.
Both artists had already submitted their modes of production to a critical analysis which resulted in Schonberg's Theory of Harmony and Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, both of 1911 - indeed the two artists had already been putting their self-criticism into practice for some time. In Schonberg's case this led to breaking with tonality; Kandinsky effected the transition to abstract painting.
This book is a collection of the papers presented at the conference on Schonberg and Kandin

Although Jim Jarmusch is best known for his storied career in independent cinema, over the years he has produced hundreds of pieces of collage art, the majority of which has been rarely seen by the public. Drawing inspiration from the largest medium of cultural documentation-newspapers-Jarmusch delicately crafts each work by layering newsprints on cardstock. These small-scale (notecard-size) pieces are often characterized by their tongue-in-cheek nature: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's faces are affixed to nameless suits, two Andy Warhols are posed in a X-Files-esque tunnel, various musicians perform with ever-so-timely surgical masks. Collected here for the first time, [Untitled] showcases Jarmusch's profanely assembled vision.

This publication spotlights the celebrated modern artist Piet Mondrian's early career, a prolific period that saw the artist focus on figurative landscape painting. Primarily made during the artist's time in Amsterdam at the turn of the twentieth century, Mondrian's dense, small-scale paintings depict the surrounding Dutch landscape - notably irrigation ditches, canals and farm buildings. The compositions are characterised by complex interactions of light and dark planes, which the artist forms through thick, pigmented strokes of green and brown paint. Marking the last decade of the artist's engagement with figurative painting, Mondrian's exploration of the interrelationships between colour and space during this period forms the basis for his subsequent abstract works, whilst reflecting the artist's lifelong interest in nature.

Examining the geometry of pattern, repetition and colour within her surroundings, British artist Tess Jaray has explored painterly perspective since the 1960s. This comprehensive and richly illustrated volume was produced in celebration of a 2014 exhibition of paintings and prints by Jaray. Although her work is resolutely abstract, Jaray's two-dimensional work and public art - both of which celebrate the vitality inherent within archetypal rhythms and patterns - have been informed by her interest in the spaces of Italian Renaissance art and architecture, along with more contemporary influences. Jaray focuses on producing the illusion of space, using perspective to create a field of spatial paradox that equates to distance and closeness in the mind. In many of her works the area of pattern - whether polygons, waves or rectangles - is contained by a strong, grounding background colour, thereby controlling the movement of the forms. From Italian architecture and Islamic mosaics to Kazimir Malevich and Lucio Fontana, this volume situates the artist within the tradition of abstract painting and the history of art. Featuring texts by fellow artists, alongside illustrations of a large group of Jaray's paintings, this first monograph explores her contemporary influence.

In this quincentennial year of Holbein's birth, this is the first comprehensive annotated bibliography of texts relating to this important Northern European Renaissance artist, with an accompanying historiographic essay on various aspects of Holbein's reception.
The first part of the book, "Some Notes on Reception," contains overviews of texts about specific works such as "The Dead Christ, The Solothurn Madonna, " and "The Meyer Madonna." Other themes addressed include the perception of Holbein's character and his place among other Renaissance masters, his work as a portraitist, his use of illusion, authenticity controversies, and a brief chronicle of Holbein collectors. Previously unaddressed topics include Holbein's influence on later artists, and his impact on fiction, including his influence seen in the works of writers such as Dostoevsky, Henry James and Edith Wharton. This part of the book also contains synopses of the most significant and recent Holbein scholarship. These vignettes constitute a multi-dimensional approach to Holbein reception, sharpened by selected quotations from his critics.
The second part of the book is a comprehensive listing of over 2,500 bibliographic citations for works dealing with Holbein and his oeuvre, each accompanied by an annotation outlining the authors' principal contributions. The range of material covered includes not only books and scholarly journals but also newspapers and other popular publications. Individual sections include texts dealing with primary sources, monographs, compendia, and exhibition catalogues. Others are devoted to texts about Holbein's paintings, drawings and prints, as well as to iconography, technical studies, patronage, collections, influences on Holbein, and Holbein reception. General Index. Author Index.

Bartolome de Cardenas, known as "el Bermejo" (fl 1468-1495), was the most interesting painter of his generation in a time of great artistic and cultural as well as historic change in Spain. Originally from Cordoba, Bermejo appears to have received training directly in Northern Europe in the new technique of oil glazes. During his fascinating career he sometimes drew on the local "art scene" producing altarpieces of astounding quality. This monograph will examine Bermejo's career in the various cities in the Crown of Aragon where he worked: Valencia, Daroca, Zaragoza, and Barcelona."