John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was one of the greatest portrait artists of his time. While he is best known for his powerful paintings, he largely ceased painting portraits in 1907 and turned instead to charcoal drawings to satisfy portrait commissions. These drawn portraits represent a substantial, yet often overlooked, part of his practice, and they demonstrate the same sense of immediacy, psychological sensitivity, and mastery of chiaroscuro that animate Sargent's sitters on canvas. This volume presents over sixty superb portrait drawings, showcasing sitters famous for their roles in politics, society, and the arts. It also explores the friendships and the networks of patronage that underpinned Sargent's practice as a portrait draftsman in Edwardian Britain and Progressive Era America.

Apart from a handful of art historians no one has ever heard of the Brussels painter Hendrick De Clerck (1560-1630). Nevertheless, De Clerck was a contemporary of Peter Paul Rubens, the latter having gone down in history as an artistic trailblazer and painting powerhouse, while Hendrick De Clerck has quietly faded into oblivion. Yet the subtly coded, vibrantly coloured pictures that De Clerck painted for Archduke Albert of Austria and his wife Isabella are political propaganda of the highest order. In creating a mode of archducal representation that could help to gain an empire, the sky is quite literally the limit. De Clerck represents Isabella as wise Minerva, chaste Diana, the Virgin Mary. And that's nothing compared to her husband, for in De Clerck's paintings Albert is transformed into the sun god Apollo or even into Jesus Christ himself. Hendrick De Clerck's mastery of ingenious pictorial strategy made him a leading player in one of the most ambitious projects history has ever seen. For those who know how to read them, his paintings tell a story of power, political promises, and grandiose ambition. Most of all, they are supreme examples of image-building; for as the Archdukes were well aware, even as a monarch you're only as important as you make yourself.

This beautifully illustrated volume showcases over 70 exquisite pieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art's internationally important collection of British portrait miniatures which range in date from the 17th to the 19th century. It features the work of leading miniaturists, including Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac Oliver, Samuel Cooper, as well as an extensive collection of miniatures by Richard Cosway, much of it shown here for the first time. Author Cory Korkow includes new research about the artists, sitters and owners of these precious miniatures. Each is accompanied by a detailed catalogue entry including notes on both the work and biographical information on the artist, as well as a dramatic full-page colour plate. Supplementary illustrations show the front and back of the miniatures to scale, which, along with numerous conservation photographs, index of artists allows this stunning collection to be studied in detail for the first time. The volume also includes an index of artists.

Unattainable North Korean Art curates a collection of paintings from fifty-eight artists from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ("DPRK"). Centring on the theme of nature, the paintings portray geographical sites and citizens of DPRK. Art and literature feature as a poignant role in inspiring the DPRK people to contribute to the development of DPRK, the collection not only exhibits the artistic skills of the artists, but offers an opportunity to discover DPRK from the people's perspective.

Is there more to portraiture than eyes meeting eyes? Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture presents sixteen essays by leading scholars who explore the subtle means by which artists--and subjects--convey a sense of identity and reveal historical context. Examining a wide range of topics, from early caricature and political vandalism of portraits to contemporary selfies and performance art, these studies challenge our traditional assumptions about portraiture. By probing the diversity and complexity of portrayal, Beyond the Face fills a gap in current scholarship and offers a resource for teaching art history, subjectivity, and the construction of identity.

Ashley Longshore delivers exactly what her fans are clamoring for: a look at Ashley s big life, her audacious aphorisms, and of course her sumptuous, glittering art in sublime detail. Ashley Longshore s pop-art paintings are always daring; her art makes noise. On any given day, you may catch her in her New Orleans gallery painting with Blake Lively, talking art and fashion with Dapper Dan in New York, or on a remote island in Hawaii painting. A prolific artist, she has been compared to Andy Warhol for her passion with pop-culture figures; but it s her infectious personality and humorous real talk that has captured the hearts of and inspired her devoted fans. Ashley s story also peeks at her major blingy collaborations with brands such as Rolex; luxury cosmetics brand Cle de Peau; Veuve Clicquot; Chloe; Mark Cross; and Judith Leiber, to name only a few. Ashley Longshore: I Do Not Cook, I Do Not Clean, I Do Not Fly Commercial tells the stories of the self-proclaimed urban hippie in glorious color and detail and features her works, collaborations, and her singular and authentic personality.

The world is becoming a busy noisy place and it is good to find a pastime that creates a different space, another dimension. Our paintings mean a lot to us because they remind us of lovely places we have visited and enable us to remember them in detail. It takes time to study the colours and contours of a scene. It may be that the drawing is an inadequate representation of the three dimensional scene spread out before us, how can it be anything else, but the process of trying to represent it on the two dimensions of the blank page is intellectually rewarding. The emerging picture is not just about the scene before you but also about your response to it at the time.