Hans Holbein's famous portrayal of Sir Thomas More is one of the artist's greatest and most popular portraits. In the opening piece of this appealing new volume, "A Letter to Thomas More, Knight", award-winning author Hilary Mantel vividly imagines the background to the creation of this extraordinary portrait, giving it both historical perspective and immediacy. An insightful, concise, scholarly essay by Xavier Salomon grounds it in the art-historical world. Hans Holbein (1497/98-1543) painted Sir Thomas More in 1527, having been a guest in More's house when he first arrived in England. He brilliantly renders his sitter's rich fabrics and unshaven face with sympathy and perception. Frick Diptychs, a new series of small books to be co-published by GILES with The Frick Collection, New York, pairs masterworks from the Frick with critical and literary essays. The novelist Hilary Mantel will be followed by the filmmaker James Ivory on Vermeer's "Mistress and Maid" and the artist and author Edmund de Waal on a pair of porcelain and bronze candlesticks by the 18th-century French metalworker Pierre Gouthiere.

This book examines the new institution of divinization that emerged as a political phenomenon at the end of the Roman Republic with the deification of Julius Caesar. Michael Koortbojian addresses the myriad problems related to Caesar's, and subsequently Augustus', divinization, in a sequence of studies devoted to the complex character of the new imperial system. These investigations focus on the broad spectrum of forms - monumental, epigraphic, numismatic, and those of social ritual - used to represent the most novel imperial institutions: divinization, a monarchial princeps, and a hereditary dynasty. Throughout, political and religious iconography is enlisted to serve in the study of these new Roman institutions, from their slow emergence to their gradual evolution and finally their eventual conventionalization.

The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Drawing Figures! To draw an anatomical figure, you don't need a stack of weighty anatomy books. Just take it step by step! In How to Draw People, author Jeff Mellem teaches beginning artists how to draw the human figure, from stick figure to anatomically accurate person, in clear, easy-to-follow lessons. More than just a reference, this book provides the step-by-step instruction to teach you to draw the human figure and the anatomical knowledge to draw it realistically. In each chapter, called "levels," you'll learn core concepts for drawing the human figure. Each new chapter builds on the previous one to give you the skills you need to add complexity to your drawing. By the end of each chapter, you will be able to draw the figure with greater detail. By the end of Level 5, you will be able to draw an expressive figure with defined muscle groups in a variety of poses both real and imagined. Clear goals to progress from stick figure to anatomically correct Exercises and assignments to practice new skills Level-Up Checklists in each chapter to assess your skills before moving on With clear step-by-step demonstrations and check-ins along the way, How to Draw People is the beginner's guide to drawing realistic figures.

Shows how Charles V used music and ritual to reinforce his image and status as the most important and powerful sovereign in Europe. The presentation of Charles V as universal monarch, defender of the faith, magnanimous peacemaker, and reborn Roman Emperor became the mission of artists, poets, and chroniclers, who shaped contemporary perceptions of him and engaged in his political promotion. Music was equally essential to the making of his image, as this book shows. It reconstructs musical life at his court, by examining the compositions which emanated from it, the ordinances prescribing its rituals and ceremonies, and his prestigious chapel, which reflected his power and influence. A major contribution, offering new documentary material and bringing together the widely dispersed information on the music composed to mark the major events of Charles's life. It offers.a very useful insight into music as one of many elements that served to convey the notion of the emperor-monarch in the Renaissance. TESS KNIGHTON Mary Ferer is Associate Professor at the College of Creative Arts, West Virginia University.

Kinbaku is the Japanese word for rope bondage: In the west it is often referred to as Shibari. Although it originated in Japan as a means of restraint and torture, during the last hundred years it has also been used as an activity which gives emotional, physical, and visual pleasure for the participants. Nawashi Murakawa, the Artistic Director of the annual London festival of the Art of Japanese Rope Bondage provides the historical context for the practice which goes back 12000 years. He also explains how Kinbaku has developed as a dramatic art form which is performed in front of audiences in many countries. This series of ten chapters demonstrates how the art of rope bondage has developed in the UK, Russia, Canada and the USA as well as presenting a modern day live performance in Tokyo. The final section shows more traditional Japanese techniques. Chapters with Japanese contributors provide the text in Japanese as well as in English. The stunning and surprising photographs reveal the beauty and daring of the models, and their written accounts together with those of the photographers and rope experts give an insight into the lifestyle of those who practice this particular fetish.

Although mastery of the representation of the human figure was central to art making as early as the fifteenth century in Europe, in the nineteenth-century French imagination the artist's model became identified as a distinct social type and cultural trope. This study of the artist's model in Paris between 1830 and 1870 incorporates three histories: a social history of professional models, a cultural history of models as social types, and an art history of representations of the model in elite and popular visual culture. It takes as its starting point the artist-model transaction: demonstrating that stereotypes of 'the model' that figured in the public imagination were framed both by gender and ethnicity, the book develops a nuanced typology of different types of models. Interwoven with the analysis of the constructed identities of models are accounts of the lives of particular models and the histories of the urban population groups from which they emerged. The Invention of the Model: Artists and Models in Paris, 1830-1870 is an adept exploration of a major issue in nineteenth-century art which will be of interest not only to art historians, but also to social and French cultural historians.

A delightful journey through Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Explore the tourist-magnet town of Intercourse, PA, in full color This souvenir book will prove a nostaligic tour for all who have been there, and a motivational force to anyone else. Comes in two versions, this one with a cover that displays the area, the other with a novelty cover.

The human figure in sculpture is a powerful form, capable of great expression and depth. Sculpting the figure in any medium is a rewarding practice, but one that presents special challenges for the maker. Tanya Russell, founder and principal of the Art Academy in London, details the whole creative process for sculpting the figure, from the fundamental conceptual and practical considerations through to the finished and presented work. She covers essential tools and equipment, methods for building armatures, and the processes for creating not only realistic, but also abstract and expressive figures, in a variety of styles and materials. Techniques are supported by practical exercises with step-by-step instructions and images. The book is filled with the inspiring works of contemporary sculptors, all of whom are tutors, students, or alumni of the Art Academy. Modelling and Sculpting the Figure is an essential companion for beginners and established artists alike.

The representation of children in modern European visual culture has often been marginalized by Art History as sentimental and trivial. For this reason the subject of childhood in relation to art and its production has largely been ignored. Confronting this dismissal, this unique collection of essays raises new and unexpected issues about the formation of childhood identity in the nineteenth century and makes a significant contribution to the development of inter-disciplinary studies within this area. Through a range of stimulating and insightful case studies, the book charts the development of the Romantic ideal of childhood, starting with Rousseau's Emile, and attends to its visual, social and psychological transformations during the historical period from which Freud's psychoanalytic theories eventually emerged. Foremost scholars such as Anne Higonnet, Carol Mavor, Susan Casteras and Linda A. Pollock uncover the means by which children became an important conduit for prevailing social anxieties and demonstrate that the apparently 'timeless' images of them that proliferated at the time should be understood as complex cultural documents. Over 50 illustrations enhance this rich and fascinating volume.

The "Dictionary of Artists' Models" aims to be an extensive reference work to identify and contextualize the lives and art history of individual artist's models. Another aim is to provide a much-needed body of research that can serve both as a reference tool and also as a springboard for further investigation of this frequently neglected subject. This dictionary provides information on over 200 artists' models, from the Renaissance to the present day. Most entries are illustrated and consist of a short biography, a selected list of further reading, and a signed interpretive essay. Each essay includes information about the model's life, the artists that they sat for, and discusses their specific contribution to the artist's work. These essays, on models as diverse as Costanza della Sommaia Doni, Cadamour, and Elizabeth Hollander, and written by experts in their field, should give the reader a richer understanding of the model's relevance to art historical study.

This compelling book is the result of a project intended to visually communicate the hardships endured by Iraqi communities. Utilizing art materials donated to camps by the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq, these 350 drawings were created by some of the country's 1.8 million refugees, providing a necessary outlet for their immense suffering and struggles associated with being temporarily displaced from their vocations as lawyers, teachers, farmers, and mothers. Originally presented as an exhibition at the 2015 Venice Biennale, this publication features a large group of these drawings exclusively selected by the artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Harnessing the power of visual art as a means for both personal expression and socio-political awareness, this innovative book represents the humanistic effort to provide a voice for the underrepresented and their unimaginable strife. Mercatorfonds is donating all profits from the sale of this book to the refugee camps in Iraq. Distributed for Mercatorfonds

You can discover Japanese art like no other. Originally created by the artists of the ukiyo-e school of the floating world to advertise brothels in 17th-century Yoshiwara, these popular spring pictures (shunga) transcended class and gender in Japan for almost 300 years. These tender, humorous and brightly coloured pieces celebrate sexual pleasure in all its forms, culminating in the beautiful, yet graphic, work of iconic artists Utamaro, Hokusai and Kunisada. This catalogue of a major international exhibition aims to answer some key questions about what shunga is and why was it produced. Erotic Japanese art was heavily suppressed in Japan from the 1870s onwards as part of a process of cultural modernisation that imported many contemporary western moral values. Only in the last twenty years or so has it been possible to publish unexpurgated examples in Japan and this ground-breaking publication presents this fascinating art in its historical and cultural context for the first time. Within Japan, shunga has continued to influence modern forms of art, including manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art. Drawing on the latest scholarship and featuring over 400 images of works from major public and private collections, this landmark book sheds new light on this unique art form within Japanese social and cultural history. Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art is published to accompany an exhibition at the British Museum from October 2013 to January 2014.

A stunning tribute to our eternal fascination with the human body – and the latest in the bestselling 'Explorer' Collection

Anatomy: Exploring the Human Body is a visually compelling survey of more than 5,000 years of image-making. Through 300 remarkable works, selected and curated by an international panel of anatomists, curators, academics, and specialists, the book chronicles the intriguing visual history of human anatomy, showcasing its amazing complexity and our ongoing fascination with the systems and functions of our bodies. Exploring individual parts of the human body from head to toe, and revealing the intricate functions of body systems, such as the nerves, muscles, organs, digestive system, brain, and senses, this authoritative book presents iconic examples alongside rarely seen, breathtaking works. The 300 entries are arranged with juxtapositions of contrasting and complementary illustrations to allow for thought-provoking, lively, and stimulating reading.

Through its provocative examination of feminist and Marxist approaches to women's art and female representations, this book challenges the widespread belief that Marxism has nothing valuable to contribute to women's studies. The author argues that, from the French Revolution through to the present, gender and class have shaped visual imagery. She shows how Marxist theory can function to question some of the premises of feminist art histories and to provide a more accurate understanding of the meaning(s) of visual imagery.

*** 'Figure Drawing is structured like an art school course and is every bit as rewarding.' Artists and Illustrators Informative and instructive, this comprehensive guide will give you all the tools you need to draw the human figure, from life and from a screen. While many books focus on just one aspect of figure drawing, this manual unites the skills of observation, expression and understanding in one coherent approach. Beginning with the key principles of observation, Figure Drawing will help you to build a strong foundation of skills to make well-observed, proportionally accurate drawings. As the book progresses you will explore processes and exercises that move beyond the purely observed to express the gesture, form and substance of your model. Photographic and illustrative examples throughout the book support your learning at every step. Clear step-by-step tutorials provide a practical understanding of the key materials, skills and ideas in figure drawing. A comprehensive anatomical reference section, broken down into manageable zones, deepens your knowledge of the human form. The book is a Swiss-bound paperback, designed to lie flat when open and in use.

Basic Human Anatomy teaches artists the simple yet powerful formula artists have used for centuries to draw the human figure from the inside out. A comprehensive, yet flexible and holistic approach, Roberto Osti's method of teaching anatomy is exhaustive, but never loses sight of the fact that this understanding should lead to the creation of art. A comprehensive, yet flexible and holistic approach to the human body for artists, Roberto Osti's method of teaching anatomy is exhaustive, but never loses sight of the fact that this understanding should lead to the creation of art. Basic Human Anatomy teaches artists the simple yet powerful formula artists have used for centuries to draw the human figure from the inside out. Osti, using the basic system of line, shape, and form used by da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, takes readers step-by-step through all the lessons needed in order to master this essential foundation skill. Organized progressively, the book shows readers how to replicate the underlying structure of the body using easy-to-understand scales and ratios; conceptualize the front and side views of the skeleton with basic shapes; add detail with simplified depictions of complex bones and joints; draw a muscle map of the body with volumetric form and realistic dimension; master the feet, hands, and skull to create realistic renderings of the human form; and apply a deeper knowledge of anatomy to finished drawings for more impact.

Illuminating reflections on painting and drawing from one of the most revered artists of the twentieth century 'Thank God for yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, and permanent green light' How does a painter see the world? Philip Guston, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, spoke about art with unparalleled candour and commitment. Touching on work from across his career as well as that of his fellow artists and Renaissance heroes, this selection of his writings, talks and interviews draws together some of his most incisive reflections on iconography and abstraction, metaphysics and mysticism, and, above all, the nature of painting and drawing. 'Among the most important, powerful and influential American painters of the last 100 years ... he's an art world hero' Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine 'Guston's paintings make us think hard' Aindrea Emelife, Guardian

Ira "Iraville" Sluyterman van Langewedye is a popular contemporary illustrator beloved for her charming watercolour illustrations of nature, small towns, idyllic scenes, and everyday life. This title brings together a collection of her best work in a giftworthy, lavishly presented hardback art book, which includes never-before-seen images, impressive portfolio pieces, insightful works in progress, beautiful photography, and the artist's own guides to handcrafting sketchbooks and watercolour paints at home. Supported by a Kickstarter campaign in summer 2018, Cozy Days: The Art of Iraville marks another high quality collaboration between 3dtotal Publishing and some of the best illustrators working today.