William N. Copley: Women by Paul Kasmin Gallery; Claire Copley (Contribution by); William Copley (Artist)

$25.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: very good

William N. Copley: Women includes beautiful plate photography of works from every phase of the artist's career, revealing Copley's (1919-96) persistent and complex fascination with the female form, masculinity, voyeurism, politics, art history and more. A new text by Claire Copley, one of the artist's t wo daughters, addresses head-on the frank sexuality and complicated gender politics present in much of her father's work, in a unique hybrid of personal memoir, cultural criticism and art history. A reprint of the artist's seminal text, "CPLY's Reply to the Breakup at the Wasteland of Good Taste," plus photos of the artist from the family archives and installation photography of key historical exhibitions at the Alexander Iolas and Iris Clert galleries in Paris, and at the New Museum in New York City, provide further historic and conceptual background. ...Show more

High Renaissance & Mannerism by Linda Murray

$10.00 NZD

Category: History & Theory | Series: World of Art S. | Reading Level: good

The principal elements of High Renaissance art, first formulated by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s, came to their true flowering in the brilliant achievements of Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome, of Michelangelo in Florence and Giorgione and Titian in Venice. After the death of Raphael in 1520 , the next generation in Italy was to see the rise of the complex and refined sensibility summed up in the term "Mannerism." In this uniquely comprehensive guide to sixteenth-century Renaissance art, Linda Murray examines the manifold achievements of Italian artists and identifies the individual forms taken by artists in Northern Europe and in Spain, including Durer, Bruegel and El Greco. 301 illus., 37 in color. ...Show more

Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life by Richard Meryman

$18.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: good

"A revelation. No one will ever view Andrew Wyeth's apparently tranquil works the same way again after reading this vivid and astonishing portrait of the turbulent, driven man who paints them. Richard Meryman has written a wonderful book." -- Geoffrey C. Ward At its most fundamental level, this stunning and unique biography describes a distinguished painter's enterprise of transmitting emotion onto a flat surface. It explores all the factors that have combined to create Andrew Wyeth -- his childhood in a hothouse of creativity; his hypersensitivity; his formidable wife; his identification with people marginalized and misunderstood -- all which have made him an American icon. In the process, his realist works in watercolor and tempera, including the famous "Christina's World," have gained him a special and secure niche in the history of American art. The book is a portrait of obsession -- how single-mindedness has affected Wyeth's relationships and transformed his world into a realm of secrecy and fervid imagination. Those who read this book will never look at Wyeth's work as they did before. It reveals the artist's dark depths, as well as the ruthless, angry, child/man fantasist who paints the basic brutalities of existence -- death and madness --that vibrate eerily beneath his pictures' calm surfaces. Richard Meryman's narrative is almost novelistic, with its larger-than-life characters and subplots: the tragedy of C.C. Wyeth; Betsy Wyeth's campaign for independence and individuality; the byzantine 15-year-long drama of the Helga paintings; the eccentric and creative Wyeth clan; and the idiosyncratic land and people of Maine and Pennsylvania. Based on 30 years of research, frequent visits and countless conversations with the artist, his family, friends, admirers and critics, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life is the only book about the man and the artist that gets behind his carefully guarded screen, tells the full story of his life and reveals his complex personality and the motivations for his paintings. ...Show more

Art Deco Painting by Edward Lucie-Smith

$18.00 NZD

Category: History & Theory | Reading Level: very good

Art Deco was one of the liveliest and most comprehensive of 20th century trends, embracing decorative arts, fine arts and fashion. This book looks at the least known of these - painting. The renowned art critic, Edward Lucie-Smith, analyzes the characteristics of the style, period and history of the mov ement, and discusses the various Art Deco painters, French, Italian, Russian, British and American. These artists, such as Tamara de Lempicka, Jean Dupas and Bernard Boutet de Monvel, were drawn to the luxury of the classical scene and the beauty of the speeding car, to the streamline of the metal skyscraper and the flesh of the rich and famous, which they portrayed in a most refreshing manner. ...Show more

The Traditional Crafts of Persia: Their Development, Technology, and Influence on Eastern and Western Civilizations by Hans E. Wulff

$30.00 NZD

Category: Craft | Reading Level: very good

¡Orozco! 1883-1949 by José Clemente Orozco

$20.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: very good

Catalogue for an exhibition organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico.

Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, His Time by Bob Haak

$55.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: very good

Encyclopedia of Arts and Crafts: The International Arts Movement 1850-1920 by Wendy Kaplan

$25.00 NZD

Category: History & Theory | Reading Level: very good

The Pictorial Arts of the West, 800-1200 by C. R. Dodwell

$40.00 NZD

Category: History & Theory | Series: The\Yale University Press Pelican History of Art Ser. | Reading Level: very good

Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries the Western world witnessed a glorious flowering of the pictorial arts. In this lavishly illustrated book, C.R. Dodwell provides a comprehensive guide to all forms of this art--from wall and panel paintings to stained glass windows, mosaics, and embroidery--and sets them against the historical and theological influences of the age. Dodwell describes the rise and development of some of the great styles of the Middle Ages: Carolingian art, which ranged from the splendid illuminations appropriate to an emperor's court to drawings of great delicacy; Anglo-Saxon art, which had a rare vitality and finesse; Ottonian art with its political and spiritual messages; the colorful Mozarabic art of Spain, which had added vigor through its interaction with the barbaric Visigoths; and the art of Italy, influenced by the styles of Byzantium and the West. Dodwell concludes with an examination of the universal Romanesque style of the twelfth century that extended from the Scandinavian countries in the north to Jerusalem in the south. His book--which includes the first exhaustive discussion of the painters and craftsmen of the time, incorporates the latest research, and is filled with new ideas about the relations among the arts, history, and theology of the period--will be an invaluable resource for both art historians and students of the Middle Ages. ...Show more

The Treasures of Rembrandt by Michiel Roscam Abbing

$25.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: very good

"The Rembrandt Experience" chronicles the life of Rembrandt and looks at the themes that have dominated his work. Beginning with a look at the Golden Age of Dutch painting, the project moves from Rembrandt's birth and childhood in Leiden to his work in Amsterdam. It includes his personal relationships a nd his rise in fortunes as he became one of the most prominent portrait artists of his generation and created such gems as the Night Watch. It also chronicles his subsequent bankruptcy and the change in his painting style over the years. In addition, the book contains some 30 items of facsimile memorabilia - personal and public documents and other archival material of the time, such as the official announcement of Rembrandt and Saskia's marriage in Amsterdam. ...Show more

The Sun Is God: The Life and Work of Cyril Mann (1911-80) by Russell Taylor John

$30.00 NZD

Category: Artists | Reading Level: very good

Critics have often struggled to categorize Cyril Mann, as he has displayed expressionist and surrealist qualities. This monograph brings together some of the finest examples of his work.

Pietre Dure and the Art of Florentine Inlay by Anna Maria Giusti

$45.00 NZD

Category: History & Theory | Reading Level: very good

'Pietre dure' are mosaic designs made from semi-precious stones. This richly illustrated, large format book brilliantly captures the beauty and craftsmanship of this ancient technique of 'painting in stone', looking at decorative stonework techniques from prehistory to the present day, but focusing in p articular on the period from its rebirth in 16th-century Rome to the developments of the 19th century. ...Show more