How did economic conditions influence painters in seventeenth-century Italy? How much did they earn? What is known about their socio-economic status and their aspirations? How did they maximize profits? Did they adjust their prices in response to mar...

"Galleries of Friendship and Fame" is the first comprehensive investigation of the origin, development, and practices of 19th-century American photograph albums. In this fascinating book, the author argues that the album – whether functioning as fami...

The subversive, often jarringly direct sculptures of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan (b. 1960) are acclaimed for their seemingly absurd juxtapositions and uncanny photorealism. Reflecting deep suspicions of religious and political authorities, these...

Faces are everywhere in the National Gallery's collection: in portraits and narrative scenes, in allegories and paintings of everyday life. It is often the faces shown that communicate most directly in a picture; their expressions may reveal the dram...

Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today's multifaceted definition, Terry Smith brilliantly shows that an hist...

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) produced a body of work that strongly appealed to his contemporaries while disconcerting them. The odd qualities of his work continue to fascinate scholars, critics, and artists today. For the most part schol...

This book teaches a young audience about the works and lives of thirteen women artists through informative texts, puzzles, coloring exercises, and fun quizzes. In colorful spreads that feature important works as well as portraits of the artists thems...

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) is one of the great geniuses in the history of art, and his work has influenced a multitude of artists throughout Europe. Across the Atlantic, Cezanne's paintings had a similarly catalytic effect on artists emerging in the Un...

John Gutmann (1905-1998) was one of America's most distinctive photographers. Born in Germany where he trained as an artist and art teacher, he fled the Nazis in 1933 and settled in San Francisco, reinventing himself as a photo-reporter. Gutmann capt...

During the Ming Dynasty numerous new animal themes were created to convey political and ethical messages current at court. As the result a sophisticated language of Chinese animal painting was developed, employing both the animals' symbolic associati...