Detailed instructions, illustrations for carving animals, flowers, figures, more. Tips on tools, techniques, painting, finishing, exhibiting.

The hand painted Limoges porcelain from the Paris decorating studio Atelier Le Tallec*TM, dating from 1930 through 2002, are displayed in over 490 vivid color photographs. Limoges bells, boxes, candlesticks, and vases to dinnerware, apothecary jars, ginger jars, chocolate pots, and tea sets are shown in a variety of patterns, including chinoiseries, figurals, florals, foliage, fauna of land, sea, and air, insects, geometric forms, and abstracts. Engaging text provides a brief history of Atelier Le Tallec and its artists (including Atelier Le Tallec himself), examines the studio's marks, and organizes the patterns by their styles. A bibliography, index, and current market values are included. This book will charm everyone with an eye for beauty.

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO SCULPTING THE HUMAN FIGURE IN CLAY
In "Sculpting the Figure in Clay, "acclaimed portrait bust sculptor and author Peter Rubino teaches a master class in the essentials of figurative sculpture. In this intensive, all-inclusive guide, he introduces students to a natural, straightforward geometry that will help them become masters at forming figures in clay. Rubino's unique approach utilizes a geometric system consisting of blocks, simple shapes, and guidelines that instruct students in a new and instinctive sculptural style. With these easy-to-follow instructions and informative concepts, students will see figures as the basic shapes beneath the form as well as learn vital approaches such as BLT: Bend, Lean, and Turn, to create evocative expression, and the Three Ps: Position, Proportion, and Planes, for accurate representation. This unparalleled resource is the definitive guide to figurative sculpture.
TOPICS INCLUDE:
- The Fundamentals of the Clay Torso
- Observing the Model
- Essential Materials and Tools
- Sculpting the Female Torso from the Live Model
- Sculpting the Reclining Figure from the Live Model
- Sculpting the Hand, Foot, and Lower Arm
- Plus Many Photographic Reference Poses for continued Study

Information about mustache cups has been a well-kept Victorian secret, but this book brushes away the myths and the mystery. Here these Victorian oddities are displayed and explained, from dainty miniatures to hefty farmers' cups. Whether made from ceramics, pottery, silver, or other metals, mustache cups and their many surprising accessories are shown to be cross-collectibles for specialists of all types of tableware. A history of mustache cups is provided, and over 600 color photographs feature more than 640 cups, representing such famous manufacturers as Meissen, Dresden, Royal Crown Derby, Irish Belleek, Limoges, Nippon, and R.S. Prussia. Price guides are included.

This dramatic period in American history comes to life in the carvings of Tom Wolfe. Union and Confederate soldiers are featured with step-by-step illustrated instructions for carving. One figure is carved all the way through, and patterns are provided for others.

"TITTIPUSSIDAD" documents English artist Sarah Lucas' (born 1962) journey through Mexico. From a visit to a brick factory in Oaxaca to the creation of her bulbous and sexually suggestive sculptures, the odyssey culminates in a final exhibition at the Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli.

The perfect dining room decoration for folk art lovers, redware embodies an enduring charm. From its basic clay tones to hand-painted adornments, the tableware, vessels, vases, and miniatures shown will delight. Hundreds of pieces are illustrated in full color, with accurate values for this increasingly popular art form. Several types of glazes are shown, and the pieces are presented in chronological sequence, spanning the 18th and 19th centuries. Now in its fourth edition, this book is an enduring favorite among collectors and dealers.

Enjoy a wide-ranging array of rare, unusual, and highly prized Flow Blue ceramic wares in 500 color photographs in this new study. The focus is on products of English potteries, although beautiful examples from America and elsewhere are included. Among the photos are lovely teapots in many shapes and sizes, children's tea and dinner services, potpourri jars, pitchers, platters, and plates. Also presented is a survey of the body shapes which Flow Blue adorns. Values for each of the items are included, along with an index and a bibliography. The index cross references patterns found in all four volumes of the author's Flow Blue books.

Warwick China Company has produced some of the most unique and exciting collectible objects found on the market today. For years, collectors have searched for their favorite pieces, and can now delight in this new guide written just for them. Filled with interesting facts and over 300 beautiful color photos of vases, tankard sets, dinnerware and more, this book gives insight into the operations and achievements at Warwick, located in Wheeling, West Virginia. Humorous stories and experiences of former employees are retold by the author, making this an enjoyable and unique reference work. The complete price guide is easy to use and aids the reader and collector in accurately pricing his or her own special finds. Based on first-hand knowledge, this book is an excellent source of information and provides valuable insight into the history of the Warwick China Company.

This book showcases and puts into historical context a host of sculpted works created in the 1920s and 1930s in the decorative vernacular defined loosely today as `Art Deco'. Whether designed as free-standing statuary for the domestic market or commissioned for some form of architectural placement, as a frieze on a building's facade or as a public monument or pool fountain, the works shown demonstrate a sometimes bewilderingly broad range of styles and stylistic influences: from the chevrons, sunbursts, maidens, fountains, floral abstractions and ubiquitous biche (doe) of the Parisian geometric style to the crisp, angular patterns of the zig-zag, jazz-age, streamlined aesthetic of the 1930s. Alastair Duncan organizes his subject into three main categories: the first features work by avant-garde sculptors (Csaky, Janniot, Pompon, etc), often as pieces uniques or small editions; the second shows commercial sculpture, comprising mainly large-edition statuary, commissioned as decorative works for the burgeoning 1920s domestic market; while a final, third category covers architectural and monumental sculpture from West and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Brazil and beyond. With artists' biographies and details of manufacturers, a full glossary and a thematic index, this volume is the essential and authoritative guide for all those interested in the Art Deco style, from the amateur collector of animalier sculpture to professional historians of the period.

In this wonderful folk carving book, Shane Campbell takes you step-by-step through the process of carving two attractive wooden figures. The first is an articulated angel named Ruby and the second is a whirligig figure named Angelene. Project patterns and over 260 color photographs accompany the straightforward directions. Shane also provides instructions for both painting folk figures and for aging them using a method that is delightfully simple and effective. A color gallery rounds out the book and provides examples of additional folk figures sure to provide every reader with new ideas. This book has something to offer everyone from the beginner to the most advanced wood carver.

The first book-length examination of the clay models and creative process of the preeminent neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova The most celebrated sculptor of the neoclassical age, Antonio Canova (1757–1822) established himself as the preeminent artist of his time with his funerary monuments and meticulously carved marbles on classical themes. Although his idealized and sensual sculptures are widely known, this is the first book devoted entirely to the brilliantly expressive clay models that he made in preparation for his marble sculptures. Only sixty-five of his terracotta models survive today. Extraordinarily modern in their boldness, the models retain the touch of the artist’s hand and yield a revelatory glimpse into Canova’s imaginative and technical process. The authors, with expertise in art history and conservation, examine Canova’s techniques for making terracotta models, including how he used clay to develop full-scale models that his assistants copied in marble, and his practice of gifting his models to friends. Distributed for the National Gallery of Art, Washington Exhibition Schedule: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (June 11–October 9, 2023) Art Institute of Chicago (November 19, 2023–March 18, 2024)  

Scenic relief carving is the art of bringing life and depth to a carving that is essentially two dimensional. In the traditional carving of Germany this is an exquisite and beautiful technique, and now Georg Keilhofer, a master woodcarver, shares it with his readers and students. Step-by-step he takes the reader through the carving of a plaque depicting a deer running through the forest. The difficulties and challenges of relief carving and techniques for handling them are explained. Everything is illustrated with full color photographs. This is Georg's second book. His first, Basic Relief Carving, has met with critical and popular success. This new book will take the reader further into the art of traditional wood-carving.

This comprehensive international bibliography is the first to attempt documentation of this diverse field, covering the history of Artist's Performance. It focuses on its early twentieth-century antecedents in such movements as Futurism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, and the Bauhaus as well as its peak period in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with such developments as Gutai, Fluxus, Viennese Actionism, Situationism, and Guerrilla Art Action. Major emphasis is also given to sources on 115 individual performance artists and groups. More than 3700 entries document print and media materials dating from 1914 to 1992. Organized for maximum accessibility, the sources are also extensively cross-referenced and are indexed by artist, subject, title, and author. Three appendices identify reference works, libraries, and archives, and addenda material not found in the book text, and two others list artists by country and by group or collective.

The Erotic Object: Sexuality in Sculpture From Prehistory to the Present

The power and eroticism of sculpture, form, volume and space are sensitively explored in this wide-ranging study, which takes in the history of sculpture from prehistoric times to contemporary art.

Featuring discussions of many famous sculptors, including: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Antonio Canova, Auguste Rodin, Eric Gill, Andy Goldsworthy, Jasper Johns, Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso, Barbara Hepworth and Gianlorenzo Bernini.

Many contemporary artists are studied too, including installation and performance artists (Catherine Elwes, Karen Finley, Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneemann), and women sculptors such as Alice Aycock, Mary Miss, Rebecca Horn, Nancy Graves, Eva Hesse, Kathe Kollwitz and Judy Chicago.

Regardless of what sculpture depicts, it can be seen as erotic. The surfaces, materials and forms are sensuous: wood, stone, marble, granite, clay, bronze. Touching is pleasure. It is a pleasure that is, perhaps, pre-institutional, pre-industrial and pre-political.

Touching cuts through socialand cultural constructs, such asart, ideology, education and war, and goes back to aprimeval form of being. At same time, touching is a sense of the both personal and societal. John Keats said, 'touch hasa memory'. Sculpture activates this fundamental relation with things. Sculpture renews contact with the simple but utterly crucial experiences such as touch, sight, and smell.

Fully illustrated, with many rare and fascinating illustrations, including prints, paintings and buildings as well as sculptures and statues.

This book has been revised and updated. ISBN 9781861714092. 296 pages. www.crmoon.com

An" Economist" Book of the Year

Costa Book Award Winner for Biography

Galaxy National Book Award Winner (New Writer of the Year Award)

Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots--which are then sold, collected, and handed on--he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive.

And so begins this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the story of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire.

The exquisite Japanese hikaru dorodango, or shiny mud ball, is created by rolling earth by hand into a perfect sphere and polishing it until it gleams. Not only are the results truly impressive, but this calm and meditative practice, once a playground game, has been rediscovered as a peaceful pastime. Known for inducing flow, the ultimate state of happiness, this simple art is being adopted by people of all ages. Alongside beautiful photographs of the process, master dorodango maker Bruce Gardner covers every aspect of making and finishing your dorodango, accompanied by inspiring words on the mindful qualities of this earthy activity.

Few decorative crafts can claim to be more ancient than stone carving, with the earliest carved objects being dated well into prehistory. The greatest monuments to human civilization, from the temples of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the great cathedrals of Medieval Europe, are richly ornamented with decorative relief and sculpture carved in stone. Alan Micklethwaite, a stone carver with many years' experience in the conservation of historic monuments and sculpture, introduces the reader to the techniques and methodology of restoration stone carving, from simple relief to complex sculpture in the round, set against a sound conservation philosophy. The book provides a thorough understanding of stone as a material and describes its use in sculpture and the agents of its decay, as well as the method by which disfigured carvings can be forensically reconstructed, resulting in the re-emergence of beautifully carved historic architectural sculpture. The book is intended as a detailed introduction to restoration stone carving, and is aimed at those who are learning to carve stone or have an interest in pursuing a career in the conservation of stone sculpture and ancient monuments. While having a depth of detail which will allow it to serve as a reference manual for the professional, it will also inspire the beginner and fuel the interest of those who harbour a desire to pursue traditional crafts.

Scrap Wood Whittling is a must-have guide for any woodcarver looking to achieve something small, charming, and easy! Small wood carvings tend to intimidate, but author and master carver Steve Tomashek makes it approachable for anyone, even beginners. Opening with helpful insight on materials, tools, cuts, and safety, you'll then go on to complete your tiny animal carvings that slowly progress in difficulty. From a leaping pig and a standing sheep to an aquarium and cat diorama, each project contains clear, step-by-step instructions, coordinating photography, full-size patterns, tips on technique, painting, display ideas, and more!

Originally a film by British avant-garde filmmaker Nichola Bruce, The Romance of Bricks is a portrait of the artist Liz Finch: a British painter, performer and poet. From her life-changing accident and rural solitude to the mad social whirl of 80s London anarchic performances and up to the present day, The Romance of Bricks sews together archival film over many years to produce an intriguing glimpse into the private world of the artist. Featuring commentary from Jools Holland, Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie, John Finch, Brian Clarke, Aubrey Fabing, Richard Strange, Nicola Bateman Bowery, Francesco Brusatin and Martin Harrison alongside an intimate dialogue with the artist herself.

Enter the glamorous domain of world-famous jewellery house, Harry Winston, and discover the true rags-to-riches story of the immigrant family behind the phenomenon. Harry Winston’s famous slogan for his success was: “knowledge, courage, and the ability to finance.� King of Diamonds: The Flawless World of Harry Winston is the quintessential rags-to-riches success story of a very poor immigrant family emigrating from Ukraine to America. It is the story of how one man, Harry Winston, created a famous name with his company, founded in New York City in 1932. Winston became known for the owning and sales of very large diamonds. At one point, he owned a third of the world’s most famous gems, including the Hope Diamond, which earned him the moniker “King of Diamonds.� The book details how author Ronald Winston’s father got his start and began what would eventually become the most famous jewellery house in the world. Peek inside his first office, an upstairs Fifth Ave location, followed by subsequent locations in Rockefeller Centre, an office across from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and finally an image-building store on Fifth Avenue. Known as the “Jewelleer to the Stars,� Winston’s gems have appeared both on the Hollywood red carpet and in famous Hollywood films like Notorious starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Viola Davis, Helen Mirren, Gwyneth Paltrow, and many more have worn Winston pieces on Hollywood’s biggest nights. The story then follows Harry Winston’s successor and heir, Ronald Winston, and his making of the family name. Under Ronald, the company’s name would not remain just famous, but would become world-famous. Ronald built locations in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Japan, and China. Ronald’s saga continued with his entry into the revolution in Angola, buying diamonds from its charismatic leader, Jonas Savimbi. Ronald Winston risked his life in order to make profits that repaid the death taxes caused by his father’s passing. In all, King of Diamonds is a joyous evocation of two men who added an innumerable amount to the image, story, and marketing of luxury products, as well as to the joy of people who love and purchase these objects. After all, as frequent Winston jewellery-wearer Marilyn Monroe would say, “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.�

South African beadwork has a rich and diverse history and is abundantly represented in the beaded art pieces in the Wits Art Museum (WAM) collection. Some works date back to the 4th century CE but most date from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Currently numbering over 9 000 items, the three major collecting areas of classical, historical and contemporary African artworks are broad in their geographical range and deep in some local areas of specialisation. Paying homage to this collection, Beadwork, art and the body is a compilation of essays by scholars who have researched and written about the traditions, practices and aesthetic forms of beadwork in southern Africa. The book covers an expansive history of beadwork in South Africa from the 19th century to the contemporary moment. The artists and the beadwork featured range from Sotho-, Tsonga-, Xhosa- and Zulu-speakers, ending with a focus on fashion designer Laduma Ngxokolo, whose work has been inspired by Xhosa beadwork. Questions of ethnic affiliation and beadwork patterns are explored in relation to the different aesthetic forms of beadwork and its use as a marker of identity and status within and beyond communities.

German Meissen porcelain figures made during the Kaendler Period are considered the best era in the Meissen factory's history. They are organized here by their subjects, depicting Street Traders, Court Life, Military and Hunting scenes, Italian Comedy, Children, Mythology, Artisans, and various nationalities. Many figures are matched to the original engravings that inspired them. By recognizing the colors used when the originals were made, one can date the figures; manufacturer marks alone are not reliable. This book guides and delights today's designers and collectors by presenting the figures in exquisite detail.

Donna Hefty's folk carved nativity is so special it will delight the collector and be a real treasure to hand down from generation to generation. Adults and children alike will find it charming. Donna makes carving approachable and simple for all ages. Not only are there eleven highly defined patterns, but Donna will take you step-by-step through the process of both carving and painting. Each step is illustrated with a color photograph and an easy-to-follow description of the technique. A gallery shows the finished figures. The result is a wonderful project for carvers of all skill levels.

A balloon artist and photographer travel the world surprising people with improvised, inflatable crowns and offer a deep view into the nature of joy. The simple act of twisting a balloon for a complete stranger can make people instant friends. This idea animated balloon artist Addi Somekh and photographer Charlie Eckert to improvise balloon crowns for unsuspecting people throughout 35 countries and document their reactions. Part photography book, part sociological study, part spontaneous party, Inflatable Planet features over 200 photos from this international experiment in joy.