The Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum are unrivalled examples of classical Greek art that have inspired sculptors, artists, poets and writers since their creation in the fifth century BC. This book serves as a superb visual introduction to these magnificent sculptures. The book showcases a series of specially taken photographs of the different sculptural elements: the pediments, metopes and Ionic frieze. It captures the vitality of the sculptures in a group, an individual sculpture or an exquisite eye-catching detail, such as the mane of a horse, a human foot, the swish of drapery or a youthful head bowed in thought.

Few monuments have fascinated people as much as the Parthenon. Two and a half millennia after its construction, this monument continues to generate important research across a wide range of fields, from classics and art history to archaeology and the physical sciences. This book, which grows out of a conference held at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, presents the latest developments in Parthenon research by an international cast of scholars and scientists. It offers new interpretations of some of the most crucial issues, ranging from the authorship of the frieze to the reconstruction of its missing sculpture, as well as the sociopolitical context in which the monument was created and the application of new technologies in Parthenon studies. Showcasing the most up to date research on the Parthenon, this book not only presents the current state of Parthenon studies but also marks the future direction of scholarship.

Late nineteenth-century Britain experienced an explosion of interest in sculpture. Sculptors of the New Sculpture movement engaged in a wide range of experimentation, seeking a new direction and a modern idiom for their art. This book analyzes for the first time the art-theoretical concerns of the late-Victorian sculptors, focusing on their attitudes toward the representation of the human body. Sculpture through close study of works by key figures in the movement: Frederic Leighton, Alfred Gilbert, Hamo Thorneycroft, Edward Onslow Ford, and James Havard Thomas. These artists sought to activate and animate the conventional format of the ideal statue so that it would convincingly and compellingly stand in for both a living body and an ideal image. Complicating the conventions that had characterised much previous sculpture in Britain, they fervently pursued a commitment to the mimetic rendering of the body in three dimensions. In response to the problems and perils of such a commitment, late-Victorian sculptors worked to develop strategies that allowed them to accommodate naturalism and symbolism as well as the materiality of sculpture. Getsy offers an analysis of the conceptual complexity of the New Sculpture and places its concerns within the larger framework of the development of modern sculpture.

Mary Slusser's work on the history of the art and culture of Nepal is marked by a series of discoveries and critical reassessments that have advanced our comprehension of this extraordinarily rich culture and art in a revolutionary way. In The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving, Dr. Slusser drastically revises our perception of the marvelous wooden sculpture of the Kathmandu Valley. Previously considered to be no earlier than the thirteenth century, the earliest of these wooden masterpieces have now been clearly demonstrated to date from the sixth or seventh century, the time of the Licchavis, lords of Nepal from about 300 to 850. Slusser has used an important scientific tool, radiocarbon dating, to help realign -- and correct -- our overly conservative accepted perceptions of the antiquity of Nepalese wood sculpture. The book is bolstered by the meticulous and painstaking research and documentation that are among the hallmarks of Slusser's works. It is also enriched by her extraordinary photographic archive. Beautiful struts and architectural details that have long been missing from the sites where Slusser first saw them are shown once again in situ in this work, and new photographs, largely the work of Neil Greentree, reveal a wealth of previously unsuspected detail. Also included is an essay by Paul Jett that is both a brief explanation of the science of radiocarbon testing and a validation of the revised dating of Nepalese wood carving proposed in the study.

This catalogue celebrates the recently installed collection of twentieth-century sculpture donated to the J. Paul Getty Trust by the Fran and Ray Stark Trust in 2005. The book takes the reader on a visual tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum's new sculpture gardens and installations, which features twenty-eight works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Ferdinand Leger, Roy Lichtenstein, Rene Magritte, Aristide Maillol, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, and Isamu Noguchi. The book offers essays on the curatorial decisions involved in establishing harmonious groupings; a history of European and American sculpture within built outdoor environments and gardens; and catalogue entries that discuss individual pieces within their broader art-historical contexts.

What do Greek myths mean and how was meaning created for the ancient viewer? In Art, Myth and Ritual in Classical Greece, Judith Barringer considers the use of myth on monuments at several key sites - Olympia, Athens, Delphi, Bassai, and Trysa - showing that myth was neither randomly selected nor purely decorative. The mythic scenes on these monuments had meaning, the interpretation of which depends on context. Barringer explains how the same myth can possess different meanings and how, in a monumental context, the mythological image relates to the site and often to other monuments surrounding it, which redouble, resonate, or create variation on a theme. The architectural sculpture examined here is discussed in a series of five case studies, which are chronologically arranged and offer a range of physical settings, historical and social circumstances, and interpretive problems. Providing new interpretations of familiar monuments, this volume also offers a comprehensive way of seeing and understanding Greek art and culture as an integrated whole.

In this book, Rachel Kousser draws on contemporary reception theory to present a new approach to Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture. She analyzes the Romans' preference for retrospective, classicizing statuary based on Greek models as opposed to the innovative creations prized by modern scholars. Using a case study of a particular sculptural type, a forceful yet erotic image of Venus, Kousser argues that the Romans self-consciously employed such sculptures to represent their ties to the past in a rapidly evolving world. Kousser presents Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture as an example of a highly effective artistic tradition that was, by modern standards, extraordinarily conservative. At the same time, the Romans' flexible and opportunistic use of past forms also had important implications for the future: it constituted the origins of classicism in Western art.

Rini Tandon's work is characterized by a poetic cross-media approach: her oeuvre comprises works on paper, paintings, and sculptures, as well as photographs and videos. This monograph provides, for the first time, an overview of the oeuvre of the artist, who was born in India and lives in Austria, and who studied under Nasreen Mohamedi at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Baroda. The book takes the reader on a fascinating journey - from Rini Tandon's early work, which already showed an affinity for sculptural expression, through to her post-minimalist geometric sculptures and her interventions in architectural and landscape space. As a result of her engagement with digital modernism she finally produced experimental setups and videos with a scientific slant.

Examines the styles and contexts of portrait statues produced during one of the most dynamic eras of Western art, the early Hellenistic age. Often seen as the beginning of the Western tradition in portraiture, this historical period is here subjected to a rigorous interdisciplinary analysis. Using a variety of methodologies from a wide range of fields - anthropology, numismatics, epigraphy, archaeology, history, and literary criticism - an international team of experts investigates the problems of origins, patronage, setting, and meanings that have consistently marked this fascinating body of ancient material culture.

The conflict between National Socialism and Ernst Barlach, one of the important sculptors of the twentieth century, is an unusual episode in the history of Hitler's efforts to rid Germany of 'international modernism.' Barlach did not passively accept the destruction of his sculptures, but protested the injustice, and continued his work. Peter Paret's discussion of Barlach's art and struggle over creative freedom, is joined to an analysis of Barlach's opponents. Hitler's rejection of modernism, often dismissed as absurd ranting, is instead interpreted as a internally consistent and politically effective critique of liberal Western culture. That some radical national socialists nevertheless advocated a 'nordic modernism' and tried to win Barlach over, indicates the cultural cross-currents running through the early years of the Third Reich. Paret's closely focused study of an artist in a time of crisis seamlessly combines the history of modern Germany and the history of modern art. Peter Paret is Mellon Professor in the Humanities Emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Spruance Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, which awarded him the Thomas Jefferson Medal and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The German government has awarded him the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit. His other works include, German Encounters with Modernism, 1840-1945 (Cambridge, 2001), Imagined Battles: Reflections of War in European Art (Univ, of NC, 1997), The Berlin Secession: Modernism and its Enemies in Imperial Germany (Harvard, 1989), and Clausewitz and the State (Oxford, 1985).

Luigi Valadier, son of the French-born Andrea, obtained his silversmith license in 1760 and became one of the most celebrated artists in Europe, working for the noble families of Rome (Borghese, Odescalchi, Chigi, Orsini), cardinals and popes and a broad international clientele which included the Duke of Northumberland, Madame du Barry, the Bali of Malta, Jacques-Laure Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the King of Sweden, Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, the Count of the North, heir to the Russian throne, etc. His workshop situated near Piazza di Spagna employed dozens of craftsmen and produced not only silverware but also bronze statues, often copies of ancient sculptures, magnificent clocks, vases in precious marbles, lamps, huge candelabras, furniture, desers, reliquaries and liturgical vessels, and much more. In 1785 while completing commissions for the Borghese prince and working on the cast of the enormous bell of St Peter's, he committed suicide by drowning in the Tiber river, possibly due to the severe economic challenges from which his extraordinary workshop was suffering.

As we mark the 150th anniversary of Barlach's birth in 2020, the Ernst Barlach Haus in Hamburg pays tribute to the artist with a comprehensive overview of his wood sculptures. Starting with its own collection, the museum elaborately documented all available figures between Lübeck and Zurich with new photographs. This book is the result of this monumental project. It introduces 72 of the 84 extant wood sculptures and includes many fascinating large-format colour plates presenting the statues and their details. Wood held particular importance for Barlach as an artistic material: he regarded it as animate matter. Consequently, woodwork takes centre stage in Barlach's artistic practice - a fact that is often obscured by the large number of mostly posthumous bronze casts of his works. Around 1907, Barlach began to explore the centuries-old medieval art of woodcarving without any prior training. The poor, the homeless, the struggling, invalids, beggars and outlaws: Barlach turned his attention to those pushed to the margins of society and paid tribute to them by placing them at the centre of his art. This book does justice to the reductive character of his forms, which gestures at simplification and a transcendence of time, by highlighting Barlach's contemporary relevance. Text in English and German.

In the mid-eighteenth century, English gentlemen filled their houses with copies and casts of classical statuary while the following generation preferred authentic antique originals. By charting this changing preference within a broader study of material culture, Joan Coutu examines the evolving articulation of the English gentleman. Then and Now consists of four case studies of mid-century collections. Three were amassed by young aristocrats - the Marquis of Rockingham, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earl of Huntingdon - who, consistent with their social standing, were touted as natural political leaders. Their collections evoke the concept of gentlemanly virtue through example, offering archetypes to encourage men toward acts of public virtue. As the aristocrats matured in the politically fractious realm of the 1760s, such virtue could become politicized. A fourth study focuses on Thomas Hollis, who used his collection to proselytize his own unique political ideology. Framed by studies of collecting practices earlier and later in the century, Coutu also explores the fluid temporal relationship with the classical past as the century progressed, firmly situating the discussion within the contemporaneous emerging field of aesthetics. Broadening the focus beyond published texts to include aesthetic conversations among the artists and the aristocracy in Italy and England, Then and Now shows how an aesthetic canon emerged - embodied in the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus de' Medici, and the like - which shaped the Grand Manner of art.

The Parthenon frieze, one of Western civilization's major monuments, has been the subject of intense study for over two hundred years. Most scholarship has sought an overall interpretation of the monument's iconography and therefore neglects the visual language of the sculpture, an essential tool for a full understanding of the narrative. Dr Jenifer Neils's study provides an in-depth examination of the frieze which decodes its visual language, but also analyzes its conception and design, style and content, and impact on the visual arts over time. Unique in its wide-ranging approach, The Parthenon Frieze also brings ethical reasoning to bear on the issue of repatriation as part of the ongoing debate on the Elgin Marbles.

Video games have grown exponentially in recent years and have captured the hearts of millions thanks to the success of titles such as Minecraft, Journey, Limbo, Dead Cells, The Banner Saga or Firewatch. To compete with the blockbusters, the independents have had to be massively creative and come up with innovative gameplay, top-notch writing, original graphic universes, and sumptuous soundtracks. INDIE GAMES pays homage to some of the greatest success stories in the world of independent video games. Superbly illustrated, INDIE GAMES contains more than three hundred images from titles that revolutionized the gaming industry. Full of anecdotes and interviews with personalities like industry veteran Eric Chahi and young designers like Ian Dallas. You will see behind the scenes at Indie studios, revealing the creators, designs and marketing. This exploration will give you a better understanding on what is an “Indie” game. Official and authorized, with the participation of studios around the world, including over 50 interviews highlighting over 70 games, INDIE GAMES is the most complete and up-to-date overview of indie video gaming. With exclusive behind the scenes content provided by the studios, it serves as a fitting tribute to the audacity of these developers, who have elevated video games into an art.

Carlos Bunga's sculptural and painterly structures propose architecture as body and mindscape. Using only cardboard and paint, Bunga creates fantastical buildings, furniture-like sculptures and paintings as immersive environments. This book surveys his actions and performances, and documents over a decade of installations. Enacting cycles of construction and destruction, Bunga explores states of dispossession and nomadism; the nature of spatial experience; and the creative and symbolic potential of ruin. With essays by Iwona Blazwick, Carlos Bunga, Nuno Faria, Inês Grosso and Antony Hudek.

This remarkable dictionary provides information on the work of over 3,000 sculptors working in Britain between 1660 and 1851. It is a substantially expanded edition of Gunnis's "Dictionary of British Sculptors," the primary source for information on church monuments, portrait busts, carved fireplaces and more since publication in 1951. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Henry Moore Foundation