Through the 1880s the very essence of representation, meaning and process in Western art were profoundly interrogated. Plausible representations of the external world were cast aside in favour of non-naturalism expressed in varying degrees, from modest distortions of reality to pure abstraction. The decades that followed, up to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, were a complex, vibrant period of artistic questioning, searching, risk-taking and innovation. Concentrating on this period of great upheaval, this book will explore the constructive dialogue between painting and sculpture, and the influential roles played by three giants of the era, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, across European art as a whole. While acknowledging the centrality of Paris as a cultural capital, it will also uniquely highlight other centres of artistic ferment in Europe, from Brussels and Barcelona to Berlin and Vienna, and track the variety of routes into modernism in the early twentieth century. This fully illustrated catalogue will contain four essays, introductions to each city of ferment and biographies of the artists. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London 25 March–13 August 2023

This timely study of Winslow Homer highlights his imagery of the Atlantic world and reveals themes of racial, political, and natural conflict across his career Long celebrated as the quintessential New England regionalist, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) in fact brushed a much wider canvas, traveling throughout the Atlantic world and frequently engaging in his art with issues of race, imperialism, and the environment. This publication focuses, for the first time, on the watercolors and oil paintings Homer made during visits to Bermuda, Cuba, coastal Florida, and the Bahamas. Among these, The Gulf Stream (1899), often considered the most consequential painting of his career, reveals Homer's lifelong fascination with struggle and conflict. Recognizing the artist's keen ability to distill complex issues, Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents upends popular conceptions and convincingly argues that Homer's work resonates with the challenges of the present day. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (April 11-July 31, 2022) National Gallery, London (September 10, 2022-January 8, 2023)

An exploration of the fascinating parallels and differences between Picasso's Woman with a Book and Ingres's Madame Moitessier This publication examines, in detail, two extraordinary interrelated works: Picasso's Woman with a Book (1932) and Ingres's Madame Moitessier (1844-56). Each painting is explored in depth, illuminating the parallels and differences between the artists' techniques and creative ambitions. The first essay tells the story of the twelve-year gestation of Ingres's Madame Moitessier, focusing on the role of drawings in the elaboration of the composition, and of the sitter herself in determining how she was to be presented. The second essay traces the development of Picasso's Woman with a Book, among the most celebrated likenesses of the artist's young lover, Marie-Therese Walter. In contrast to Ingres's work, it was painted in just a day or two. The final essay explores, through these two works, the artists' shared interest in the relationship between nude and clothed bodies, revealing the depth of Picasso's engagement with Madame Moitessier, which motivates and animates Woman with a Book. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London June 3-October 9, 2022 Norton Simon Museum October 21, 2022-January 30, 2023

The first in-depth investigation of Gauguin's portraits, revealing how the artist expanded the possibilities of the genre in new and exciting ways Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) broke with accepted conventions and challenged audiences to expand their understanding of visual expression. Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in his portraits, a genre he remained engaged with throughout all phases of his career. Bringing together more than 60 of Gauguin's portraits in a wide variety of media that includes painting, works on paper, and sculpture, this handsomely illustrated volume is the first focused investigation of the multifaceted ways the artist approached the subject. Essays by a group of international experts consider how the artist's conception of portraiture evolved as he moved between Brittany and Polynesia. They also examine how Gauguin infused his work with symbolic meaning by taking on different roles like the Christ figure and the savage in his self-portraits and by placing his models in suggestive settings with alluring attributes. This welcome addition to the scholarship on one of the 19th century's most innovative and controversial artists reveals fascinating insights into the crucial role that portraiture played in Gauguin's overall artistic practice.

An accessible introduction to American painter Winslow Homer, examining his work through the lens of conflict A fresh exploration of the work of iconic American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910) through the lens of conflict, a recurring theme in his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates Homer's art -from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction to dazzling tropical works and monumental marines -and reveals his lifelong engagement with the charged subjects of race, nature, and the environment. This publication illuminates Homer's preoccupation with the complex social and political issues of his era-war, slavery, imperialism-as well as his broader concerns with the fragility of human life and dominance of nature. These powerful themes are present in his earliest Civil War and Reconstruction paintings, which explore the effect of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and the formerly enslaved. They continue through his later images of rural life, dramatic rescues, and hunting -paintings that grapple with the often uneasy relationship between humans and the natural world. Toward the end of his life, human figures were reduced to tiny, irrelevant presences, while the ocean acquired a pivotal role. This richly illustrated volume will be published to accompany a retrospective at the National Gallery, organized in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London September 10, 2022-January 8, 2023

The book is edited by Cornelia Homburg and Christopher Riopelle and is being published to coincide with the exhibition of the same title to be held at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (May 24 - September 8, 2019), and at the National Gallery in London (October 7, 2019 - January 26, 2020). The exhibition will display some sixty works by Gauguin - paintings, works on paper, and three-dimensional objects made of various materials - from public and private collections throughout the world. It is the aim of Gauguin. Portraits to fill this gap in the scholarly examination of one of the leading figures in Post-Impressionism. There is much to discover about the attributes he endowed his models with and the evocative settings he chose for them, highly charged as these props were with symbolic meanings. This book, which is intended as a standard text in this specific field, includes essays written by an array of experts in Gauguin's work, all established scholars and young researchers. University and museum specialists combine their talents to explore in-depth the many aspects of the artist's portraits, often in the light of the remarks he made about his models. The authors focus in particular on the importance and different meanings portraits had for Gauguin in his oeuvre. Text in French.