Emphasizing the peculiar, the perverse, the clandestine and the scandalous, this volume opens up a critical discourse on sexuality and visual culture in early modern Italy. Contributors consider not just painted (conventional) representations of sexual activities and eroticized bodies, but also images from print media, drawings, sculpted objects and painted ceramic jars. In this way, the volume presents an entirely new picture of Renaissance sexuality, stripping away layers of misconceptions and manipulations to reveal an often-misunderstood world. 'Sex acts' is interpreted broadly, from the acting out, or performing, of one's (or another's) sex to sexual activity, including what might be considered, now or then, peculiar practices and preferences and a variety of possibly scandalous scenarios. While the contributors come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, this collection foregrounds the visual culture of early modern sexuality, from representations of sex and sexualized bodies to material objects associated with sexual activities. The picture presented here nuances our understanding of Renaissance sexuality as well as our own.

Here's a sexy Italian import with plenty of power that really grips the curves - and is best enjoyed with the top down! "Magenta" is the cruel-to-be-cruel creation of Celestino Pes and Nik Guerra, and SQP is delighted to be the American publishing arm of this hot body of work! In their second collection of retro fun and filth, Pes and Guerra take Magenta and her just-as-nasty (if not-so-bright) buddy Lucrezia on more amorous adventures. The two silky sirens solve crime and detect mischief in ways Holmes and Watson never imagined! With tongue firmly planted in cheek (and other areas of the body) this book enjoys the retro-charm of John Willie-style artwork with a distinctively modern sense of humour. And nudity. And sex. And all manner of rude behaviour! It's a winning combination that'll have "Magenta" fans coming back again and again for more lewd laughs! Italians may not have invented sex, but they have surely refined it to a high art!

With his first collection of amazing illustrations Heavenly Bodies, digital wizard Bruce Colero created other-worldly beauties with an inspired mixture of talent and technology. The reaction was, to say the least, overwhelming! Colero's approach to fantasy artwork heralded a new master to the realm! Now, in a more "adults-only" addendum, Bruce let's his mojo loose and breathes life and fire into some pretty hot babes! Here is a collection of women far out of anyone's league, but sure to haunt your wildest daydreams! These ladies are scorching, state-of-the-art super-heated eye-candy! If you're over 18 and ready to have the back of your head explode (always fun!), then Skin Deep will be on your must-have list for June! The book is produced in an oversized 9x12 inch format.

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.

Undressed to impress. When it comes to pleasure, size doesn't matter, as we all know it's quality, not quantity, that counts. But let's admit it: a big penis is undeniably compelling. Big shoulders, big lapels, and big hair may come and go, but the big penis never goes out of fashion. With those possessing more than 8 inches (20 cm) making up less than 2 per cent of the world's population, this rare accessory will always fascinate (a word, coincidentally, derived from the Latin fascinum, meaning both phallus and magical spirit).In this companion volume to "The Big Book of Breasts", we explore the centuries-old fascination with the large phallus, a fascination common to men and women alike. This hefty book is profusely illustrated with over 400 historic photos of spectacular male endowments, including rare photos of the legendary John Holmes. The majority of the photographs are from the 1970s, when the sexual revolution first freed photographers to depict the male entirely nude. Photographers include Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild, David Hurles of Old Reliable, Colt, Falcon, Sierra Domino, Third World, and Champion Studios, with each of these iconic photographers interviewed or profiled, along with information about each of their models. And if this isn't enough, the book closes with a special surprise comparable to the Guinness Book of Records' - Norma Stitz featured in "The Big Book of Breasts"!

Born like Venus on the half shell from the centuries-long tradition of the nude in painting, the nude first appeared as a subject matter in photography with the introduction of the medium itself, between 1837 and 1840, and has continued as an ever-evolving theme through changing technical developments and cultural mores to the present day. This volume surveys the subject of nudity from the earliest surviving photographs of Greek and Roman sculpture through studies of living nude models for aesthetic or scientific purposes to the burgeoning practice of exploring the human body as pure form. The seventy-eight works, selected from the extensive collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum and further contextualized here in the essay Masterworks of the Nude, span the entire arc of the history of photography in a manner that is both fresh and illuminating. Among the sixty-four photographers included are nineteenth-century masters Julia Margaret Cameron, Edgar Degas, and Thomas Eakins; early-twentieth-century artists Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston; mid-twentieth-century innovators Bill Brandt, Harry Callahan, and Minor White; late-twentieth-century image makers Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Herb Ritts; and contemporary artists Chuck Close, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and Mona Kuhn.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was interested in the telling of truths. Always operating outside the main currents of 20th-century art, the esteemed portrait painter observed his subjects with the regimen and precision of a laboratory scientist. He recorded not only the blotches, bruises, and swellings of the living body, but also, beneath the flaws and folds of flesh, the microscopic details of what lies within: the sensation, the emotion, the intelligence, the bloom, and the inevitable, unstoppable decay. Despite rejecting parallels between him and his renowned grandfather, the correlation between Lucian Freud's sitting process for portraiture and Sigmund Freud's psychotherapy sessions is a fascinating element to this figurative oeuvre. Despite the thickness of the impasto surfaces, Freud's portraits of subjects as varied as the Queen, Kate Moss, and an obese job center supervisor penetrate the physicality of the body with a direct and often disarming insight. The result is as much a psychological interrogation as it is an uneasy examination of the relationship between artist and model. This book brings together some of Freud's most outstanding and unapologetic portraits, to introduce an artist widely considered one of the finest masters of the human form. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Kimberly Rhodes's interdisciplinary book is the first to explore fully the complicated representational history of Shakespeare's Ophelia during the Victorian period. In nineteenth-century Britain, the shape, function and representation of women's bodies were typically regulated and interpreted by public and private institutions, while emblematic fictional female figures like Ophelia functioned as idealized templates of Victorian womanhood. Rhodes examines the widely disseminated representations of Ophelia, from works by visual artists and writers, to interpretations of her character in contemporary productions of Hamlet, revealing her as a nexus of the struggle for the female body's subjugation. By considering a broad range of materials, including works by Anna Lea Merritt, Elizabeth Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Everett Millais, and paying special attention to images women produced, Rhodes illuminates Ophelia as a figure whose importance crossed class and national boundaries. Her analysis yields fascinating insights into 'high' and mass culture and enables transnational comparisons that reveal the compelling associations among Ophelia, gender roles, body image and national identity.

The new paperback edition of Roy Strong's popular introduction to Elizabethan portraiture Written for the general reader, Roy Strong's popular introduction to Elizabethan portraiture synthesizes scholarship and research on this subject into a concise introduction to the Elizabethan aesthetic. Strong surveysthe entirety of Elizabeth I's reign from the Procession Picture to the Rainbow Portrait (1600-1602). A range of social aspects of Elizabethan portraiture are explored, such as patronage, symbolic self-fashioning, Elizabethan pageantry and melancholic humor. Strong reveals the Elizabethan approach to portraiture, while demonstrating a new way to look at these paintings. From celebrated portraits of the Queen and paintings of knights and courtiers, to works depicting an aspiring 'middle class', Strong presents a detailed and authoritative examination of one of the most fascinating periods of British art.

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.

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.

LONG LISTED FOR THE WILLIAM MB BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2022. A major survey of Dame Laura Knight, first female Royal Academician and popular British artist of the 20th century. Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most famous and popular English artists of the twentieth century. She was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1965. In the following decades her realist style of painting fell out of fashion and her work become largely overlooked. A new generation has rediscovered her work, finding a contemporary resonance in her depictions of women at work, of people from marginalized communities and her contributions as a war artist. This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanies a major exhibition at MK Gallery, provides an overview of Knight's illustrious career: from her training at Nottingham Art School at the age of 13 and her time in North Yorkshire and Cornwall, to her visits to traveller communities and a segregated American hospital. It also features her circus, ballet and theatre scenes, paintings of women during the war and her late paintings of nature. The selection of over 160 works combines celebrated paintings with less known graphic and design works, including ceramics, jewellery and costumes that reflect the artist's enduring interest in the everyday activities of people from all walks of life.

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 significant publication of original writing on Lucian Freud, including interviews with leading contemporary artists, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was one of the greatest figurative painters of the twentieth century. With an unflinching eye and an uncompromising commitment to his work, he created masterpieces that continue to inspire contemporary artists to the present day. Spanning nearly 70 years, Freud's career has often been overshadowed by his biography and celebrity. This book re-examines his paintings through a broad series of original approaches. Texts by a variety of rising and established international writers explore topics ranging from the compositional echoes of old master paintings in Freud's works, to the contextualization of his practice within the class struggles of 1980s Britain. Throughout the book, leading contemporary painters such as Tracey Emin and Chantal Joffe give insightful testimony to the relevance of Freud today. Marking the 100th anniversary of Freud's birth, this publication accompanies the first major exhibition of his work in 10 years. Presenting fresh perspectives on his paintings, it introduces Freud to a new generation of scholars and enthusiasts - demonstrating his lasting international importance. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London October 1, 2022-January 22, 2023 Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid February 14-June 18, 2023

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 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.

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.

John Berger, one of the world's most celebrated storytellers and writers on art, tells a personal history of art from the prehistoric paintings of the Chauvet caves to 21st century conceptual artists. Berger presents entirely new ways of thinking about artists both canonized and obscure, from Rembrandt to Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock to Picasso. Throughout, Berger maintains the essential connection between politics, art and the wider study of culture. The result is an illuminating walk through many centuries of visual culture, from one of the contemporary world's most incisive critical voices.

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