On January 26, 1957, Richard Hamilton wrote a now-famous letter outlining his definition of what “Pop Art Is.” This volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Hamilton’s prophetic document, presenting the works of more than forty artists from his own generation of Pop artists (among them Hamilton himself, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol) and from artists of subsequent generations who have contributed to the development and dissemination of Pop Art (Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Mike Kelley, Damien Hirst, and others). A text by Greil Marcus, a photographic essay by Louise Lawler, and an interview with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown by Dan Graham are included in the book, which illuminates the powerful, international impact of Pop Art throughout the second half of the 20th century. Pop represented a sudden and dramatic expansion of often-contradictory possibilities, and for this reason and others the concept of Pop remains vital in contemporary art.

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660) was born in Seville, Spain, the oldest of six children. He has come to be recognised as one of the very greatest painters, with an extraordinary ability to observe and record visual experience, whether rendering genre paintings, history scenes or portraits. Velazquez's career can be characterised as a lifelong examination of the relationship of painting to nature, in which brushwork takes a leading role. As he developed, he realised ever-greater physical and psychological naturalism with progressively more pronounced and elegant brushstrokes, attaining miraculous effects of illusion with an astounding, abbreviated technique based on the implication rather than the elaboration of detail. This book explores Velazquez's almost universal popularity. Accompanying a major exhibition at the National Gallery, London, it contextualises the artist's work and discusses his influence. Manet famously called him 'the painter's painter', and this book seeks to explain how, and why, his minimalist, elegant compositions resonate so strongly with our Post-Impressionist sensibilities. Written by world-class Velazquez scholars, the book surveys the artist's entire career, from his studies in Seville and Italy to his final great works at the court of Philip IV. It includes a full catalogue and chronology.

During the decades from 1900 to 1940, art in France developed in ways that were of paramount importance to 20th-century art. This illustrated account sets these developments within the framework of the unstable social, political, intellectual and artistic worlds of the time and analyses the innovations of artists ranging from Matisse to Picasso, Duchamp to Dali.

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) is one of the most fascinating and important personalities in the history of American art. His memorable and much-loved scenes of rowing, sailing, and boxing as well as his deeply moving portraits are renowned for their vibrant realism and dramatic intensity. This beautiful and insightful book, published in conjunction with a major exhibition on the life and career of Eakins — the first in twenty years — presents a fresh perspective on the artist and his remarkable accomplishments. Lavishly illustrated with more than 250 of Eakins's most significant paintings, watercolours, drawings, and sculpture, the book features essays by prominent scholars who place his art in the context of the history and culture of late nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where he lived. The contributors also discuss how Eakins applied his French academic training to subjects that were distinctly American and part of his own immediate and complex experience. Eakins's own photographs, which he used as part of his unique creative process, are also examined for the first time in the full context of his life's work. The exhibition Thomas Eakins will be on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 4th October, 2001 to 6th January, 2002; the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, from 3rd February to 12th May, 2002; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 10th June to 15th September, 2002.

«Distinguished historian of the Soviet period Robert V. Daniels offers a penetrating survey of the evolution of the Soviet system and its ideology. In a tightly woven series of analyses written during his career-long inquiry into the Soviet Union, Daniels explores the Soviet experience from Karl Marx to Boris Yeltsin and shows how key ideological notions were altered as Soviet history unfolded. The book exposes a long history of American misunderstanding of the Soviet Union, leading up to the «grand surprise» of its collapse in 1991. Daniels's perspective is always original, and his assessments, some worked out years ago, are strikingly prescient in the light of post-1991 archival revelations. Soviet Communism evolved and decayed over the decades, Daniels argues, through a prolonged revolutionary process, combined with the challenges of modernization and the personal struggles between ideologues and power-grabbers.»

Tiepolo is a brilliant example of the specifically pictorial intelligence. This book is both a study of his art and an argument for fuller recognition of the peculiarities of the painter's representational medium. Alpers and Baxandall locate distinctive modes of Tiepolo's representation of the world and human action; follow his process of invention from first pen drawings, through small oil sketches, to great frescoes; and analyse his best and biggest painting, the Four Continents in the Stairway Hall of the Prince-Bishop's Residence at Wurzburg, illustrated with photographs specially taken for the book. The topics taken up include: painting's resistance to enacted narrative drama, its engagement with indeterminacies and repetitions, the senses in which a painter may 'perform' both past art and himself, the constructive roles of gestural drawing, exploitation of shifts of scale between design and finished work, dialogue between the changing natural site lighting and in-picture lighting, contributions made by the beholder's own mobility, the expressive scope of tensions between two and three dimensions, the deep rationale of rococo formal structure, and the sources of the moral force of pictures without an explicit moral. The book — both art criticism and a practical polemic — ends with an annotated gazetteer for travellers, listing those Tiepolo paintings that can still be seen in the places and conditions for which he painted them.

Lindsey Hughes, author of the classic account of Russia during the reign of Peter the Great, here provides the definitive shorter biography of this dramatic, appealing and unconventional character. The book tells the story of Peter the Great (1672-1725) from birth to death in twelve chapters, including two final chapters on his legacy and posthumous reputation with the aim of providing a vivid sense of the dynamics of his life and reign. The focus is firmly on Peter himself: his actions, deliberations, decisions, relationships, tastes and possessions, and includes the more bizarre aspects of his character, such as his interest in dwarfs, the use of disguises, clowning and vandalism. The main sources are his letters and papers, both published and unpublished, as well as other contemporary accounts and letters. The narrative comprises both the public and private life, the life Peter lived as well as his significant fantasy world. Hughes offers fascinating new material on the 'alternative' or 'parallel' history of Peter's many disguises and pseudonyms, his deference to a number of mock superiors (Prince-Caesar, Prince-Pope, the mock Chief Surveyor), and his relationships with individuals such as his second wife Catherine and his favourite Alexander Menshikov. In each chapter she explores Peter's image in painting and sculpture, bringing the story to the present day with a discussion of controversial monuments in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Ivan IV, 'the Terrible' (1533-1584) is one of the key figures in Russian history, yet he has remained among the most neglected. Notorious for pioneering a policy of unrestrained terror — and for killing his own son — he has been credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. This is the first attempt to write a biography of Ivan from birth to death, to study his policies, his marriages, his atrocities, his disordered personality, and to link them as a coherent whole. Isable de Madariaga situates Ivan within the background of Russian political developments in the sixteenth century. And, with revealing comparisons with English, Spanish and other European courts, she sets him within the international context of his time. The biography includes a new account of the role of astrology and magic at Ivan's court, and provides fresh insights into his foreign policy. Facing up to problems of authenticity (much of Ivan's archive was destroyed by fire in 1626) and controversies which have paralysed western scholarship, de Madariaga seeks to present Russia as viewed from the Kremlin rather than from abroad and comprehend the full tragedy of Ivan's reign.

In this powerful book, a renowned environmental leader warns that despite all the international negotiations of the past two decades, efforts to protect Earth's environment are not succeeding. He explains why this is so and presents eight specific steps that governments and citizens can take to achieve a sustainable future. For this new paperback edition the author has added an Afterword that brings the narrative up to date. Gus Speth brought global environmental concerns to the world's attention nearly a quarter of a century ago. His extraordinary new book is an impassioned plea to take these issues seriously before it is too late. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to read Red Sky at Morning and take action while we can. Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States The ultimate insider offers a devastating critique of global environmental efforts. Eugene Linden, Time A profoundly sobering study of the nation's failure to address the probability of global warming. New York Times Book Review Balanced and pragmatic. Economist A particularly useful summary... Careful and judicious. Bill McKibben, New York Review of Books.

The unicorn tapestries are one of the most popular attractions at The Cloisters, the medieval branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Traditionally known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, this set of seven exquisite and enigmatic tapestries was likely completed between 1495 and 1505. The imaginatively conceived scenes, displaying individualized faces of the hunters and naturalistically depicting the flora and fauna of the landscape, are beautifully captured in silk, wool, and metal yarns. Written by one of the world's leading authorities on medieval textiles and illustrated with many lovely colour reproductions, The Unicorn Tapestries traces the origins of the tapestries as well as possible interpretations of their symbolic meaning. This is an essential book for any lover of medieval art and textiles.

Venice, home of Tiepolo, Canaletto, Piranesi, Piazzetta, and Guardi, was the city of eighteenth-century Italy most conducive to the creation of art. This lavishly illustrated book examines the whole range of the arts in Venice during this period, including paintings, pastels and gouaches, drawings and watercolors, prints, illustrated books, and sculpture.

Working quietly and without much public attention for more than 20 years, American fashion designer Ralph Rucci suddenly became a headline topic in 2002, when he was invited to show his collection at the haute couture in Paris — the first American to receive such an invitation since Mainbocher in the 1930s. This sumptuously illustrated book is the first to explore in depth Rucci's life and work, including the inspirations behind the extraordinarily beautiful and very expensive clothes he creates. The contributors to the volume explore many aspects of Rucci's genius and emergence as a master in the fashion world. Valerie Steele places his life and work in the context of modern fashion history and discusses his connections with such figures as Balenciaga and Halston. Patricia Mears closely examines the garments he designs, reveals what makes them so special, and considers influences on his work. Clare Sauro describes Rucci's accessories, which complete the aesthetic vision that his fashions embody. The book is enriched with more than 100 photographs that include catwalk images, fashion shots of Rucci's clients, Chado Ralph Rucci garments from the collection of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and from his own archives, as well as various inspirational objects and fashions.

This substantial and beautifully illustrated volume documents the National Gallery’s unrivaled collection of Venetian paintings created between 1540 and 1600, including some of the greatest works commissioned by the city from Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, and the Bassano family. The collection is so rich and varied that the book serves as an introduction to all the major types of painting produced in Venice during this period––the altarpiece, portrait, confraternity chapel decoration, ceiling and furniture painting, and paintings for the portego (long central hall) of a palace. Among the many important works included are Titian's Vendramin Family Venerating a Relic of the True Cross, Veronese's Family of Darius and four Allegories, and Tintoretto's Origin of the Milky Way. Nicholas Penny provides comprehensive and detailed information reflecting the most up-to-date scholarship on the paintings––many of which have passed through some of the greatest collections in Europe––along with a thorough discussion of their provenance.

One Hundred Details offers Kenneth Clark's personal choice of details of paintings in the National Gallery, London, and his responses to them. First published in 1938, when he was Director of the Gallery, Clark chose the pictures he liked best, in the hope that we will come to like them too. The details are arranged in pairs, enabling us to see analogies and contrasts between paintings that are rarely viewed together — a faun from Piero di Cosimo, a satyr from Rubens. The commentaries are Kenneth Clark at his best, ranging from a few lines to an entire history of still life between Giotto and Picasso. The easy style makes no attempt to conceal the breadth of the author's erudition: world history and world culture are taken at the gallop and with a smile. Clark insists that there are countless ways of enjoying paintings, provided we stop, look and think. He has picked the pictures to stop at; the details we should look at. His comments, wide in scope and broad in approach, suggest lines of thought so diverse that this book will strike a chord with every reader, whatever their interests. For this new edition of One Hundred Details, brand new reproductions from the National Gallery's state-of-the-art digital collection have been made. This is lovingly reworked re-issue of the landmark title by Kenneth Clark, still renowned for Civilisation. It offers stunning details from his favourite paintings with his trademark commentary bring the art to life. It offers an enjoyable introduction to art history, and a fresh way of looking at the paintings.

Paul Mellon (1906-1999) was an unparalleled collector of British art. His collection, now at Yale in the museum and study centre he founded to house it, rivals those in Britain's national museums and is unquestionably the most comprehensive representation of British art held outside of the United Kingdom. This book and the exhibition that it accompanies celebrate the centenary of his birth. Five introductory essays examine Paul Mellon's extraordinary collecting activity, as well as his role in creating both the Yale Center for British Art and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London as gifts to his alma mater (Yale 1929). A lavishly illustrated catalogue section showcases 150 of the most exquisite and important paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, sculpture, rare books, and manuscript material in the Yale Center's collection, including major works by Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Stubbs, John Constable, and J. W. M. Turner.

This beautiful book focuses on Laurelton Hall, Louis Comfort Tiffany's extraordinary country estate in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Beginning in 1902, Tiffany (1848-1933) designed every aspect of the immense home, which had eighty-four rooms and eight levels, and extensive grounds into which the house was carefully integrated. Tiffany's residential masterpiece was also a quasi-museum, for he filled it with his own works — windows, glassware, pottery, enamels, lamps, oil paintings, and watercolours — as well as with objects from his collections of Islamic, Asian, and Native American art. Laurelton Hall burned down in 1957, but about ten years earlier most of its contents had been removed and sold. Every aspect of the estate is examined and re-created in this volume: its terraced gardens with fountains and pools; the many outbuildings; and Tiffany's life there. The interior decoration of Laurelton Hall, a particular focus of the book, is represented by both numerous period photographs and newly commissioned colour photography of surviving artworks and salvaged architectural components from the estate. For all who admire Tiffany and his work, this book presents a unique portrait of his remarkable home.

«The history of America is largely a history of the sea. This marvelous book features a selection of more than two hundred of the finest objects from Mystic Seaport that tell the history of America and its maritime heritage. Presented with accessible texts and beautiful reproductions are masterpieces of maritime painting, exquisite photographs of classic yachts and powerboat races, and diverse prints and watercolors. Unique examples of American folk art-yarn paintings, reverse paintings on glass, sailors' valentines, shadowbox ship models, and ships in bottles-are also explored in detail, along with watercraft, scrimshaw, ship figureheads, and silver yachting trophies. Essays written by distinguished experts describe the individual forms of expression, discuss the artists and craftsmen, and offer commentary on the ways in which America's maritime history is interwoven with its economic development and cultural history. Elegantly designed and lavishly produced, «America and the Sea «offers intriguing new evidence of the indisputable relevance of maritime history to American life and art.»

From the 1850s to the 1950s, American art and culture progressed from provincial status to international prominence, and American art transitioned from figurative depictions of the particular to abstract interpretations of universal ideals. This beautiful book chronicles this complex century of maturation through a selection of paintings from the extraordinary collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art. Coming of Age begins with Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church, and the Hudson River School landscapes that embody the new nationalism of mid-nineteenth-century America. Their successors, Luminists like Jasper Cropsey and Fitz H. Lane, infused their immediate surroundings with glowing light and crystalline clarity, while contemporary Barbizon-influenced tonalists, such as George Inness, sought to capture the American ethos through an emotional, atmospheric landscape language. In the later 19th century, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Eastman Johnson depicted native subjects through the lens of realism. Childe Hassam and Maurice Prendergast brought Impressionist aesthetics to America, while expatriates including John Singer Sargent and James McNeil Whistler established themselves in European art capitals. In New York, turn-of-the-century Ashcan school painters captured the gritty cityscape that would later host champions of modernism Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, and Marsden Hartley. In the 1930s, European-trained artist Josef Albers introduced a generation of American painters to new theories of color and space from which emerged the breakthrough Abstract Expressionists. By the 1950s, American art had come of age, as Americans securely held the vanguard position in the international art world.

William Holman Hunt was one of the three major artistic talents of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. Hunt’s work was always characterized by great seriousness of purpose, and his paintings include many of the most beautiful and powerful images of that midcentury explosion of creativity. This catalogue raisonée gives him the attention he deserves. The book includes an introduction that assesses Hunt’s life and artistic practice and discusses his aims, philosophy, and religious beliefs, which shed light on his works. While many of his paintings, with their extraordinary effects of light and color, are immediately accessible, his mature works incorporate symbolism that cannot be fully understood without a detailed knowledge of his intentions, and the catalogue entries thoroughly explore this. The volume presents Hunt’s oils and works on paper in two separate sections, and appendixes provide additional information on his illustrated letters, etchings, published illustrations, sculpture, and furniture.