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Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Painting & paintings
Grab your practice book, paint brushes, and discover the beautiful
art of watercolor - no experience required! The ultimate beginner's
guide, Watercolor Success in Four Steps will teach you how to
perfectly paint 150 objects, from fruits and flowers to animals,
household items, and more! Understand the basics of watercolor with
tried-and-true techniques and create beautiful watercolor paintings
in just four simple steps. Each project offers a sample selection
of colors to get you started, followed by approachable,
step-by-step painting instructions to complete each design. Once
you've accomplished each project, you'll be equipped with all the
skills and techniques you need to design and create your own
watercolor works of art!
Bouleau's classic illustrated work examines the essential
reliance of European painting tradition on the golden mean and
other geometrical patterns. From antiquity to the present, expert
painters-including abstract modern masters such as Paul Klee and
Jackson Pollock-have conveyed harmony through the mathematics of
spatial division, ultimately giving geometry a crucial role as the
foundation upon which these classics were built. For over half a
century, "The Painter's Secret Geometry" has been a seminal work
for students of art history and composition. Now this popular, rich
analysis is back in print for today's artists and historians.
"St George and the Dragon" is a supremely beautiful painting. It is
an exquisitely rendered vision of a universal tale of good and
evil. And it is also an example of how art witnesses and
participates in the ebb and flow of world power. For its artist,
"Raphael" the painting represented a crucial step in his ascent to
the peak of the Renaissance art world and for a succession of
jealous owners it was the ultimate symbol of power and prestige.
Painted for a young Henry VII the painting then played a crucial
part in the diplomatic intrigues in Henry VIII's rumbustious court.
After Charles I's execution it moved through France into the
gathering power and purchases of Catherine the Great and her
Hermitage. It is a small work of art and during the Russian
Revolution its vulnerability was perilous - it was shunted around
Russia as war raged until, in an utterly dodgy transaction it was
sold by Stalin to the US Treasury Secretary. Into the grips of a
new world power. Within this perfectly rendered painting stories of
greed and warfare can be traced, in its history the changing
centres of world dominance can be seen and in the way its beauty
has been traded the intricate connections between high culture and
money and power can be disentangled. This small work of art is a
repository of the very story of Western civilisation and Joanna
Pitman is an author of considerable acclaim and great skill. This
is a fantastic piece of literature - history at its most
fascinating - storytelling at its finest.
In his joint capacities of Premier peintre du roi, director of the
Gobelins manufactory and rector of the Academie royale de peinture
et de sculpture, Le Brun exercised a previously unprecedented
influence on the production of the visual arts - so much so that
some scholars have repeatedly described him as 'dictator' of the
arts in France. The Sovereign Artist explores how Le Brun operated
in his diverse fields of activities, linking and juxtaposing his
portraiture, history painting and pictorial theory with his designs
for architecture, tapestries, carpets and furniture. It argues that
Le Brun sought to create a repeatable and easily recognizable
visual language associated with Louis XIV, in order to translate
the king's political claims for absolute power into a visual form.
How he did this is discussed through a series of individual case
studies ranging from Le Brun's lost equestrian portrait of Louis
XIV, and his involvement in the Querelle du coloris at the
Academie, to his scheme for 93 Savonnerie carpets for the Grande
Galerie at the Louvre, his Histoire du roy tapestry series, his
decoration of the now destroyed Escalier des Ambassadeurs at
Versailles and the dramatic destruction of the Sun King's silver
furniture. One key theme is the relation between the unity of the
visual arts, to which Le Brun aspired, and the strong hierarchical
distinctions he made between the liberal arts and the mechanical
crafts: while his lectures at the Academie advocated a visual and
conceptual unity in painting and architecture, they were also a
means by which he attempted to secure the newly gained status of
painting as a liberal art, and therefore to distinguish it from the
mechanical crafts which he oversaw the production of at the
Gobelins. His artistic and architectural aspirations were
comparable to those of his Roman contemporary Gianlorenzo Bernini,
summoned to Paris in 1665 to design the Louvre's East facade and to
create a portrait bust of Louis XIV. Bernini's failure to convince
the king and Colbert of his architectural scheme offered new
opportunities for Le Brun and his French contemporaries to prove
themselves capable of solving the architectural problems of the
Louvre and to transform it into a palace appropriate "to the
grandeur and the magnificence of the prince who [was] to inhabit
it" (Jean-Baptiste Colbert to Nicolas Poussin in 1664). The
comparison between Le Brun and Bernini not only illustrates how
France sought artistic supremacy over Italy during the second half
of the 17th century, but further helps to demonstrate how Le Brun
himself wanted to be perceived: beyond acting as a translator of
the king's artistic ambition, the artist appears to have sought his
own sovereign authority over the visual arts.
Sold in packs of 6. Gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards,
blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with
our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Our
greeting cards are printed on FSC paper and wrapped in
biodegradeable cellobag, and are themed with our art calendars,
foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. This example features
Hokusai's The Great Wave. The most notable period in Hokusai's
artistic life was the latter part of his career, beginning in 1830
when he was 70 years old. He began the series of landscapes he is
most famous for: 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji', which included
The Great Wave, off Kanagawa, probably his most iconic image.
A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine
high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift,
and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers,
travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of
well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published
throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted
covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped,
complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The
covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many
hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces
that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table.
PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical
features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two
ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list;
robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to
collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps
everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Angela Harding is a fine art
painter and illustrator based in Rutland, UK. She specialises in
lino prints and her work is inspired by British birds and the
countryside. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing
in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be
beautiful."
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Lives of Tintoretto
(Paperback)
Giorgio Vasari, Pietro Aretino, Carlo Ridolfi, Andrea Calmo, Veronica Franco, …
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R295
Discovery Miles 2 950
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The most exhilarating painter of the Renaissance and arguably of
the whole of western art, Tintoretto was known as Il Furioso
because of the attack and energy of his style. His vaunting
ambition is recorded in the inscription he placed in his studio: l
disegno di Michelangelo ed il colorito di Tiziano ("Michelangelo's
drawing and Titian's colour"). The Florentines Vasari and Borghini,
and the Venetians Ridolfi and Boschini wrote the earliest
biographies of the artist. The four accounts are related to each
other and form the backbone of the critical success of Tintoretto.
Borghini is the first one to give some information about Marietta
Tintoretto, also an artist, and Ridolfi is the richest in anecdotes
about the artist's life and personality - including the one about
the inscription which he may, however, have invented. Boschini, a
witty Venetian nationalist, wrote his account in dialect verse. El
Greco, whose marginal notes to Vasari are included for the first
time in English, Calmo and Franco knew Tintoretto personally and
their writings give a real flavour of this complicated man.
Unavailable in any form for many years, these biographies have been
newly edited for this edition. They are introduced by the scholar
Carlo Corsato, who places each in its artistic and literary
context. Approximately 50 pages of colour illustrations cover the
full range of Tintoretto's astonishing output.
Vincent van Gogh is best known for two things - his sunflowers and
his ear-cutting. But there are many other ways of knowing this
remarkable son of a Dutch pastor, who left his chill homeland for
the sunshine of Arles in the South of France; and left us over a
thousand frank letters of struggle and joy, to help us glimpse his
inner world. Vincent came late to painting after spending time in
London trying to be a Christian missionary. And though he is now
amongst the most famous artists on earth, in his day, no one saw
him coming - apart from one French art critic called Aurier. It is
possible he never sold one of his paintings in his life time. When
he discovered the sun in Arles, he also discovered energy. Yellow
for him was the colour of hope, and in his last two years he
painted almost a canvass a day. But hope ran out on July 27th ,
1890 when he shot himself, aged 37. He was at this time six months
out of a mental institution, where perhaps he experienced his
greatest calm. Vincent compared himself to a stunted plant; damaged
by the emotional frost of his childhood. 'Conversations with Van
Gogh' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But
while the conversation is imagined, Van Gogh's words are not; they
are all authentically his. "Speaking with Vincent - which he
insists on being called - was a privilege,' says Simon Parke. 'He's
endlessly fascinating, contradictory, moving, funny, insightful and
tragic. There's a fury in him; but also a great kindness. He found
harmony in human relationships elusive; his love life was a painful
shambles. But with colour, he was a harmonic genius, and he has
much to say about this. And here's the thing: for a man who killed
himself - he died in the arms of his brother on July 29th -
spending time with him was never anything but life-affirming.'
Christopher Neve's classic book is a journey into the imagination
through the English landscape. How is it that artists, by thinking
in paint, have come to regard the landscape as representing states
of mind? 'Painting', says Neve, 'is a process of finding out, and
landscape can be its thesis.' What he is writing is not precisely
art history: it is about pictures, about landscape and about
thought. Over the years, he was able to have discussions with many
of the thirty or so artists he focuses on, the inspiration for the
book having come from his talks with Ben Nicholson; and he has
immersed himself in their work, their countryside, their ideas.
Because he is a painter himself, and an expert on 20th-century art,
Neve is well equipped for such a journey. Few writers have conveyed
more vividly the mixture of motives, emotions, unconscious forces
and contradictions which culminate in the creative act of painting.
Each of the thirteen chapters has a theme and explores its
significance for one or more of the artists. The problem of time,
for instance, is considered in relation to Paul Nash, God in
relation to David Jones, music to Ivon Hitchens, hysteria to Edward
Burra, abstraction to Ben Nicholson, 'the spirit in the mass' to
David Bomberg. There are also chapters about painters' ideas on
specific types of country: about Eric Ravilious and the chalk
landscape, Joan Eardley and the sea, and Cedric Morris and the
garden.
Keep the page in your book with this gorgeous pack of 10 foiled
bookmarks, printed on both sides, with a silky ribbon and featuring
artwork by Harry Clarke. Harry Clarke was an Irish representative
of the Arts & Crafts movement. Sea Fever is his illustration
for a poem of the same title by John Masefield in The Years at the
Spring, an anthology compiled by Lettice D'Oyly Walters. Clarke's
fantastic illustrations have encouraged comparisons to the work of
Aubrey Beardsley and Kay Nielsen.
Diana Armfield RA Hon RWS NEAC has a highly personal attachment to
subject and a subtly distinctive affinity with the rhythms of form
and tone. These qualities make her an important, influential figure
in modern British art - and a very popular one. Flower paintings
have brought her wide acclaim, but this book - created to mark her
100th birthday - also richly represents Diana's feeling for
landscape and place. Including an inspiring number of more recent
works, it brings her fascinating artistic and life story up to
date. 'I think I was born making things', Diana comments to Andrew
Lambirth, whose absorbing interview with her forms the narrative
thread of Diana Armfi eld: A Lyrical Eye. Diana's was a creative
childhood steeped in experiments with drawing, pottery and
embroidery, played out against the backdrop of a picture-fi lled
house, a lovely garden and an artistic family. She studied at
Bournemouth, Slade and Central art schools, starting out as a
talented textile designer - a legacy that lent her a unique
approach to the geometry, cadences and colour qualities of a
painting. After organising cultural activities for workers and
troops in World War II, Diana became one half of a successful
partnership designing textiles and wallpaper, whose work featured
in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The 1960s brought a turn to
painting and from 1966 Diana has been a regular exhibitor at the
prestigious Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She has continued to
paint and draw throughout her life and, as this book clearly
demonstrates, always thinks afresh about each subject she tackles
in order to respond to it with a close, warm sincerity. Diana Armfi
eld: A Lyrical Eye charts Diana's personal and artistic journey
with over 200 beautiful reproductions of her work, tracing
favourite subjects and events - from a Welsh landscape to an
informal fl ower display or the much-loved location of a painting
trip in Italy or France. Andrew Lambirth's interview also explores
the unique bond with her husband, painter Bernard Dunstan, who died
in 2017, looking at how two leading artists interwove their
personal and creative lives over a marriage of almost 70 years. As
well as this interview, Andrew has contributed an essay on Diana's
work to the book. Diana's standing and popularity have led to
regular exhibitions, especially at prominent London gallery
Browse& Darby. Her work is held in private and public
collections worldwide, from London's V&Ato the Yale Center for
British Art.
This first-ever biography of American painter Grace Hartigan traces
her rise from virtually self-taught painter to art-world fame, her
plunge into obscurity after leaving New York to marry a scientist
in Baltimore, and her constant efforts to reinvent her style and
subject matter. Along the way, there were multiple affairs, four
troubled marriages, a long battle with alcoholism, and a chilly
relationship with her only child. Attempting to channel her vague
ambitions after an early marriage, Grace struggled to master the
basics of drawing in night-school classes. She moved to New York in
her early twenties and befriended Willem de Kooning, Jackson
Pollock, and other artists who were pioneering Abstract
Expressionism. Although praised for the coloristic brio of her
abstract paintings, she began working figuratively, a move that was
much criticized but ultimately vindicated when the Museum of Modern
Art purchased her painting The Persian Jacket in 1953. By the
mid-fifties, she freely combined abstract and representational
elements. Grace-who signed her paintings "Hartigan"- was a
full-fledged member of the "men's club" that was the 1950s art
scene. Featured in Time, Newsweek, Life, and Look, she was the only
woman in MoMA's groundbreaking 12 Americans exhibition in 1956, and
the youngest artist-and again, only woman-in The New American
Painting, which toured Europe in 1958-1959. Two years later she
moved to Baltimore, where she became legendary for her signature
tough-love counsel to her art school students. Grace continued to
paint throughout her life, seeking-for better or worse-something
truer and fiercer than beauty.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was the leading painter and graphic
artist of the 'Golden Age of Dutch Art'. He excelled in imbuing his
art with the 'deepest and most lifelike emotion', with rich detail
and stunning lighting. This richly enjoyable book gives the reader
an illuminating overview of the life, work and influences of the
artist, before going on to showcase the most stunning and varied
examples of his oeuvre, broken down into themes - Portraits,
Landscape & Narrative, Self-portraits, and Etchings &
Drawings. Discover his versatility in the range of works selected,
from the electric The Storm on the Sea of Galilee to the treasured
The Night Watch, with its triumph in chiaroscuro and energy. A
visual feast, it will underline the artist's status as a true
master.
A Kenyan upbringing is the ticket to this voyage into a remarkably
real created world entered via carved, integrating frames. Twice
TVs pick of the show at the Royal Academies and with crowds and fan
mail at a third RA Summer Exhibition, James remains a virtual
unknown in his own country. A production rate averaging just one
painting a year may account for this, but in an Art World where
price is all, his output is sufficient to net him a viable living
selling internationally. Also introducing the remarkable paintings
of his artist son Alexander James. Together their art is akin to a
vigorous breath of fresh air in a stuffy room.
Jonathan Richardson (1667-1745) was one of 18th-century England's
most significant cultural figures. A leading portrait painter and
influential art theorist, he also amassed one of the period's
greatest collections of drawings. But there was another, highly
unusual dimension to his pursuits. In 1728, at the age of 61 and
shortly before his retirement from professional life, Richardson
began to create a remarkable series of self-portrait drawings. Not
intended for public display, these works were unguarded
explorations of his own character. In one of the most astonishing
projects of self-examination ever undertaken by an artist, for over
a decade Richardson repeatedly drew his own face. His self-portrait
drawings are usually dated precisely, and they document, from month
to month, his changing state of mind as much as his appearance.
Many were drawn in chalks on large sheets of blue paper, from his
reflection in the mirror. Some of these are bold and
psychologically penetrating, while others, in which he regards his
ageing features with gentle but unflinching scrutiny, are deeply
touching. A further group of self-portraits is drawn with graphite
on small sheets of fine vellum, and in these Richardson often
presents himself in inventive and humorous ways, such as in
profile, all'antica, as though on the face of a coin or medal; or
crowned with bays, like a celebrated poet. Sometimes, too, he
copies his image from oil paintings made decades earlier, in order
to recall his appearance as a younger man. In this extraordinary
series of self-portraits, Richardson offers a candid insight into
his mind and personality. Together, these drawings create nothing
less than a unique and compelling visual autobiography. This
publication - which accompanies the first ever exhibition devoted
to Richardson's self-portrait drawings, held in the new Gilbert and
Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery at the Courtauld - tells the story
of these remarkable works Jonathan Richardson (1667-1745) was one
of 18th-century England's most significant cultural figures. A
leading portrait painter and influential art theorist, he also
amassed one of the period's greatest collections of drawings. But
there was another, highly unusual dimension to his pursuits. In
1728, at the age of 61 and shortly before his retirement from
professional life, Richardson began to create a remarkable series
of self-portrait drawings. Not intended for public display, these
works were unguarded explorations of his own character. In one of
the most astonishing projects of self-examination ever undertaken
by an artist, for over a decade Richardson repeatedly drew his own
face. His self-portrait drawings are usually dated precisely, and
they document, from month to month, his changing state of mind as
much as his appearance. Many were drawn in chalks on large sheets
of blue paper, from his reflection in the mirror. Some of these are
bold and psychologically penetrating, while others, in which he
regards his ageing features with gentle but unflinching scrutiny,
are deeply touching. A further group of self-portraits is drawn
with graphite on small sheets of fine vellum, and in these
Richardson often presents himself in inventive and humorous ways,
such as in profile, all'antica, as though on the face of a coin or
medal; or crowned with bays, like a celebrated poet. Sometimes,
too, he copies his image from oil paintings made decades earlier,
in order to recall his appearance as a younger man. In this
extraordinary series of self-portraits, Richardson offers a candid
insight into his mind and personality. Together, these drawings
create nothing less than a unique and compelling visual
autobiography. This publication - which accompanies the first ever
exhibition devoted to Richardson's self-portrait drawings, held in
the new Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery at the Courtauld
- tells the story of these remarkable works and puts them into the
context of his other activities at this period of his life - in
particular the self-searching poems he wrote during the same years
and often on the same days as he made the drawings. An introductory
essay is followed by focused discussions of each work in the
exhibition. This part of the book explores the materials and
techniques Richardson used, whether working in chalks on a large
scale or creating exquisitely refined drawings on vellum. It will
also reveal how Richardson modeled some of his portraits on old
master prints and drawings, including works in his own collection
by Rembrandt and Bernini. The publication brings together the
Courtauld Gallery's fine collection of Richardson's drawings with
key works in the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and
the Fitzwilliam Museum.
When and why did large-scale exhibitions of Old Master paintings
begin, and how have they evolved through the centuries? In this
book an eminent art historian examines the intriguing history and
significance of these international art exhibitions. Francis
Haskell begins by discussing the first 'Old Master' exhibitions in
Rome and Florence in the seventeenth century and then moves to
eighteenth-century France and the efforts to organize exhibitions
of contemporary art that would be an alternative to the official
ones held by the Salon. He next describes the role of the British
Institution in London and the series of remarkable loan exhibitions
of Old Master paintings there. He traces the emergence of such
nationalist exhibitions as the Rembrandt exhibition held in
Amsterdam in 1898 - the first modern 'blockbuster' show.
Demonstrating how the international loan exhibition was a vehicle
of foreign and cultural policy after the First World War, he gives
a fascinating account of several of these, notably the Italian art
exhibition held at Burlington House in London in 1930. He describes
the initial reluctance of major museums to send pictures on
potentially damaging journeys and explains how this feeling gave
way to cautious enthusiasm. Finally, in a polemical chapter, he
explores the types of publication associated with exhibitions and
the criticism and scholarship that have centred upon them. Francis
Haskell, who died in January 2000, was one of the most original and
influential art historians of the twentieth century. His books
included 'Patrons and Painters: A Study in the Relations between
Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque' (revised
edition, 1980), 'Past and Present in Art and Taste' (1987),
'History and Its Images: Art and the Interpretation of the Past'
(1993) and, with Nicholas Penny, 'Taste and the Antique' (1982),
all published by Yale University Press. He retired as Professor of
the History of Art at Oxford University in 1995.
A common lament among artists is that there are no books available
that give specific, practical information about the procedures used
by those creative geniuses collectively known as the Old Masters.
The reason for this dearth is that such a work's author would have
to possess extraordinarily wide-ranging expert knowledge and
skills. Thomas Gullick's credentials indicate a great capability in
taking up this challenge. He was a professional artist and scholar
living in the mid-19th century, and so was in an exemplary position
to discuss the intricacies of traditional techniques, and to
compare modern systems to the styles and methods of previous eras.
The book's exceptionally insightful combination of art history,
aesthetic theory and erudite analysis made it highly regarded at
the time, and it was given as a prize for outstanding achievement
at the Royal College of Art in London. In this important new
edition, with a newly compiled comprehensive index, Gullick
authoritatively covers the aims and objectives the artist should
have when interpreting reality, with stress laid on accuracy of
detail, depth and transparency. Apropos of these principles, he
skilfully discusses the surprisingly complex theories of art that
existed in ancient times, including that of the Egyptians,
Assyrians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Also, the spiritual
features of Christian Medieval art are explored, as are the
distinctive traits of the national schools of Italy, Germany, the
Low Countries, and England. Of particular value to the working
artist are the detailed sections dealing with technical issues of
pre-modern forms of painting, many of which are poorly understood
today, but that could, if used, greatly facilitate and expand the
range of visual expression. The reader will learn about various
physical processes such as encaustic, mosaic, tempera, fresco, oil
and miniature painting. There is also a wealth of knowledge
pertaining to implements, vehicles, varnishes, grounds, colours,
subjectiles (i.e. supports), chemical formulations, the arrangement
of the work-room and studio, and much more. Despite the
sophisticated nature of the material, the author does not neglect
the human dimension, for he cites pertinent facts, as well as witty
anecdotes, from the life stories of many well-known and not so
well-known artists.
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