On July 18, 1863, six months after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the first American units composed of African Americans stormed Fort Wagner in South Carolina, led by Colonel Robert Shaw Gould. Although the regiment su...

The English saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" has often been applied in a perverse manner by ruling authorities, who have frequently feared visual imagery even more than the printed word. This was especially the case in countries, suc...

For nearly sixty years, Richard Artschwager (b. 1923) has undertaken an unrelenting investigation of art's ability to mediate contemporary experience and perception. Although his work, which includes sculpture, painting, prints, and drawing, is often...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Diego Velazquez makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. A 17th-century Spanish painter who continues to influence artists today, Velazquez is primarily kno...

This is the first English language technical study of one of the most important Italian artists of the post-WWII period. Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative post-World War II Italian artists. Bes...

French symbolist artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) seemed to thrive at the intersection of literature and art. Known as "the painter-writer", he drew on the works of Poe, Baudelaire, Flaubert, and Mallarme for his subject matter. And yet he concluded t...

This is a superbly illustrated exploration of the first modern art catalogue, its creation and its legacy. This richly illustrated book examines the making of the first modern catalogue – La galerie electorale de Dusseldorff. Published in 1778, the r...

This title offers an insightful and revealing personal account of one man's consuming passion for collecting. In 1965, shortly after founding his namesake museum in Malibu, California, J. Paul Getty penned reminiscence about "the romance and zest – t...

"Empire to Nation" offers a new consideration of the image of the sea in British visual culture during a critical period for both the rise of the visual arts in Britain and the expansion of the nation's imperial power. It argues that maritime imagery...

The National Gallery houses one of the most important collections of early Italian paintings outside Italy, including works by Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto and the di Cione brothers. Since these were last catalogued there have been four new acquisitions,...