A humorous and informative book, debunking a range of commonly held myths about animals. Camels store water in their humps and magpies love to steal shiny objects. Or do they? A must-read in the Everything you Know series, this book debunks a range of old-cod stories about animals in author Matt Brown's inimitable humorous and fascinating style. Covering everything from the myth that lemmings throw themselves off cliffs in suicide (they don't, but on occasion some just fall off) to the one about bats being blind (they're not, and they can see but use the more sophisticated echolocation for certain hunting). From head in the sand ostriches to cats landing on their feet, a wealth of information on our beloved pets to creepy crawlies and wild giants, this book will set the marvel of the animal word straight. Plus, there are special features on the odd diets of animals and how wrongly they are portrayed in the movies. All the old stories and myths about animals we've had since childhood are gleefully debunked in a hugely entertaining book.

Trees are a magnificent source of inspiration for artists. This book looks more closely at their role in art and how best the artist can capture their essence as the sole subject of a painting, to complete a landscape or to step into an abstract representation. In a unique collaboration, Sian and Rob Dudley combine their skills to offer insights into a range of techniques and styles. There are tips and ideas for finding inspiration, developing your ideas, information gathering, layout, tone and colour within the book. Step-by-step projects demonstrate the techniques in action, from first inspiration through to completion. With practical advice on painting through the seasons to help you to see and paint trees with new appreciation, this book is a joyful and essential guide to creating expressive paintings.

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.

In the 18th century pugs found their way onto the laps of noblewomen and, with this, into the portraits of contemporary rulers. Small and forever panting, the pug could not be put to use as a watchdog or a herding dog, but it compensated for this with its charm. The dog ultimately found its way onto porcelain and faience. Johann Joachim Kandler, the most significant modeler of the Meissen porcelain manufactory, designed over 60 variants of the pug between 1740 and 1760 - standing, lying, scratching, and performing tricks. Kandler portrayed the pug belonging to Count Heinrich von Bru hl in a splendid one-off, but he also produced models for serial production. This southern German collection comprises over 150 ceramic pugs as well as other dogs. Moreover, they do not just appear individually; they may also be part of a courtly scene or decorate wares in the gallant style - accessories such as flacons, (snuff) boxes, and walking-stick handles. Text in English and German.

The French, Italian, and Austrian Alpes, the Pyrenees...Master photographer Stefan Bogner presents breath-taking photographs of mountain passes, taken during the winter season.

This complete guide to the crisp, precise finish of botanical painting marries traditional technique with contemporary style and includes sections on colour, drawing, continuous tone, composition and dissection. Michael Lakin makes botanical art approachable with simple exercises and a variety of step-by-step instructional approaches, making this a fantastic guide for aspirational beginners.

New from renowned printmaker Tom Killion With this stunning note card set, celebrated woodblock printmaker Tom Killion presents a series of his artworks that delight in the enchantment and majesty of California's forests. Printed on fine white stock, these faithful reproductions of Killion's signature multicolor woodcut prints highlight iconic trees framed by striking California landscapes, from Miter Basin to the High Sierra. The Trees of California Note Card Box contains twelve white envelopes and twelve blank note cards. This set includes 3 each of the following 4 images: * Coast Live Oak, Big Sur * Giant Sequoias * Twin Lodgepole Pines * Moonlit Sierra Pines

As downhill skiing became popular in 20th-century Europe, resorts in the Austrian, German, French, and Swiss Alps commissioned paintings of their ski runs to turn into maps. The best of these paintings are now featured in this book showing the artists' ability to combine technical virtuosity, geographic information, and creative flair. The undoubted master of panoramic map painting is H. C. Berann, and many examples of his works are shown in this beautiful volume, along with a select handful of artists from throughout Europe. Detailing scenes of the Alpine range from Slovenia to France, each of these images was created by hand from aerial photography, mostly shot by the artists on helicopter rides through the mountains. The paintings themselves cleverly combine multiple perspectives so that all trails, terrain, and mountain features are visible. In these exquisite reproductions, the paintings have been stripped of all references to the ski trails, allowing viewers to focus entirely on the beauty of the colours, composition, and detail. A joy to study and savour, these dramatic and vivid paintings recall a time when the human hand was the best means of translating the Alps' towering beauty to the general public.

In celebration of the world's favorite animal, we bring you over 400 photographs of or about dogs. With pictures from the 19th century to today, the collection includes works by Man Ray, Eric Fischl, Wolfgang Tillmans, Donna Ruskin, Fatima NeJame, Vincent Versace, and of course Elliott Erwitt and William Wegman. Together, their pictures, unique in style but united in canine affection, are testimony if ever there was one that dogs are not only best friends, but also pure photographic inspiration. Forget #dogsofinstagram, this is real canine art, showing how the camera has been key witness to dogs in all their diversity, character, and friendship, from pensive pooch portraits to four-pawed action shots. As intellectually as it is visually stimulating, the book includes captivating essays tracing the presence of dogs in the history of photography and their relationship with humans across the decades. About the series Bibliotheca Universalis - Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

At the invitation of the town of Cannes, renowned German artist Nils-Udo, pioneer of Land Art, will create several ephemeral installations this summer on Ile Sainte- Marguerite, the largest of the Lerins Islands, an exceptionally preserved natural site at the heart of the French Riviera. The event will be immortalised through a collection of original photographs that will complete the monographic exhibition dedicated to the links between Nils-Udo, the Mediterranean and the islands. Through his installations on water, mossy wooden rafts, fleeting installations of turf, flowers and bamboo on the infinite scope of the Mediterranean, the visitor will be taken to Italy and the Spanish islands in order to look with fresh eyes upon the beauty, but also the fragility, of these sites. This exhibition, curated by Frederique Citera-Bulot, director of the Musees de Cannes, will take place in the spectacular location of the Musee de la Mer, in the Fort Royal de l'Ile Saint-Marguerite rooms dedicated to contemporary photography.

The idea of nature as a cultural construction has been discussed extensively in postmodern theory. Less attention, however, has been paid to the underlying motivations shaping the ideologies of nature, in particular the desire to submit to some larger order outside of oneself. Aspiring to the Landscape examines this persistent desire and how it is made manifest in contemporary landscape art. Four installations of large-scale paintings by Canadian artists Eleanor Bond, Susan Feindel, Stephen Hutchings, and Wanda Koop are the focus of Petra Halkes's study. The works vary widely in style and iconography but are drawn together by the way they invite a reflection on the troubled relationship between culture and nature and our contradictory and simultaneous longing to conquer and to succumb to nature. It is the tension between modern and postmodern interpretations of the subject of nature that makes the theory and the artwork discussed in Aspiring to the Landscape so important to contemporary Canadian culture.

Wilhelm Kuhnert was a pioneer. He was one of the first European artists to travel to the largely unexplored savannahs and jungles of the German colonies in North and East Africa. Under hazardous conditi ons he documented at close quarters the fascinating animal and plant world and then created in his Berlin studio monumental paintings which were much sought - after on the art market. Like no other artist of his time Wilhelm Kuhnert (1865 - 1926) has moulded our image of Africa. In his seductively realistic drawings, watercolours and paintings he recorded with almost scientific accuracy the characteristics of the animals and their habitat. It is not surprising, therefore, that his pictures illustrated on the o ne hand legendary reference works like Brehms Tierleben and adorned on the other the popular collector cards of the chocolate manufacturer Stollwerck. The volume shows a comprehensive, exciting portrait of Kuhnert's unusual life and works and takes into account at the same time the current debate on attitudes to Germany's colonial past.

Take your colouring to the next level by doing it with stickers instead of pencils! Each one of the 12 designs in this book has spaces for mosaic shapes that you fill in using the pages of different coloured stickers in the back, allowing you to create one-of-a-kind mosaic designs. Colour-by-sticker is a fun new way to express creativity and explore colour, and this series gives readers the freedom to create their own unique designs, no artistic ability required. Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals features 12 different beautiful ocean images to colour with the included 25 sheets of stickers. Whether you choose the brightly coloured macaws, a curious chameleon, or a friendly alpaca, you'll be creating a truly unique work of art that any animal lover will adore.

The first edition of this book, published in 1994, reshaped the direction of landscape studies by considering landscape not simply as an object to be seen or a text to be read, but as an instrument of cultural force, a central tool in the creation of national and social identities. This second edition adds not only a new preface, but five new essays--from Edward Said, W. J. T. Mitchell, Jonathan Bordo, Michael Taussig, and Robert Pogue Harrison-extending the scope of the book in remarkable ways.

The End of Landscape in Nineteenth-Century America examines the dissolution of landscape painting in the late nineteenth-century United States. Maggie M. Cao explores the pictorial practices that challenged, mourned, or revised the conventions of landscape painting, a major cultural project for nineteenth-century Americans. Through rich analysis of artworks at the genre's unsettling limits-landscapes that self-destruct, masquerade as currency, or even take flight-Cao shows that experiments in landscape played a crucial role in the American encounter with modernity. Landscape is the genre through which American art most urgently sought to come to terms with the modern world.

Paul Nash, the British landscape and Surrealist painter, lived through both the First and Second World Wars. His depictions of these human catastrophes, with their damaged landscapes and broken machinery are much remembered today. His painting life moved from representational landscapes, through to the Surrealist and symbolist styles of his later years where he experimented with abstraction and the everyday. He was regarded as a fine book illustrator and often created work for other graphic and theatrical forms. This new book offers 100 images, with an introduction to his art and contribution made by Nash to the cultural sophistication of the modern world.