A sweeping exploration of animals in Japanese art and culture across sixteen centuries Few countries have devoted as much artistic energy to the depiction of animal life as Japan. Drawing upon the country's unique spiritual heritage, rich literary traditions, and currents in popular culture, Japanese artists have long expressed admiration for animals in sculpture, painting, lacquerwork, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and woodblock prints. Real and fantastic creatures are meticulously and beautifully rendered, often with humor and whimsy. This beautiful book celebrates this diverse range of work, from ancient fifth-century clay sculpture to contemporary pieces. The catalog is organized into themes, including the twelve animals of the Japanese zodiac; animals in Shinto and Buddhism; animals and samurai; land animals, winged creatures, and creatures of the river and sea; and animals in works of humor and parody. Contributors address such issues as how animals are represented in Japanese folklore, myth, religion, poetry, literature, and drama; the practice of Japanese painting; and the relationship between Japanese painters and scientific study. Featuring some 300 masterpieces from public and private collections, many published for the first time, The Life of Animals in Japanese Art is a sumptuous celebration of the connections between the natural world and visual and creative expression. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Exhibition Schedule National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC June 2-August 18, 2019 Los Angeles County Museum of Art September 22-December 8, 2019

In their remarkable art project Eyes as Big as Plates, ongoing since 2011, the two artists Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen explore the relationship between humans and nature. To this end, they have travelled the world and created portraits of 52 people in diverging landscapes. The resulting series of photographs presents people whose age is typically over 50, wrapped in artistic, almost living sculptures made of the most diverse natural materials that Hjorth and Ikonen collected from the subjects' surroundings: their floral, faunal, and fungal cohorts. The sensitively shot photographs open up new aesthetic worlds full of playful effortlessness that convey a strong message: We are nature! For the Norwegian-Finnish duo, it is not just about a successful photographic image. This second volume of the series consolidates these atmospheric portraits with concise descriptions of those portrayed, who, rather than remain solely as props in the picture, present themselves and their life stories. The Field Notes section compiles further photographic material composed around the portraits. The artists offer insights into the portraits' process of creation and provide us with the opportunity to accompany the artists on their journeys.

Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island are visited by over two million tourists every vacation season, but few know what the island and park are like during the rest of the year, the quiet season. For over a year, the author, a landscape photographer, explored the park daily, embracing the available light, capturing the experience of the moment, as he felt it. On blue-sky days; in storms, hurricanes, and blizzards; on winter nights on silent beaches; and in extreme cold, images and experiences were gathered, to be later shared. The work in this book represents a very personal and deep-felt intimacy with the park and the island that can evolve only by completely immersing oneself into the rhythm and flow of the land and sea, and then using all of his craft to express this deep love, his soul, that belongs to Acadia.

"Ask the beast and it will teach thee, and the birds of heaven and they will tell thee." -Job 12:7 In the Middle Ages, the bestiary achieved a popularity second only to that of the Bible. In addition to being a kind of encyclopedia of the animal kingdom, the bestiary also served as a book of moral and religious instruction, teaching human virtues through a portrayal of an animal's true or imagined behavior. In A Jewish Bestiary, Mark Podwal revisits animals, both real and mythical, that have captured the Jewish imagination through the centuries. Originally published in 1984 and called "broad in learning and deep in subtle humor" by the New York Times, this updated edition of A Jewish Bestiary features new full-color renderings of thirty-five creatures from Hebraic legend and lore. The illustrations are accompanied by entertaining and instructive tales drawn from biblical, talmudic, midrashic, and kabbalistic sources. Throughout, Podwal combines traditional Jewish themes with his own distinctive style. The resulting juxtaposition of art with history results in a delightful and enlightening bestiary for the twenty-first century. From the ant to the ziz, herein are the creatures that exert a special force on the Jewish fancy.

This book highlights a century of landscape art inspired by the Mount Assiniboine area of the Canadian Rockies from 1899 to 2006. The book includes a preface by Robert Sandford and an introduction discussing the history of exploration of the region, early ascents of Mount Assiniboine, the development of tourism, and the significant art this majestic peak has inspired. Illustrations in the introduction include four black-and-white archival photos, along with five colour reproductions of Mary Vaux Walcott's stunning watercolours of wildflowers sketched in the area. The main text presents 42 colour plates illustrating a wide variety of styles and media from 23 artists including A P Coleman, Carl Rungius, James Simpson, Belmore Browne, Barbara and A C Leighton, Catharine and Peter Whyte, W J Phillips and A Y Jackson.Of these, only seven have been previously published. The colour plates are organised into three sections: approaching Assiniboine from the northwest; east of Assiniboine; and Mount Assiniboine itself. Each section is introduced with a black-and-white archival photograph and a quotation. The book concludes with a list of artists, endnotes, a full bibliography and an index.

In recent years, there has been intense debate about the reality behind the depiction of maritime cityscapes, especially harbours. Visualizing Harbours in the Classical World argues that the available textual and iconographic evidence supports the argument that these representations have a symbolic, rather than literal, meaning and message, and moreover that the traditional view, that all these media represent the reality of the contemporary cityscapes, is often unrealistic. Bridging the gap between archaeological sciences and the humanities, it ably integrates iconographic materials, epigraphic sources, history and archaeology, along with visual culture. Focusing on three main ancient ports - Alexandria, Rome and Leptis Magna - Federico Ugolini considers a range of issues around harbour iconography, from the triumphal imagery of monumental harbours and the symbolism of harbour images, their identification across the Mediterranean, and their symbolic, ideological and propagandistic messages, to the ways in which aspects of Imperial authority and control over the seas were expressed in the iconography of the Julio-Claudian, Trajan and Severii periods, how they reflected the repute, growth and power of the mercantile class during the Imperial era, and how the use of imagery reflected euergetism and paideia, which would inform the Roman audience about who had power over the sea.

Magnificent compendium of the finely detailed plant images from the Victorian era-all identified with Latin and common names and arranged alphabetically by family. Hundreds of plant species-from lilies, lichens, poppies and palms to mushrooms, mosses, marigolds and maples-supplemented by specialized appendices on edible foods, medicinal herbs, plants used in decoration and in graphic design. Indispensable source of inspiration and copyright-free graphics for designers and artists; a captivating compendium for botanists, gardeners, and collectors of old engravings.

Highlighting an enduring interest in natural history from the 16th century to the present, this gorgeous book explores depictions of the natural world, from centuries-old manuscripts to contemporary artists' books. It examines the scientific pursuits in the 18th and 19th centuries that resulted in the collecting and cataloguing of the natural world. It also investigates the aesthetically oriented activities of self-taught naturalists in the 19th century, who gathered flowers, ferns, seaweed, feathers, and other naturalia into albums. Examples of 20th- and 21st-century artists' books, including those of Eileen Hogan, Mandy Bonnell, and Tracey Bush, broaden the vision of the natural world to incorporate its interaction with consumer culture and with modern technologies. Featuring dazzling illustrations, the book itself is designed to evoke a fieldwork notebook, and features a collection pocket and ribbon markers. Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art Exhibition Schedule: Yale Center for British Art (05/15/14-08/10/14)