«In recent decades Japanese art has achieved immense popularity in the West while being little understood. Critics have focused on the superficiality and infantilism they find prevalent in much of the work, while many Westerners are familiar with the country's artistic side solely through manga and anime. «Bye Bye Kitty!!!» offers a more incisive and wide-ranging view of the contemporary Japanese art scene, depicted through the works of fifteen artists, ranging in age from twenty-seven to forty-five and working in painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and video. The book's title invokes the subtle irony and subversive techniques adopted by this new generation of artists in their rebellion against the kawaii, or 'cute', aesthetic of mainstream Japanese culture. An essay by David Elliott provides an overview of the artists and explores many of the societal questions, such as the role of feminism, the rise of the 'salaryman', and reflections on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, featured in their works. A contribution by Tetsuya Ozaki illuminates the history and culture of Japan's current Heisei era, which began in January 1989 after the death of Emperor Hirohito. The artists featured in «Bye Bye Kitty!!!» demonstrate that they have the power not only to reconfigure international stereotypes about the current state of Japanese art but also to shape the very landscape of contemporary Japanese art itself.»

With images culled from eleven hundred years of history, this comprehensive survey explores the Byzantine empire's vast range of artistic splendors that indelibly informed the art of modern Europe. Renowned scholar Thomas Mathews emphasizes that the Byzantines' interest in humanism and painting the human figure became the essential bridge between classical and renaissance Europe. Starting with a brief history of Byzantium as a basis for understanding Byzantine theology and art, he places the empire's artistic development within a broad cultural and historical context. Featuring more than one hundred color plates of mosaics, metalwork, architecture, frescoes and religious artifacts, as well as maps, diagrams, and a timeline, this definitive work provides a complete yet succinct introduction to the full range of Byzantine art and iconography.

Picasso and Braque offers an intimate look at one of the most pivotal exchanges in the history of Western art: the culminating two years (1910-12) of Analytic Cubism. While the Cubist experiment has long been a requisite chapter in the history of modernism, this is the first publication to delve deeply into these two intense years of productivity, revealing the intriguing pictorial game being played out between these two great masters. Essays by prominent curators and historians offer sustained readings of paintings, drawings, and prints in terms of their engagement with issues of genre, format, medium, and artistic process. In addition, the new technology of spectral imaging provides reproductions of astounding color and textural fidelity, making this an essential publication for those seeking to understand better the complexity of Picasso's and Braque's mark-making, which typically evades conventional photography.

Italian couturier Roberto Capucci (born 1930) is revered by contemporary fashion designers for his innovative silhouettes and masterful use of colour and materials. Capucci refers to his creations as 'studies in form', and draws inspiration from a multitude of sources, including art, architecture and nature. This beautifully illustrated book, the companion to the first exhibition of Capucci's work in the United States, examines his career from the 1950s to the present in the context of the rise of Italian fashion. Capucci's designs first captured the attention of the international press in 1951, when he presented his collection in Florence. Considered one of Italy's greatest talents, he experimented with construction techniques and unconventional materials such as raffia, wire, and stones. He refused to compromise his artistic vision to commercial concerns, and after withdrawing from the formal fashion world in the early 1980s, he presented one collection a year, each in a different city around the world. Featuring more than 80 extraordinary works, including the iconic 'dress sculptures' with their inventive use of pleating, colour and form, Roberto Capucci is a captivating look at this brilliant designer who transcends the conventional line between fashion and art.

The reputation of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) as an inventor and scientist, and his complex personality, have sometimes almost overshadowed the importance of his aims and techniques as a painter. This exquisite book focuses on a crucial period in the 1480s and 90s when, as a salaried court artist to Duke Ludovico Sforza in the city-state of Milan — freed from the pressures of making a living in the commercially minded Florentine republic — Leonardo produced some of the most celebrated and influential works of his career. The Last Supper, his two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, and The Lady with an Ermine (a beautiful portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, Ludovico's mistress) were paintings that set a new standard for his Milanese contemporaries. Leonardo's style was magnified, through collaboration and imitation, to become the visual language of the regime, and by the time he returned to Florence in 1500, his status had been utterly transformed. This new examination of Leonardo's painting career and his lasting impact on Italian Renaissance style features works from U.S., British, and European collections. Collectively, they represent the diverse range of his artistic output, from drawings in chalk, ink, and metalpoint to full-scale oil paintings. Together with the authors' meticulous research and detailed analysis, they demonstrate Leonardo's consummate skill and extraordinary ambition as a painter.

With the creation of the dramatic Supper at Emmaus (Louvre) and a series of intimate oil sketches of Christ on oak panels, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) overturned the entire history of Christian art. Traditionally, when depicting Christ, artists had relied on rigidly copied prototypes and icons. Among Rembrandt's innovations was his use of a Jewish model to portray a Christ imbued with empathy, gentleness, grace, and faithfulness to nature. Lavishly illustrated, this captivating and important book presents the seven known panels, along with more than 60 paintings, drawings, and prints by Rembrandt and his pupils. Essays by expert contributors offer insights into the production of the panels and their relationship to other works in Rembrandt's oeuvre; how he changed the meaning and status of the canonical image of Christ in northern European art; and much more. Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus is a marvelously intriguing study of how one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age revolutionized an aspect of art history dating to antiquity.

This lavishly illustrated catalogue is a comprehensive historical review of Chinese ceramics covering newly excavated discoveries from the Paleolithic era thousands of years ago to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911. Throughout China's history there has been an ongoing practice of invention and innovation in the forms, materials, decorations, and functions of ceramics made in China, both for the domestic market and for its ever-growing trade with foreign markets. The creation of ceramic ware holds a special and very important place among the many arts and inventions that characterize Chinese culture, society, and civilization. The product of a ten-year collaboration among eminent American, Chinese, and Japanese scholars, the volume offers a new perspective in interpreting the oldest and one of the most admired Chinese art forms, from its technological aspects to its aesthetic value. The volume includes a chapter on Chinese export ceramics that delves into Chinese trade activities and ceramic wares made for export as well as a chapter about the authenticity of Chinese ceramics, discussing issues related to connoisseurship of this Chinese art. As author He Li writes, Despite the rich variety of Chinese ceramics around the world, no fully illustrated, photographed survey of a complete history has been attempted in English. This volume will convey the excitement of encountering these specially chosen examples for the first time.

This stunning volume features masterpieces of sculpture from the Renaissance through the 19th century. Well-known works by the great European sculptors — including Luca and Andrea della Robbia, Juan Martinez Montanes, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francois Girardon, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Antoine-Louis Barye, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and Auguste Rodin — are joined by recent additions to the collection, notably Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's mesmerizing psychological study of an introspective man. The ninety-two selected examples are diverse in media (marble, bronze, stucco, wood, terracotta, ivory) and size — ranging from a tiny oil lamp fantastically conceived and decorated by the Renaissance bronze sculptor Riccio to Antonio Canova's eight-foot-high Perseus with the Head of Medusa, executed in the heroic Neoclassical style. Incorporating information from recent conservation studies and the latest scholarly research, Ian Wardropper discusses the history and significance of the highlighted works, each reproduced with glorious new photography.

This definitive introduction to the gnostic scriptures provides a crucial look at the theology, religious atmosphere, and literary traditions of ancient Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism. Maps and tables.

Universally recognized as a brilliant and gifted 18th-century artist, Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) was regarded by Horace Walpole as one of the three greatest painters in England, along with his friends Reynolds and Gainsborough. Yet he has remained without a detailed study of his life and works, owing to the fascinating and complex vicissitudes of his career, now established from widely scattered sources. From being a late-baroque painter at a German princely court to working under the royal patronage of George III and Queen Charlotte, from his serious interest in Indian life and landscape, developed while living near Calcutta, to his attacks on the bloody progress of the French Revolution, Zoffany created pictures that document with incomparable liveliness the worlds and people among whom he moved.

How is it possible today to gain insight into the culture that flourished in ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago? Works of art are eloquent intermediaries. This generously illustrated volume provides an introduction to the painted pottery that served specific utilitarian functions and that afforded outstanding artists a medium for depicting their gods and heroes and the details of daily existence. The key to understanding the rich language of the Greek vase is tuning into the interrelation of its function, shape, technique, and subject matter. Notable examples from the Metropolitan Museum's exceptional collection reveal the variety and vitality of the refined forms and masterfully rendered scenes that characterize these engaging works of ancient Greek art.

In the aftermath of the Revolution, the French public turned to British history as a way of making sense of its recent past, and no French artist of the 19th century was more inspired by English subjects than Paul Delaroche. His monumental work The Execution of Lady Jane Grey was one of the most familiar and enduring images of his time, and remains today among the most popular paintings in the National Gallery. This authoritative book presents The Execution with other major history paintings and preparatory sketches that made Delaroche's reputation during his lifetime. It is complemented by an essay by the distinguished Tudor historian John Guy, who outlines the short life of Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days, and the development of her enduring mythical status as an innocent martyr.

Drawings by the great Italian Mannerist painter and poet Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) are extremely rare. This important and beautiful publication brings together for the first time nearly all of the sixty drawings attributed to this leading draftsman of the 16th century. Each drawing is illustrated in colour, discussed in detail, and shown with many comparative photographs. Bronzino's technical virtuosity as a draftsman and his mastery of anatomy and perspective are vividly apparent in each stroke of the chalk, pen, or brush. The younger generations of Florentine artists particularly admired Bronzino for his technical virtuosity as a painter, and Giorgio Vasari praised him for his powers as a disegnatore (designer and draftsman).

This lavishly illustrated volume is the first comprehensive publication on the Brooklyn Museum of Art's internationally renowned historic costume collection. The nearly 25,000-object collection comprises fashionable women's and men's garments and accessories from the 18th through the 20th centuries. It features sumptuous 19th-century gowns from the House of Worth, exquisite works by the great 20th-century French couturiers, iconic Surrealist-based designs of Elsa Schiaparelli, sportswear classics from pioneer American designers, and the incomparable draped and tailored creations of Charles James. In 2009, the Brooklyn Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art entered into a groundbreaking long-term partnership to steward Brooklyn's collection. The objects were transferred to The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan, with Brooklyn maintaining curatorial access. Exhibitions of costumes from the collection will be held at both institutions in early May 2010.

What woman can resist imagining herself in a beautiful designer dress? Here, for the first time ever, are 100 fabulous gowns from the permanent collection of the renowned Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, each of which is a reminder of the ways fashion reflects the broader culture that created it. Featuring designs by Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Madame Gres, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and many others, this one-of-a-kind collection presents a stunning variety of garments. Ranging from the buttoned-up gowns of the late 17th century to the cutting-edge designs of the early 21st, the dresses provide a vivid picture of the sensibilities and excesses of each era while providing a vivid picture of how styles have changed — sometimes radically — over the years. A late 1600s wool dress with a surprising splash of silver thread; a large-bustled red satin dress from the 1800s; a short, shimmery 1920s dancing dress; a glamorous 1950s cocktail dress; and, a 1960s minidress — each tells a story about its period and serves as a testament to the enduring ingenuity of the fashion designer's art. Images of the dresses are accompanied by informative text and enhanced by close-up details as well as runway photos, fashion plates, works of art, and portraits of designers. A glossary of related terms is also included.

Federico Barocci was among the most admired painters in sixteenth-century Italy, but the distinctive nature of his compelling altarpieces and their historical importance have never been fully understood. This important study relates Barocci’s achievements to transformations in the theory and practice of painting during an era in which pictorial developments generated deep tensions for ecclesiastical art. Barocci was celebrated as one of the only painters whose religious works combined the sensuous allure increasingly desired in modern art with profound devotion. Through a close study of Barocci’s work and of documents ranging from letters to art theory, Stuart Lingo reconstructs how the painter accomplished his artistic and cultural miracle. In so doing, he offers new insights into critical artistic issues in the late Renaissance, from the cultural significance of stylistic choices to the early development of analogies between painting and music as affective arts.

Born in Bologna, Annibale Carracci (1564–1609) was one of the most revolutionary artists of the late Renaissance. Even before turning twenty, he rebelled against convention by investing his art with a sense of naturalism uncommon to paintings of the period. His early painting The Butcher’s Shop, a cherished work in the Kimbell Art Museum’s collection, marks the beginning of Carracci’s artistic journey and remains one of his most powerfully naturalistic works. This fascinating study explores the origins and significance of The Butcher’s Shop, placing it within the artist’s own career as well as the broader context of Italian painting. Detailing the uniqueness and vitality of Carracci’s style, C. D. Dickerson emphasizes the remarkable plein-air quality of the painting and explains how Carracci may have achieved this utterly novel effect, though in fact executing the work indoors in his studio. He also sets Carracci’s work in the tradition of butcher’s shop paintings in Renaissance Italy, analyzes the painting in relation to the reality of the occupation at the time, and investigates where in Bologna such a butcher’s shop might have stood.

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was the pre-eminent portraitist of the Regency period, depicting monarchs, political leaders, aristocratic families, society beauties and actresses with bravura flair. This important book explores Lawrence's political friendships and allegiances along with his exceptional role as witness to significant historical events and contrasts these with his remarkable ability to depict the charm and innocence of childhood. Elected President of the Royal Academy in 1820, Lawrence was instrumental in establishing the status of the artist in nineteenth-century Britain.

In Britain today the output of excellent ceramics seems more eclectic than elsewhere. This stylish and wide-ranging survey comprises examples of clay art by one hundred major artists, covering the period from the late 1980s through 2009. Drawn from the Diane and Marc Grainer Collection, it includes works by Allison Britton, Edmund de Waal, Kate Malone, Grayson Perry, Julian Stair, Steve Dixon, and Nick Arroyave-Portela, among others. The selection balances functional objects and sculpture; hand-built, thrown, and moulded techniques; varieties of scale and colour; and cerebral and emotional content. All the ceramics here are rooted in the materiality of clay. The properties of the raw material, from its soft, malleable texture to the alchemy of slips and glazes, are at the core of the artists' passion. And, as the text reveals, the younger generation is moving into new directions of art practice. It is published in conjunction with the inaugural exhibition at the Mint Museum Uptown, Charlotte, NC.

«Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sketchbooks, journals and writings, this essential guide to John Brett (1831-1902) investigates the painter who was seen as the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite landscape school. As well as the familiar early works, including «The Val d'Aosta» and «The Stonebreaker», it provides rich information on his later, less-known coastal and marine paintings. Brett's turbulent friendship with John Ruskin is discussed, as are his relations with his beloved sister Rosa, and his partner Mary, with whom he had seven children. His fervent interest in astronomy, his love of the sea, and his lifelong pursuit of wealth and recognition are all examined in this reassessment, which concludes with a catalogue raisonne of his works, prepared by his descendent Charles Brett. It is published to coincide with an exhibition of John Brett's work at Birmingham, Barber Institute, 30 April — 4 July; London, Fine Art Society, 20 July — 7 August; and, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 14 September — 28 November.»