The first monograph on Richard Smith, a key figure in the development of British art. Richard Smith (1931-2016) was one of the most original painters of his generation, and one of the most underrated. As Barbara Rose said of Smith's major Tate Gallery retrospective in 1975, he was 'at once in and out of touch with the currents of the mainstream ... au courant and aloof at the same time.' That he latterly slipped under the radar to some extent is partly explained by his detachment from the mainstream as well as by his frequent switching of studios between England and the USA, although this helped charge his creative batteries. He is the only artist of his stature who has not been represented by a monograph, which the dazzling presentation of images in Richard Smith: Artworks now fulfils. It has been produced with the generous collaboration of the Richard Smith Foundation. Richard Smith: Artworks traces Smith's entire career, from the breakthrough lyrical abstraction of the early Pop-inflected paintings, through the radical shaped canvases and three-dimensional works that he produced in the 1960s, to the 'Kite' works beginning in 1972 and, eventually, his return to the flat canvas. As a Senior Curator at Tate, Dr Chris Stephens knew Smith well, and he contributes a wide-ranging introduction to Smith's art and life. Prof David Alan Mellor investigates and explains the Anglo-American cultural contexts that drove Smith's art, while Alex Massouras's two themed essays, 'Young and British' and 'From Motion Pictures to Flight', explore Smith's originality from fresh perspectives. The book is completed with an Afterword by its editor, Martin Harrison.

David Hockney is one of the greatest draughtsmen of all time, and his drawings of the 1960s and 1970s are among his finest works. This selection of 41 drawings, both well-known and unfamiliar, demonstrates how his love of life is expressed through his extraordinary ability to closely observe and translate into art the world around him. Friends, places and inanimate objects are all depicted with insight and energy.

The first book to concentrate on the early ceramic work of 'Transvestite Potter', bestselling author, broadcaster and social commentator Grayson Perry. Grayson Perry is now a household name as a result of his widely viewed television documentaries, numerous publications - including his critically acclaimed book about masculinity, The Descent of Man - and dazzling appearances dressed as his alter ego, Claire. However, Perry first came to public attention in 2003 when he won the Turner Prize, the first ceramicist to do so, and rapidly established a unique brand as 'the transvestite potter'. Ceramics are still central to Perry's work as an artist, and this book examines the plates, pots and statues from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s that laid the foundations of his career. It traces his artistic development, examining the iconography and meaning behind the work, as well as placing his art in the context not only of his own psychological make-up in the period before he underwent therapy but also of the various subcultures of the London art scene. With essays by Grayson Perry, Andrew Wilson and Catrin Jones.

A new and revised edition of the 2002 popular title, The Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden, this exquisitely produced book showcases the garden in St Ives throughout the seasons, with new photography and updated information on the plants from the Head Gardener, Jodi Dickinson. Barbara Hepworth's studio at Trewyn in St Ives is a unique combination of sub-tropical garden and sculpture museum. A haven of peace, it provided Hepworth with a working environment, a showcase for her sculpture, and the opportunity to pursue her love of gardening. The Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden is a beautiful record of the plants and sculptures at Trewyn through the seasons, exploring the relationship between Hepworth's sculpture and the natural forms that surround them. With specially commissioned photographs and full descriptions of both plants and sculptures, this is a comprehensive record of Barbra Hepworth's years in St Ives, and a beautiful souvenir of the garden. Texts from art historian and previous curator at Tate, Chris Stephens, along with Miranda Philips contextualises the work of Hepworth and the decisions made to create one of the most famous artists gardens in the world.

Ben Nicholson: Distant Planes provides a succinct and insightful introduction to a little-known period of the artist's career: his years in Switzerland. Nicholson is one of the great British modernists of the twentieth century and this publication includes contributions from the leading specialists in the field, with original essays by Dr Lee Beard, director of the Ben Nicholson catalogue raisonne project, Peter Khoroche, author of Ben Nicholson: Drawings and Painted Reliefs (2002), and Chris Stephens, Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath. In 1958, at the height of his creative powers and buoyed by recent accolades at the Venice Biennale and elsewhere, Nicholson left behind the coastal wilds of Cornwall for the serene beauty of Lake Maggiore. With a seemingly inexhaustible index of formal ideas, in Switzerland he returned with renewed vigour to the carved relief. Piano Nobile's publication is richly illustrated and includes several major reliefs which are presented alongside landscape drawings, both of which explore a poetic sense of place that was crucial to Nicholson's work during the period. It also includes previously unpublished material relating to Nicholson and his Swiss period.

A full career retrospective of one of the greatest and most popular living artists, lavishly illustrated with works from across the artist's six-decade career David Hockney has been delighting and challenging audiences for almost sixty years. Working in an extraordinarily wide range of media with equal measures of wit and intelligence, his art has examined, probed and questioned how the perceived world of movement, space and time can be captured in two dimensions. This lavishly illustrated publication reasserts Hockney as a serious thinker and a highly innovative artist constantly challenging the conventions of artistic expression, without losing the characteristic verve, humour and colour of the work. Showcasing over 200 works (including painting, drawings, photographs, watercolours, iPad drawings, and his most recent multi-screen works) from across the six decades of his remarkable career, the book will delight existing fans of the artist, while giving new audiences the fullest possible introduction to his life and work.

Henry Moore has influenced the history of twentieth - century sculpture more decisively than anyone else. He was one of the first contemporary sculptors to realise his ideas in the public space throughout the world. His oeuvre was a lasting source of inspiration for an entire generation of artists - from Hans Arp, Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso to the younger generation of German sculptors. Henry Moore (1898 - 1 986), known as the "Picasso of Sculpture", is regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century and the epitome of the modern artist. Typical of his work is the interrelationship between nature and abstraction. He discovered the "voi ds", so - called openings and holes which heighten the sculptural, three - dimensional effect of his works. With this new approach Moore exercised a strong influence on younger sculptors, who gained decisive impulses from his sculptures. This volume presents M oore as the dominant personality of modern sculpture in collaboration with the members of the younger generation of artists.

The definitive account of the modern art made in St Ives between the 1930s and the 1960s, telling the story of this extraordinary artistic community and its legacy. For twenty-five years the small town of St Ives was one of the leading places in the world for the production of avant-garde art. The community there spanned three generations and included such international figures as Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, as well as a number of the foremost artists in post-war Britain, including Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Terry Frost and Roger Hilton. They found themselves contributing to the international search for art in the post-war world and they established a modernist practice that continues to influence today. The story of St Ives and artists who lived and worked there has captured the imagination of art lovers since it began. This book is the product of decades of research by leading authority Chris Stephens, and will illuminate the period for dedicated fans and new readers alike.

Leading authorities explore the transition from the High Victorian period to the counterculture of the 1960s and the Young British Artists of the 1990s. The book brings to the fore Britain's complex role as a focus for the dissemination of modernist ideas, as well as the reaction against them, and details the political, social, and commercial relationships underpinning the role of art and artists in the history of modern Britain.