In 1935, 17-year-old I.M. Pei left his family in Shanghai, China, to study architecture in the United States. Though he had intended to return home after earning his college degree, the Japanese invasion of China and the outbreak of World War II changed his plans. Following the Communist takeover of China in 1949, Pei decided to remain in America to develop his budding architectural career, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1954. Over the next half century, Pei would establish himself as one of the leading architects in the world. Best known for his dazzling glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre Museum, Pei has designed dozens of other critically acclaimed structures, including the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Pei's latest project, completed when he was 91 years old, is the widely praised Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar.

Since he followed it all of his life, Richard Neutra (1892-1970) must have relished the maxim of the Greek philosopher Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." In his books, articles, lectures, correspondence, and even casual conversations, Neutra constantly examined, not only his own life, but the lives of others - present and past - and the human and natural world they inhabited. Nowhere was this truer than in his autobiography "Life and Shape," first published in 1962, which now, after years of being out of print, has again happily come back to life.

As opposed to "Survival Through Design" (1954), his superb collection of densely philosophical essays, Neutra took a different tack in "Life and Shape," following a lighter and more deliberately relaxed approach. It was as if the usually serious and intense Neutra was giving himself permission to reveal his richly ironic sense of humor and to probe areas in his personal experience which he had not examined as closely before. These included hitherto unrecorded memories of his parents, siblings, and his childhood and education in imperial Vienna, his numbing experiences as an Austrian artillery officer in World War I, and the beginnings of his architectural consciousness in his response to the work of Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Erich Mendelsohn, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

As in the autobiographies of Sullivan and Wright, "Life and Shape" concentrates on Neutra's earlier years, both in Europe and America. While he naturally recounts his memories of such well-known commissions as the Lovell Health House (1929), his own Van der Leeuv Research House (1933) and the von Sternberg House (1935), he also muses on such less famous buildings as the small, and now virtually forgotten, Mosk House (1933). "Life and Shape" also confirms Neutra's obsession with the passage of time and his firm resolution never to waste it.

Like Sullivan and Wright, Neutra eschewed writing a factual chronicle, and - at the age of 70 - composed instead a meditation on the aspects of his life and work that seemed, in retrospect, to be the most interesting and significant. He felt no need to try to "include everything" but rather to present an honest recounting of his memory of his life. In writing my own "Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture" Oxford University Press, 1982; Rizzoli Press, 2006], I relied on "Life and Shape" when I wanted an account of Neutra's experiences told in his own authentic voice. For future generations of architects, historian, and readers, it is good to have it back.

- Thomas S. Hines, UCLA Professor Emeritus of History and Architecture

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, THE LAST VERMEER, STARRING GUY PEARCE: A revelatory biography of the world's most famous forger--a talented Mr. Ripley armed with a paintbrush--and a deliciously detailed story of deceit in the art world. It's a story that made Dutch painter Han van Meegeren famous worldwide when it broke at the end of World War II: A lifetime of disappointment drove him to forge Vermeers, one of which he sold to Hermann Goering in mockery of the Nazis. And it's a story that's been believed ever since. Too bad it isn't true. Jonathan Lopez has drawn on never-before-seen documents from dozens of archives for this long-overdue unvarnishing of Van Meegeren's legend. Neither unappreciated artist nor antifascist hero, Van Meegeren emerges as an ingenious, dyed-in-the-wool crook. Lopez explores a network of illicit commerce that operated across Europe: Not only was Van Meegeren a key player in that high-stakes game in the 1920s and '30s, landing fakes with famous collectors such as Andrew Mellon, but he and his associates later cashed in on the Nazi occupation.

On an autumn night in 1992 a Chicago Artist made a sketch of a young woman. A woman he had never seen, in a country he had never visited. Two years later they would meet and fall in love on the war ravaged streets of Sarajevo. A whirlwind romance amid the longest military siege in modern times. As winter closes in and the siege tightens, they ponder a desperate escape from the city, running a deadly gauntlet of snipers, landmines and death. Had fate carried them together across an ocean and through a war only to tear them apart again? Were they prepared to sacrifice everything for love? Their story made headlines. But here, for the first time, is the incredible true story of impossible lovers, and their powerful story of hope and survival. Everything for Love corrects the historical record, revealing a world in which love reigns supreme and remains as humanity's greatest virtue.

The aim of this collection is to offer a series of short monographs which, though brief, nevertheless deal with all aspects of the master's personality: works, constructed or otherwise, primary written sources, critiques and photographic interpretations. The underlying aim is to offer an in-depth, comprehensive overview targeted at anyone interested in learning about architecture including students, professionals or simply those who are interested in the subject, by providing not only basic information but also guidance in terms of gaining more insight into the subject. The volumes are dedicated to some of the best known modern and contemporary architects.

"A career in music ... is a calling with such a strong pull; you'd think a tide was sucking you under. It becomes an intense obsession of such great intensity that you can almost think of nothing else, it drives you with a fever and fervor."

In the early 70s, an idealistic young man - Brian Torff - arrived in New York to pursue his passion for music. During an excursion to Long Island, Brian found his dream instrument: a 1775 re-built Nicola Galliano bass.

Such was the beginning of a career that led Torff from Cafe Carlyle to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the White House. He has toured worldwide with the greatest: from Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, George Shearing, and Erroll Garner to Stephane Grappelli, Benny Goodman, Mary Lou Williams, and Marian McPartland.

As Brian notes, "bass players do a lot of observing from the back of the bandstand." It is this supportive role that qualifies Torff to share his insight into jazz music, and its many personalities. Torff takes us beyond the music by adding depth with his vision of American music, and paints vivid portraits of the musicians with whom he played.

Torff's memoir is one of creativity, and determination mixed with timing, and plain good luck. His sharp narrative not only brings the legends of jazz to life, but reading about them here will certainly motivate you to add some music to your collection.

'It is in its pared-down luxury, however, that the house has its edge. All the panelling, architraves, doors, windows and skirtings were custom-made for the building; new floors were laid in rich brown or bleached oak boards, with limestone used for the hallway and bathrooms; at the flick of a Lutron switch, mood lighting changes the atmosphere of each room; and furniture and mirrors are scaled up to look just right in the large spaces, such as the oversized ottoman and sofa in the living room. Although the house is sparsely furnished, the pieces are of an enviably high quality.' The Times on John Minshaw's award-winning Wimpole Street home. As an Architectural & Interior Design Practice, John Minshaw Designs has been designing and building private residences for over 30 years. At the Design & Decoration Awards in 2005/6, he won both 'Designer of the Year' and 'Classical Residential Interior'. Minshaw says he came to interiors by default. But it is clear that his early training in fine art influences much of his work. "My style is to buy good antiques and design bespoke cabinetry, then put them into pared-down interiors," he says -- a design ethic that is a neat contrast to the cliched froufrou swags and tails often associated with interior design. This book covers ten projects, spanning twenty years, offering a summary of Minshaw's work.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

"Art is the signature of a civilization." (Beverly Sills) In times of heated discussions about the allocation of public money, the reduction of funds for cultural organizations in Germany is often demanded by critics and feared by numerous arts institutions. Whatever one's opinion may be, here, we are talking about the cultural identity of a people. Hence it is important to explore alternatives to raise money in order to ensure the financial basis for the promotion of the arts. In this context it suggests itself to look at successful financing models in foreign countries. Moreover, corporations are facing increasing difficulties in addressing their stakeholders effectively. Constant information overload by the media is a huge challenge for external corporate communications. Yet also internal communication strategies play a crucial role in order to reach the highest possible degree of staff satisfaction and consequently optimal output. In view of these aspects, this paper draws a comparison between arts financing and particularly arts sponsorship in Germany and the USA. It is focused on the political and social integration of the arts in society on the one hand and the promotion of the cooperation between the arts and the business world on the other hand. Three practical examples are presented: the Stuttgart State Opera, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the San Francisco Opera.

Homeworks(R) is an approach to consumer-oriented townhouse development that reduces developers' risks, produces buildings that are change-ready, and provides a new framework for housing product and process innovation.

The first biography in English of the Japanese artist who was a central figure in the dazzling artistic milieu of 1920s Paris When we think of expatriates in Paris during the early decades of the twentieth century, certain names come to mind: Hemingway, Picasso, Modigliani--and Foujita, the Japanese artist whose distinctive works, bringing elements of Japanese art to Western oil painting, made him a major cultural figure in 1920s Montparnasse. Foujita was the only Japanese artist to be considered part of the "School of Paris," which also counted among its members such prominent artists as Picasso and Modigliani. Noteworthy, too, was Foujita's personal style, flamboyant even for those flamboyant times. He was best known for his drawings of female nudes and cats, and for his special white color upon which he could draw a masterful line--one that seemed to outline a woman's whole body in a single unbroken stroke.
With the advent of the Second World War, Foujita returned to Japan, where he allied himself with the ruling Japanese mili-tarists and painted canvases in support of the war effort. After Japan's defeat, he was scorned for his devotion to the military cause and returned to France, where he remained until his death in 1968. Acclaimed writer and translator Phyllis Birnbaum not only explores Foujita's fascinating, tumultuous life but also assesses the appeal of his paintings, which, in their mixture of Eastern and Western traditions, are memorable for their vibrancy of form and purity of line.

In the early years of the twentieth century, Spokane was singled out for praise in the West for the quality of its architecture and the impressive way it had rebuilt after the devastating fire of 1889. Major credit for the city's distinctive character was extended to Kirtland Kelsey Cutter for his "rare architectural force and genius for design." His remarkable career, stretching from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression, allows a fascinating study of the evolution of an eclectic form of architecture that was an inevitable response to rich regional and historical influences during a time of transition from frontier settlements to modern city. Cutter's influence was felt beyond Spokane--in Seattle, other areas of Washington, and in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. He was also responsible for buildings in the East and even for one in England. After financial problems ended his career in the Northwest, he began anew at age sixty-three in southern California, and worked there as an architect until his death in 1939 at age seventy-nine. Henry Matthews presents a comprehensive study of the whole body of Cutter's work, with ample photographs and illustrations. The book is based on exhaustive research in both the Northwest and California, revealing the influences on Cutter and his associates, the processes at work in the design and construction of the buildings, and the relations between the architect and the many people who commissioned his work. Particularly useful to Matthews's research was a collection of 290 sets of drawings, as well as office accounts, letters, and books from Cutter's library--materials acquired by the Eastern Washington State Historical Society. He also was able to interview former assistants and clients, who provided valuable insights on the architect and the way Cutter worked. In addition, many of the architect's residences, hotels, clubs, and commercial buildings are still standing. This book adds significantly to an understanding of Western urban and regional history. But Cutter's experimentation in many styles and the imaginative nature of his work make for a study that goes beyond regional limits and sheds light on national trends. Winner of the 1999 Washington State Book Award

Millions have visited the museums that bear her name, yet few know much about Madame Tussaud. A celebrated artist, she had both a ringside seat at and a cameo role in the French Revolution. A victim and survivor of one of the most tumultuous times in history, this intelligent, pragmatic businesswoman has also had an indelible impact on contemporary culture, planting the seed of our obsession with celebrity.

In "Madame Tussaud," Kate Berridge tells this fascinating woman's complete story for the first time, drawing upon a wealth of sources, including Tussaud's memoirs and historical archives. It is a grand-scale success story, revealing how with sheer graft and grit a woman born in 1761 to an eighteen-year-old cook overcame extraordinary reversals of fortune to build the first and most enduring worldwide brand identified simply by reference to its founder's name: Madame Tussaud's.

In the spring of 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for when he met Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. Their remarkable collaboration resulted in the now-legendary Gonzo Journalism, which would document the civil rights movement, the Nixon administration, Watergate, and the many bizarre and great events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. When Thompson committed suicide in 2005, it was the end of a unique friendship filled with both betrayal and understanding. A rollicking, no-holds-barred memoir, The Joke's Over is the definitive inside story of the Gonzo years.

Santiago Calatrava is not only one of the world's most prominent architects, but is also an engineer, sculptor, and painter. His reputation as an unparalleled architectural engineer was cemented with his numerous bridges for cities around the world. With recent projects such as the stadium for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the new railway station in Liege, Belgium, he has unarguably made his name in Europe and continues to look further ahead. His work is closely related to his own drawings of the human body, and to his sculptures of geometric forms, inspired by the dynamics of movement and tension. Winner of the 2005 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the only architect ever to have his work exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Calatrava is one of today's greatest and most innovative architects. This book provides an introduction to and overview of his work to date. Every book in "Taschen's Basic Architecture" series features: approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans; introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects; the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions; and an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings.

Everyone knows what modern architecture looks like, but few understand how this revolutionary new form of building emerged little more than a century ago or what its aesthetic, social, even spiritual aspirations were. Through illuminating studies of the leading men and women who forever changed our built environment, veteran architecture critic Martin Filler offers fresh insights into this unprecedented cultural transformation. From Louis Sullivan, father of the skyscraper, to Frank Gehry, magician of post-millennial museum, Filler emphasizes how their force of personality has had a decisive effect on everything from how we inhabit our homes to how we shape our cities.
Why was the sudden shift in architectural fashion that wrecked the career of the Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh not enough to destroy the indomitable spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright, who rose from adversity to become America's greatest architect? Why was Philip Johnson, "dean of American architecture" during the 1980s, so haunted by the superior talent of this less-fortunate contemporary Louis Kahn that he could barely utter his name even at the peak of his own success? How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's dictum "Less is more" give way to Robert Venturi's "Less is a bore"?
Surveying such current urban design sagas as the reconstruction of Ground Zero and the reunification of Berlin, Filler also trains his sharp eye on some of the biggest names in architecture today, puncturing more than one overinflated reputation while identifying the true masters who are now building for the ages.

As a firm founded on the first day of the first month of the new millennium, 24H is a practice dedicated to engaging the technology and sensibility of the contemporary era, along with a commitment to produce architecture that both enriches and invigorates the built environment and its users at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Still in its infancy, the firm has been commissioned for projects in the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Germany. Although many of its projects are at design stage only, it also has an impressive collection of built work under its belt. The projects in the book demonstrate how 24H Architecture employs creative solutions that incorporate decoration and an eye for detail, without straying from the authenticity of solutions produced by modern construction technology. Also available in the series: Powers Brown Architecture ISBN 10: 1864702508 ISBN 13: 9781864702507 %29.95 Manuelle Gautrand Architectes ISBN 10: 1920744878 ISBN 13: 9781920744878 %29.95 J

Only few architecture firms in Europe have addressed the villa as a building type as consistently and with such formal rigor as Stuttgart-based Alexander Brenner Architects. The firm is widely known for designs characterised by plastic-geometric facades often resembling constructivist tableaux. What all of Alexander Brenner’s designs have in common is a truly holistic approach to the task. A house’s interior, kitchen, cupboards and other built-in furniture, is attended to with the same care for detail as its exterior. Corresponding gardens with curved sensual forms surround, and contrast, Brenner’s bright white cubic architectural sculptures. This new monograph follows-up on two successful previous volumes published in 2011 and 2015, and features five buildings realised between 2015 and 2021, including the architect’s own home in Stuttgart, the Brenner Research House. They are all documented in rich detail through striking photography, standardised plans and visualisations, as well as concise texts. An essay by Alexander Brenner rounds out this volume that serves again as a source of inspiration for anyone with an interest in residential architecture. Text in English and German.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

In this groundbreaking volume, conventional assumptions about one of England's greatest and most influential classical architects are turned on their head. Traditionally, Inigo Jones has been looked upon as an isolated, even old-fashioned, figure in European architecture, still espousing the Palladian ideals of the 16th century when European contemporaries were turning to the Baroque. Yet an investigation of contemporary European architecture and of Jones's buildings belies this impression, demonstrating that Jones must be viewed in the context of a European-wide, early-17th-century classicist movement. Giles Worsley examines the full range of Jones's architecture, from humble stable to royal palace. Worsley shows that key motifs that have been seen as proof of Jones's Palladian loyalties-particularly the Serliana, the portico, and the centrally planned villa-have a much older and deeper meaning as symbols of sovereignty. The book transforms our understanding not only of Inigo Jones but also of the architecture of his time. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

ABS Bouwteam is a high-end contractor of exclusive residential projects: villas, country houses and mansions in timeless and contemporary style. This first monograph highlights the most important projects by the company, with an overview of 30 years of exceptional architecture and interior design.

Acclaimed photographer, filmmaker, composer, novelist, and memoirist, Gordon Parks has participated in, been witness to, and documented many of the major events in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries.
In "A Hungry Heart, " Parks reflects on the people and events that shaped him: from growing up poor on the Kansas prairie to crisscrossing the country on the North Coast Limited; documenting poverty and injustice in Chicago to doing fashion spreads for "Vogue;" photographing black revolutionaries to writing, composing the soundtrack for, and directing the Hollywood movie version of his novel "The Learning Tree." More than a self-portrait of the artist, "A Hungry Heart" is a striking account of an American era.

Marc Held entered history in 1965 with his famous Culbuto armchair, followed in 1966 by his furniture manufactured by Prisunic. Over a period of fifty years, he created some 150 furniture pieces, notably participating in 1983 in the interior design of the apartments in the Elysee Palace. Beginning in the 1970s, he also designed singular works of architecture, for individuals and for corporate clients such as IBM. At the end of the 1980s he chose to focus entirely on this passion of his when he settled on the Greek island of Skopelos. Interested in vernacular architecture, he dedicated a widely acknowledged book on Greece, Maisons de Skopelos, precis d'architecture vernaculaire published by Editions Skopelos.net, in 1994, to it. It was also on Skopelos where over a period of thirty years he built eight exceptional villas: Lemonia, Maistros, Nina, Loukas, The Temple, Mourtia, Myrto and Kapsari. Each house is an architectural manifesto in its own right. These eight villas, in spectacular sites beside the sea, built with local materials and in accordance with the construction techniques of the island - all the artisans were from there - with the magical landscapes in which they are integrated, are eight lessons on the notion of genius loci, which so inspired Marc Held's architecture. Photographed by Deidi von Schaewen - with spectacular shots taken via drone-mounted cameras - his eight beautiful villas are also presented with his drawings and plans developed during their conception phases. Text in English and French.

Anecdotal, funny, frank, "POPism" is Warhol's personal view of the Pop phenomenon in New York in the 1960s and a look back at the relationships that made up the scene at the Factory, including his rela-tionship with Edie Sedgewick, focus of the upcoming film "Factory Girl." In the detached, back-fence gossip style he was famous for, Warhol tells all--the ultimate inside story of a decade of cultural revolution.