This is an insightful and intelligent re-thinking of Japanese art history and its Western influences. This broad-ranging and profoundly influential analysis describes how Western art institutions and vocabulary were transplanted to Japan in the late...

The works that Henri Matisse (1869-1954) executed between late 1913 and 1917 are among his most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic. Often sharply composed, heavily reworked, and dominated by the colours black and grey, these compositions are rigo...

In September 1644 the election of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj catapulted his family to the height of Roman society. From that moment on, the Pamphilj became active patrons of the arts, which were harnessed as the visual expression of the family's new id...

The giving of gifts both delights the recipient and pleases the giver. Practised in all societies, gift exchange has a history as long as humanity. This gloriously illustrated catalogue is the first investigation of gift-giving and its impact on the...

Since his early work was first embraced by Alfred Stieglitz, John Marin (1870-1953) has been recognized as one of America's foremost watercolourists. During the last two decades of Marin's career, however, oil painting played a greater role in his st...

Between 1900 and 1940, a group of modernist artists gathered regularly on the coast of Maine in a region then known as Seguinland. For photographer Paul Strand, painter Marsden Hartley, sculptor Gaston Lachaise, and others, it was a way to escape mar...

In this beautifully illustrated book, the Reverend Nicholas Holtam – vicar of London's internationally renowned church St Martin-in-the-Fields – presents his favourite paintings from the National Gallery, London, alongside religious commentary, Bible...

The Greek-American artist Kosta Alex (1925-2005) initially trained in figure sculpture in Manhattan. In 1947 he moved to Paris, where he mingled with and exhibited alongside the avant-garde artists of his day. His interest in the flattening of forms...

This title provides an intelligent and illuminating exploration of the rivalry that existed between the artists of the Renaissance & Baroque eras. The paragon – the notion of competition and rivalry among the arts – has been a topic of debate for cen...

In this stunningly beautiful book, bird artist William T. Cooper explores and demonstrates all aspects of drawing and painting birds. Renowned for his gorgeous and accurate wildlife renderings, Cooper here explains in detail how to create a true impr...