A book of heroic dimensions, this is the first full-length biography of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century--a man as fascinating, difficult, and compelling as the paintings he produced. Drawing on exclusive access to Mark Rothko's personal papers and over one hundred interviews with artists, patrons, and dealers, James Breslin tells the story of a life in art--the personal costs and professional triumphs, the convergence of genius and ego, the clash of culture and commerce. Breslin offers us not only an enticing look at Rothko as a person, but delivers a lush, in-depth portrait of the New York art scene of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s--the world of Abstract Expressionism, of Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, and Klein, which would influence artists for generations to come.
"In Breslin, Rothko has the ideal biographer--thorough but never tedious, a good storyteller with an ear for the spoken word, fond but not fawning, and possessed of a most rare ability to comment on non-representational art without sounding preposterous."--Robert Kiely, "Boston Book Review"
"Breslin impressively recreates Mark Rothko's troubled nature, his tormented life, and his disturbing canvases. . . . The artist's paintings become almost tangible within Breslin's pages, and Rothko himself emerges as an alarming physical force."--Robert Warde, "Hungry Mind Review"
"This remains beyond question the finest biography so far devoted to an artist of the New York School."-Arthur C. Danto, "Boston Sunday Globe"
"Clearly written, full of intelligent insights, and thorough."--Hayden Herrera, "Art in America"
"Breslin spent seven years working on this book, and he has definitely done his homework."-Nancy M. Barnes, "Boston Phoenix"
"He's made the tragedy of his subject's life the more poignant."--Eric Gibson, "The New Criterion"
"Mr. Breslin's book is, in my opinion, the best life of an American painter that has yet been written . . . a biographical classic. It is painstakingly researched, fluently written and unfailingly intelligent in tracing the tragic course of its subject's tormented character."--Hilton Kramer, "New York Times Book Review," front page review
James E. B. Breslin (1936-1996) was professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of "From Modern to Contemporary: American Poetry, 1945-1965" and "William Carlos Williams: An American Artist."

N.C. Wyeth's illustrations to Treasure Island and Kidnapped - first published in 1911 and 1913, respectively, by Charles Scribner's Sons - made his artistic reputation. With a bold mastery of light and colour, Wyeth brilliantly conveyed action, character, and setting, lending an extra excitement to Robert Louis Stevenson's tales of pirates and buried treasure, and intrigue in the Scottish Highlands. Now readers can enjoy this classic author-illustrator pairing in a handsome two-volume slipcased set, typeset anew and printed and bound to a high standard. This collectible set also includes a new introduction by Christine B. Podmaniczky, a leading expert on N.C. Wyeth. She reveals Wyeth's daring approach to these illustrations - which he painted at a large scale, directly on the canvas - and explores their later influence on visual culture, including stage and screen adaptations of Stevenson's novels. Also available: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn boxed set, ISBN 9780789213679

Published to accompany Piano Nobile's exhibition of the same title, Cyril Mann: The Solid Shadow Paintings, is the first book to describe this vivid and art historically significant group of still-life paintings. As well as including a fully-illustrated catalogue of the exhibition, the book describes how Mann's solid shadow style emerged in the early nineteen-fifties. Though Mann spent the rest of his career painting natural light, the solid shadow paintings were made under the glow of an electric lightbulb. After moving into a lightless flat at Old Street, Mann's pictures began to course with unnatural, electric colour. For the first time, he noticed the line that joins together an object with the shadow it casts. He depicted this line in his paintings as if it were itself a solid object, laid on the table before him beside apples and Pelican paperbacks. Undertaken between 1951 and 1957, Mann's solid shadow paintings were a dazzling interjection in the subdued art world of fifties Britain. This was his most original period and it stands as his lasting contribution to the history of twentieth-century painting. These works have never been displayed together before and the accompanying exhibition to this catalogue will provide an insight into the artist's radiant formal language.

Part of an exciting series of sturdy, square-box 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles from Flame Tree, featuring powerful and popular works of art. This new jigsaw will satisfy your need for a challenge, with Marianne North's Amatungula in Flower and Fruit and Blue Ipomoea, South Africa.. This 1000 piece jigsaw is intended for adults and children over 13 years. Not suitable for children under 3 years due to small parts. Finished Jigsaw size 735 x 510mm/29 x 20 ins. Includes an A4 poster for reference. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous centre for botanical and mycological knowledge. Kew has a gallery dedicated to the paintings of the remarkable Victorian artist Marianne North, who had a great eye for botanical detail. She set out in 1871 on a painterly progress through world flora. North's journey to South Africa was among her last, along with trips to the Seychelles and Chile.

Each year between 1819 and 1825, John Constable (1776-1837) submitted a monumental canvas to the Royal Academy of Arts in London for display in the annual Exhibition. These so-called six-footers vividly captured the life of the River Stour in Suffolk, where Constable grew up and where he returned to paint each year. The Leaping Horse, the last of these, now a major work in the Academy's collection, is the subject of this fascinating new book. Humphreys explores Constable's often avant-garde working methods, as well as his struggle to gain full acceptance within the art establishment of the early nineteenth century. With reproductions of his full-scale preliminary sketches as well as brand new photography of the painting itself, this book is the ideal companion for art lovers who seek a deeper appreciation of Constable's iconic depictions of the English countryside.

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 biodegradable cellobag, and are themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Robert John Thornton's New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus (1799-1807) was comprised of three parts: a dissertation on the reproductive cycle of plants, an explanation of Linnaeus' plant system, and 'The Temple of Flora'. This third and final part was the most ambitious and has become instantly recognizable in its sumptuous illustrations, such as Tulips, which is an engraving by Richard Earlom after a painting by Philip Reinagle.

Detailed step-by-step lessons make it easy to create beautiful watercolor portraits! Japanese Style Watercolor Portraits takes you through each step of the watercolor portrait process, from sketching your subject to layering in the colors and rendering the fine details. Author Hiroko Shibasaki provides expert guidance on the best materials to use along with many insightful tips that every artist should know. The portraits presented in the 12 comprehensive painting tutorials express a distinctively Japanese aesthetic. The subjects in the foreground are rendered in exquisite detail, while the backgrounds are only subtly suggested. This technique places the emphasis on the masterful portraits, leaving it to the viewer's imagination to fill in the peripheral details. The lessons in this book cover all the key topics, including: Working with a model Completing the sketch Preparing and mixing paints Blocking in skin tones Rendering details such as facial features, hairstyles and clothing Blending and shading the colors And much more!

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. Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age painter. The flowers in this arrangement, which include lilies, tulips, roses, and carnations, are painted with almost scientific precision. Bosschaert's choice of a smooth copper support enhances the extraordinary detail of his brushwork. The bouquet itself, however, is a fiction: these flowers do not bloom at the same time, and would have been far too precious to cut for temporary display. 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."

The art world is only beginning to realize the profound influence the Paris art community of the early 20th century had on what we now identify as "Modernism." Regional groups of figurative painters, from California to Russia and Australia to Scandinavia, absorbed many influences and crossed paths with leading artists who worked in Paris. This important new book highlights the work of 204 newly discovered regional Modernist painters, especially some from Belgium, with carefully researched biographical information about each one. Over 350 color photographs display their dynamic works. These paintings helped t spread Parisian ifluence throughout the world, and often are showcased in galleries today. This pioneer work documents many of the artists for the first time. It is a companion volume to the authors' previous book, Modern Figurative Paintings, The Paris Connection (Schiffer, 2004) which covers a different group of artists and paintings.

This book discusses an important theme in art history - artistic emulation that emphasizes the exchange between Flemish and Dutch art in the seventeenth century. Since the Middle Ages, copying has been perceived as an important step in artistic training. Originality, on the other hand, has been considered an indispensable hallmark of great works of art since the Renaissance. Therefore, in the seventeenth century, ambitious painters frequently drew inspiration from other artists' works, attempting to surpass them in various aspects of aesthetic appeal. Drawing on this perspective, this book considers the problems of imitation, emulation, and artistic rivalry in seventeenth-century Netherlandish art. It primarily focuses on Rubens and Rembrandt, but also discusses other masters like van Dyck and Hals. It particularly results in expanding the extant body of knowledge in relation to Rubens's influence on Rembrandt and Hals. Moreover, it reveals certain new aspects of Rubens and Rembrandt as work-shop masters - collaboration with specialists, use of oil sketches, and teaching methods to pupils for example.

Winslow Homer was the antithesis of the unkempt bohemian artist of the nineteenth century. Yet he is ranked as one of America's greatest painters. The reason is not hard to discover, for Winslow Homer's powerful epic statements spoke for America with a breadth that few other artists have achieved. This is a lively, intimate, and immensely readable portrait of the artist that throws a new light on Homer's life and puts it in fresh perspective, concentrating on Homer's years at Prout's Neck on Maine's rugged coast, where he would create his finest paintings, from 1883 until his death in 1920.

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'We have lost touch with nature, rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not outside it. This will in time be over and then what? What have we learned?... The only real things in life are food and love, in that order, just like [for] our little dog Ruby... and the source of art is love. I love life.' DAVID HOCKNEY Praise for Spring Cannot be Cancelled: 'This book is not so much a celebration of spring as a springboard for ideas about art, space, time and light. It is scholarly, thoughtful and provoking' The Times 'Lavishly illustrated... Gayford is a thoughtfully attentive critic with a capacious frame of reference' Guardian 'Hockney and Gayford's exchanges are infused with their deep knowledge of the history of art ... This is a charming book, and ideal for lockdown because it teaches you to look harder at the things around you' Lynn Barber,The Spectator 'Designed to underscore [Hockney's] original message of hope, and to further explore how art can gladden and invigorate ... meanders amiably from Rembrandt, to the pleasure principle, andouillette sausages and, naturally, to spring' Daily Telegraph On turning eighty, David Hockney sought out rustic tranquillity for the first time: a place to watch the sunset and the change of the seasons; a place to keep the madness of the world at bay. So when Covid-19 and lockdown struck, it made little difference to life at La Grande Cour, the centuries-old Normandy farmhouse where Hockney set up a studio a year before, in time to paint the arrival of spring. In fact, he relished the enforced isolation as an opportunity for even greater devotion to his art. Spring Cannot be Cancelled is an uplifting manifesto that affirms art's capacity to divert and inspire. It is based on a wealth of new conversations and correspondence between Hockney and the art critic Martin Gayford, his long-time friend and collaborator. Their exchanges are illustrated by a selection of Hockney's new, unpublished Normandy iPad drawings and paintings alongside works by van Gogh, Monet, Bruegel, and others. We see how Hockney is propelled ever forward by his infectious enthusiasms and sense of wonder. A lifelong contrarian, he has been in the public eye for sixty years, yet remains entirely unconcerned by the view of critics or even history. He is utterly absorbed by his four acres of northern France and by the themes that have fascinated him for decades: light, colour, space, perception, water, trees. He has much to teach us, not only about how to see... but about how to live. With 142 illustrations in colour

Erotic encounters have been celebrated by artists from the beginning of time. This irresistible volume presents 120 of the most engagingly erotic paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings from diverse eras and cultures, coupled with revealing commentaries about their sexual and aesthetic content. Organised unlike any other collection of erotic images, The Art of Arousal traces the course of a sensual relationship. It begins by examining the elements of eroticism, and then progresses from flirtation and seduction through kisses and other foreplay before ultimately arriving at consummation and blissful exhaustion. The irrepressible Dr. Ruth explores every element of sexuality in these provocative works of art, including the pleasures of looking, creative fantasising, and the effects on male and female pleasure of the various positions depicted. All the works in this book have been chosen to meet two essential criteria: everyone portrayed must be having a good time, and each image must satisfy the high aesthetic standards of Dr. Ruth and an art historian friend, who writes with witty scholarship about the artistic and biographical aspects of these remarkable images. Now available in a revised edition that includes stimulating new works by contemporary creators, The Art of Arousal is the perfect gift for your lover who loves art.