Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is something of an American success story, if only his success had come swifter. At the age of 40, he was a failing artist who struggled to sell a single painting. As he approached 80, Time magazine featured him on its cover. Today, Hopper is considered a giant of modern expression, with an uncanny, unforgettable, and utterly distinct sense for mood and place. Much of Hopper's work excavates modern city experience. In canvas after canvas, he depicts diners, cafes, shopfronts, street lights, gas stations, rail stations, and hotel rooms. Compartment Car sees a lone woman reading, lonely guest houses and barns, House by the Railroad, a circus clown dining, and the famous Night Windows with a stooping semi naked women in the lit interior of a room begging the question of what she has been up to. Naked A Woman in the Sun smokes and stares out of a window and the famous Nighthawks is given a huge double colour page spread. The scenes are marked by vivid colour juxtapositions and stark, theatrical lighting, as well as by harshly contoured figures, who appear at once part of, and alien to, their surroundings. The ambiance throughout his repertoire is of an eerie disquiet, alienation, loneliness and psychological tension, although his rural or coastal scenes can offer a counterpoint of tranquillity or optimism. This book presents major works from Hopper's oeuvre to introduce a key player in American art history and the American psyche. 21 x 26cm, 96 pages new from Taschen.

A beautiful woman in bra, jodhpurs and riding boots kneels on a luxurious bed wearing a saddle on her back; a naked Gianni Versace on a leopard skin chaise longue; Raquel Welch in a revealing white swimsuit with a black dog; Rene Russo dancing with a woman on a mountain top - Helmut Newton's unforgettable images, at once sophisticated and provocative, constitute a rich and ever-relevant artistic legacy. This book presents a compact but wide-ranging and impactful portfolio of his work, supported by an insightful introduction and a detailed biographical chronology and a unique perspective is effectively showcased, reflecting the complex undercurrents that give his images their distinct character across the breadth of his editorial work in the fields of fashion and portraiture. At once voyeur and satirist, his lens framed contentious yet pivotal aspects of high fashion and high society in the latter decades of the 20th century. He worked as a "gun for hire" while imposing his own perspectives and obsessions, defining most notably his idea of a powerful, self-assured woman. This figure became his most insistent theme, developed in erotically charged scenarios, most typically set in the seductive environment of opulent apartments or grand hotels, most notably in Paris, Monte Carlo, and Los Angeles. From the mid-60s, Newton's dynamic images established his reputation in leading magazines, among them Vogue Paris, Elle, Marie Claire, Nova, Queen, and British Vogue. From the mid-70s his notoriety was extended through his first books and exhibitions. His images immortalise such luminaries of society, film, and fashion as Princess Caroline of Monaco, Charlotte Rampling, Paloma Picasso and Karl Lagerfeld. 14 x 19.5cm, 192 pages. New from Taschen.

The New York City Children's Book Council has been dedicated to promoting reading and the enjoyment of books for young people since 1945. Celebrating a century of children's book illustration in one glorious volume you will discover how Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) created an iconic poster with the title Hooray for Books! In a fantastic gallery with poster headlines like Free to Read, Fuel Your Mind, Get Carried Away...Read!, Oh, the Places You'll Go, Any Time is Book Time, Share the Adventure, Reach for a Book, Change Your Mind, Any Time Any Place Any Book, Books Alive!, Book Magic, Read All About It, Live! Read!, Books Wow!, This is the Age of the Book, Go Places with Books, Book Power (1969), Take Off with Books, Sing Out for Books and more. There are butterflies and animals and cats and many a magical moment captured in this stunning artwork right from Jessie Willcox Smith's inaugural 1919 poster of a girl reaching for a book to 100 years later in 2018 with a Canadian artist's poster. Index of Illustrators and Index of Slogans which are brilliant! A beautiful collection showcasing the conceptual and iconic images that have defined children's books for generations of young readers. All in colour, 128 large pages, 26.2 x 26.52cm. Colour.
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A rare exhibition catalogue produced by the Morgan Library and Museum New York in 2016, generously illustrated with drawings, etchings, photographs, letters, colour photographs, sepia images, exquisite colour artworks and paintings such as the Arch of Constantine seen from the Colosseum, an albumen print of the Theatre of Marcellus, a panorama of Rome from the Piazza Montecavallo, the Girandola at Castel Sant'Angelo in a spectacular etching with colour washes of a firework display. Described by Byron as the City of the Soul, Rome has always inspired fervid imaginings and visionary renderings of itself and its past, and projected a romantic idea onto artists and writers. Its passion, imagination, individuality, transcendence and nonconformity has led to a thriving artistic community, particularly in the century between 1770 and 1870 when visitors experienced the Grand Tour to the onset of mass tourism. Here is every kind of encounter from letters and diary entries, poems, novels, prints, drawings, sketching, watercolours, oil sketches and the exciting new medium of photography, collectively constituting the portrait of a very special and particular place that has touched the very soul. Villas, gardens, fountains to speaking ruins, this is a beautiful visual celebration and text by a Princeton University lecturer. 224 large pages, 21.6 x 28cm. Very well illustrated, includes colour.
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Recognised as one of the foremost painters of Indian miniatures, B. G. Sharma has mastered the traditional styles of Kangra, Kishangarh and Mughal painting. From the kingdom of Ayodhya to the isle of Lanka, we are transported to a land that has inspired morality and spiritual tradition for thousands of years. Rama, the king of Ayodya, comes to life through Sharma's never-before-seen compositions of this classic epic mythological tale. Beginning with his charming youthful adventures to the battle with the demon Ravana, Sharma captures the spirit and sentiment of all Rama's friends and companions, from his intimate devotee Hanuman to his loving Queen, Sita. Chapters include Messenger from Vishnu, King Dasharath with His Four Sons, The Wedding of Sita and Rama, Kaikeyi Demands the Exile of Rama, Guha, Tribal Chief Greets the Exiles, and we meet sages, go into forest life inside the cottage at Panchavati, enter the Monkey Kingdom, Sita's Ordeal by Fire and the Final Episode. 144 very large pages, 30.48cm squared, very glossy paper and high quality stunningly beautiful colour throughout, abridged text for art lovers, younger readers and a fine introduction for general readers.
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Styled for the Road was an exhibition held at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University which holds an impressive range of posters, prints, books, toys, models, paintings and ephemera about ocean liners to automobiles from the late 19th through to the mid-20th century. The aim was to provide a catalogue inviting viewers to consider the significant role of designers, illustrators and architects in the development of the newly emerging car culture and growing industry. A network of new showrooms displayed automobiles and served the needs of clients and salesmen and fuelled the imagination of prospective buyers with sleek poster designs for the Lincoln Zephyr gleaming, the Buick of 1939, to the light delivery car. Gorgeous full page colour illustrations show in-house styling studios at work for General Motors, the Sheller steering wheel, motor shows, the Ford tow truck, Goodyear tyres, the Dodge four-door Sedan 1948 to the REO Master Speed Wagon and a futuristic view of intercity transportation 1940 by John Ricketts, all in the finest sleek design. Streamlined cars, the convertible Victoria, the Duesenberg convertible, here are the glamour cars of the 30s and Chryslers built with quality, all making dreams come true. With biographies. Gorgeous colour plates, large spiralbound softback 102pp, 20 x 26 cm. Colour.

A winning combination of expertly curated and favourite National Geographic photographs, here are the most popular images of animals, landscapes, adventure and people with wanderlust. If you believe in the power of photography to change the world and love visual narrative which educates and illuminates, in these pages you will experience the cumulative voice from the company's iconic Instagram account with over one billion likes on its 7,000+ images posted. An Arctic fox checks out the camera with his irresistible face, a stylish couple rides in a motorboat in Chile in 1941 from an archive image posted on the site, endangered European bison in Poland lock horns, a boy and his pet baboon take a walk in Ethiopia, a prototype shark-deterring surfboard gets a test run in South Africa in an underwater shot of a real shark checking it out, a carer in panda costume in China, campfire embers in bright orange on the elk migration trail in Yellowstone National Park, a kitten's first Christmas, the thermal springs in Budapest with couples bathing on a rooftop, a Dogon funeral dance in Mali with the masked dancers on stilts, young hikers climbing and young Gentoo penguins descending into icy waters are shown on opposite pages, and a 1936 streamlined Mercury train pulls out of Cleveland, Ohio engulfing a skyscraper in its smoke. Small remainder mark. Fabulous quality colour book to browse into time and again, compact square 17.3cm, 336pp.
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A global bestseller, we are excited to have the updated edition which expands the scope of the book further into the 21st century. It is the most accessible, chronological introduction to art history from 28,000BC to the present and including 600 of the world's greatest works of art across all media - painting, sculpture, textiles, metalwork and ceramics and ranging from seminal masterworks to lesser-known pieces. Only here will you find Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon next to a face mask from Gabon, or Lucian Freud's Standing by the Rags alongside an Aboriginal Memorial from Australia. For each there is the country of origin like Mexico with a piece by Diego Rivera entitled Man Controller of the Universe together with dimensions and current location and year opposite Pierre Bonnard's Nude in the Bath from France 1937, Henry Moore's Recumbent Figure UK 1938 opposite Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion from Russia 1938, an Altar Head from Nigeria circa 1750 opposite Daruma in Red by Ekaku from Japan of the same date, the Middle Edo period, Rubens' The Horrors of War in Northern Baroque Style circa 1637, Belgium, opposite The Matsushima Screens from the same year in the early Edo period Japan. Super heavyweight Phaidon publication, 'truly the story of human creativity across time and space', and with informative text written by 35 of the world's leading museum curators, academics and archaeologists. With illustrated timeline, full index and extensive glossary of schools and movements. 656 pages, 22.7cm squared and 1,000 beautiful colour plates on quality glossy white paper. A terrific bargain price.

A Royal Academy of Arts publication on the Renaissance Woodcuts from the Collections of Georg Baselitz and The Albertina, Vienna. The chiaroscuro woodcut developed in Germany in the early 16th century. By printing from one or more colour blocks in addition to the customary line block, artists found they could create a dramatic interplay of light and shade - chiaroscuro, the word that came to define the genre. They used its painterly qualities to create both independent works of art and reproductions of drawings and paintings by others. This handsome publication reproduces more than 130 woodcuts from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, the Golden Age, in this fascinating history of the technique. It includes masterpieces by such well-known artists as Cranach, Beccafumi and Golzius, Ugo da Carpi, alongside other specialists and chapters cover Cremona and Bologna and developments in Italy. Today chiaroscuro woodcuts have once again become prestigious collectors' items and this tome is a rare opportunity to enjoy the creativity and technical brilliance of the artist and printmakers involved in this revolutionary printing technique. The story begins with the printer Erhard Ratdolt of Augsburg who played a key role in colour printing and who from 1476-1486 was active in Venice where he produced an edition of Euclid with a preface printed in gold. In his 1485 edition he used as many as three colours for the astronomical diagrams. 230 large glamorous pages with 120 masterpieces reproduced. 24.1 x 28cm, 2014 rare exhibition publication.

Curator of 20th century portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Paul Moorhouse introduces the key achievements of Cindy Sherman's career. Born in 1954, she is one of the most celebrated female artists of her generation. Manipulating herself as a model, she uses make-up, prosthetics and props to build up a tableaux and charades and play with imagery to conjure many diverse personae. These alter egos are set in dramatic contexts alluding to the visual conventions of film, TV and the media. Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein promoted a Pop Art movement in the USA and created new, figurative art that investigated the social revolution brought about by mass media and the values of popular culture. Cindy Sherman along with other contemporaries extended Pop's engagement with the Look of the contemporary world and responded to a society saturated by media-generated images. They explore the impact of cinema and many of these photographs can be seen with a Hitchcock film influence, television with the impact of Mary Tyler Moore and others, advertising, magazines, newspapers, catalogues and other publications which shaped how people think about themselves and their surroundings. Described as 'post modern', Sherman's approach shuns painting, drawing and sculpture and instead uses photography. It refers to more commonplace ways of representing urban existence as she interrogates modern life from media to pornography, often imbuing them with unexpected often enigmatic significance. Today her pioneering body of work has extended the language and potential of photography in unprecedented ways. The book ends with society photographs and clowns and along the way there are many images of Sherman herself in costume, of broken dolls in pornographic poses, contorted figures, disaster photographs taken between 1986 and 1990, pastiches of the Madonna and Child or Renaissance masterpieces with exposed breasts or lactating, a broken body with bottom in the air, distressed looking women, women carrying out everyday tasks, in silver gelatine prints and colour images. Often disturbing, inventive and creative, this is a fine Phaidon Press publication with complete list of works. Colour.
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