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74951 DESCRIPTION DE L’EGYPTE: Napoleon’s Expedition and the Rediscovery of Ancient Egypt


by Franco Serino When Napoleon set out to conquer Egypt in 1798, his territorial ambitions were soon disposed of by the British under the command of Horatio Nelson,


but meanwhile Napoleon had set up the Institut de l’Egypte, an academy for studying antiquities. He had brought with him over 150 scholars whose job it was to record the culture and art of the nation. Their discoveries included unearthing the Rosetta Stone and their findings were published in four volumes, of which this large format compendium offers a selection. Artists such as Dominique Vivant Denon drew landscapes, battles, ceremonies, mosques, and above all, ancient ruins. These drawings eventually became engravings, many of them printed in colour. Among the historic reproductions in this book are the Temple at Dendera, with cartouches of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius and Caligula. In another print the monumental head of the Sphinx emerges from the sand, and a study of the tomb of Peheri, an 18th dynasty functionary, includes an artist sketching and a local man smoking a long pipe. Some of the most spectacular engravings are imaginary reconstructions of ruined monuments: the interior of the Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor incorporates wall-paintings which the artists found in situ but also includes


speculative architecture modelled on


comparable buildings, while a beautiful reconstruction of the Hypostyle Hall at Esna includes zodiacal and astrological motifs and texts. A stunning book. 128pp, lavishly illustrated with photos and colour and black and white engravings.


£19.95 NOW £10


74648 FANTASTIC GEOMETRY: Polyhedra and the Artistic Imagination in the Renaissance by David Wade


The underlying intention of this, in all senses of the word, fantastic volume is the exploration of the timeless quality that imbues the pure forms of the fanciful, geometry-based imagery that flowered briefly in the mid- 16th century around the German city of Nüremberg. What was so conducive to the production of these pure forms in this particular place and time? Even the fact that they appeared as illustrations in well-bound, marketable books is interesting, considering that the whole business of printing and publishing was still in its infancy. This particular type of art, almost exclusively the province of master craftsmen, involved goldsmiths, carpenters, engravers, stone-masons and printers. The great intellectual movement of the Renaissance, of which the artists were a part, was a period when very big names indeed, among them Piero della Francesca, Paulo Uccello, Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer, were caught up in an enthusiasm for Platonic notions of an ideal geometry. There was also another important motivating aspect of this art - that of perspective. The problems of creating a convincing representation of three dimensions onto a two-dimensional surface exerted a particular and sustained fascination for Renaissance artists. Here for the first time in a single volume are the astonishing graphics that, beautifully conceived over five and a half centuries ago, still retain their capacity to engage our attention and act as a perennial source of artistic inspiration. 278 paperback pages absolutely packed with diagrams and figures plus intarsia in Italy and Germany, the Mazzocchio, and the emblematic sphere.


£12.99 NOW £5


72156 ALMSHOUSES by Anna Hallett


There are around 2,500 groups of almshouses in Great Britain, most of which were founded many centuries ago and some can be traced to the early Middle Ages. Often picturesque, they come in a variety of architectural styles and often have interesting features including coats of arms, inscriptions, dedications, statues, clock towers and sundials. Many have chapels and gardens, some have museums attached to them. 64 page Shire paperback, colour photos, maps and woodcuts. £5.99 NOW £3


74243 BIRTH OF IMPRESSIONISM:


Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay curated by Guy Cogeval et al


Focusing on the tumultuous period of the 1860s and 1870s, when social and political events in France influenced and were reflected in the art and politics of the state-run Salon, here are more than 100 canvases by famous masters that provide an overview of the contentious artistic community that gave rise to the innovators of the ‘New Painting’. This volume guides visitors through the world of the Paris Salon, the exhibition venue of choice and necessity for aspiring artists of the period. This comprehensive book presents the sources, the birth and the transformations of Impressionism around 1874, the date of the inaugural exhibition of the group that included Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pissarro and Renoir. It recalls the influence of Spanish art, the part played by the École des Batignolles and the legacy of Courbet and Millet. Each of the principal Impressionists is represented by many beloved favourites: Monet’s Gare Saint-Lazare, Pissarro’s Red Roofs, Sisley’s Snow at Louveciennes, Cézanne’s Gulf of Marseille and Renoir’s The Swing. 255 paperback pages 29cm x 25.5cm, colour. £34.95 NOW £11


75012 MONUMENTS OF EGYPT AND NUBIA by Ippolito Rosellini,


edited by Franco Serini The first international scientific mission to Egypt was launched by Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, led by two Egyptologists who were close friends, the Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion and the Italian Ippolito Rosellini. The new


expedition had the enormous advantage that, following the Napoleonic discovery of the Rosetta Stone, Champollion had deciphered the hieroglyphic language and a much more systematic study was possible as a result. The mission worked in shifts copying and drawing the reliefs and inscriptions in soaring temperatures, and frequently they were able to make new archaeological discoveries, sometimes even purchasing their finds. Rosellini’s Monuments of Egypt and Nubia was subsequently published using data from the expedition, and this beautifully illustrated book reproduces a selection of Rosellini’s prints together with views and scenes recorded by other artists. The plan and elevation of the Garden of Amun found in a Theban nobleman’s tomb is now destroyed, but Rosellini’s print shows papyrus plants and ducks swimming in ornamental pools. Another Theban tomb painting is famous as an attempt to break out of the conventions of Egyptian iconography, showing women musicians and dancers from the front. The tomb of Ramesses III shows blind harpists with shaven heads and beautifully decorated harps, while the same emperor’s temple at Medinet Habu has a naval battle scene in which sea marauders attempt to conquer the well-armed Egyptians. This fascinating book describes the


expedition and illustrates its findings from Rosellini’s publications. 128pp, lavishly illustrated in colour, American


University in Cairo Press, 36 x 26cm.


£34.95 NOW £15


73097 IN THE COMPANY OF DALI: The Photographs of Robert Whitaker by Trevor Legate


Salvador Dalí’s’ Surreal iconography: his melting clocks, flowers sprouting from cracking eggs, disembodied faces floating in a barren landscape. But what kind of man lay behind the public image? What was he like in his domestic environment, relaxing with his wife Gala, or close friends like the notorious transsexual Amanda Lear, in his swimming pool - built in the shape of male genitals - or at work in his studio? Now readers have the opportunity to find out. Bob Whitaker and the artist enjoyed an instant rapport, each understanding and admiring one another’s work. The photographer enjoyed unprecedented access to Dalí at work and play, relaxing on one of his several boats and visiting Barcelona where Dalí took delight in the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, who had greatly influenced his own creative work. Many of the photos in this volume are reproduced here for the first time. 128 pages 30.5cm x 31cm in colour and b/w. £29.50 NOW £11


74433 ANTONY GORMLEY by Martin Caiger-Smith


Antony Gormley’s sculptural presence is something of a phenomenon. You can come across his sculptures on a Lancashire beach, in a Norwegian fjord or on the salt-pan wastes of Western Australia, as well as the British Museum, a cathedral crypt, a civic square or a contemporary art gallery. His materials range from the pebbles of the seashore and the mud of the desert to the metals of the forge and the steel mill, and his means vary from advanced computer imaging to the press of a hand in soft clay. His controversial Angel of the North has become a recognised benchmark for public projects. This book traces the development of his art as a series of distinct themes and ideas, ideas that relate and interlace, come together and continue to form a body of work. Analysing six key works in depth. 128 paperback pages 27cm x 21 cm, 100 colour illus.


£14.99 NOW £6


73557 JOHN ARMSTRONG: The Paintings by Andrew Lambirth


Catalogue Raisonné by Annette Armstrong and Jonathan Gibbs. If you have never come across the extraordinary paintings of John Armstrong (1893-1973) then this eye- opener of a book will intrigue and entice you. He was a prolific designer for the theatre, film, ballet and industry, producing memorable work for the GPO and ICI, and designing a distinctive string of posters for Shell. He was also a highly skilled portraitist, ceramicist and mural painter and, like his contemporaries, could turn his hand to Clarice Cliff tableware too. His series the Battle paintings and the Tocsin are as relevant today as when they were first painted. This impressive volume is the first major study of Armstrong’s work and draws on new and unpublished research to put him into context. He was married three times, and lived in Cornwall and Essex, where he worked as a War Artist, before returning to London for the latter part of his life and produced election leaflets for Labour in 1945. 240 pages 28cm x 24cm with chronology and paintings in rich colour. £41.50 NOW £14


74307 SMYTHSON CIRCLE: The Story of Six


Great English Houses by David Durant Robert Smythson was the first English mason to be called an ‘architect’, or in the language of the 17th century, ‘architector’. Arriving at Longleat in 1568 with a royal recommendation, the 33-year-old took a key role in redesigning the house after a fire the previous year. In the 1580s he moved to Wollaton Hall near Nottingham, where he created a masterpiece of startling


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originality for Sir Francis Willoughby. Its innovative turrets were copied by the 19th century builders of Highclere, better known nowadays as Downton Abbey. After Wollaton he attracted the patronage of Bess of Hardwick. Bess had already supervised extensive building works at Chatsworth, but on her marriage Bess forfeited ownership of Hardwick to Shrewsbury. Bess lived in the renovated Old Hall and work began on the New Hall in the 1590s, with Smythson providing plans featuring large windows, on Bess’s insistence. Her master mason, Thomas Accres, was one of the best in the country and unusually was a salaried employee. From 1612 Smythson was architect of Bolsover Castle, owned by Bess’s youngest son. 271pp, paperback, colour illus.


£14.99 NOW £6


73924 A VISION OF SPLENDOUR: Indian Heritage In the Photographs of Jean Philippe Vogel, 1901-1913 by Gerda Theuns-de Boer


‘A great privilege’ - that was how Dutch Sanskritist Jean Philippe Vogel (1871-1958) viewed his entry in 1901 into the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It would enable him as and Indologist educated in Europe to enrich his academic knowledge by working in the context of the indigenous culture of India. Vogel added substance to the tasks of preservation, restoration and research and to the increasing visibility of archaeology in museums. He was familiar with the Islamic art of Lahore, Delhi and Agra, the largely Buddhist art of Gandhara and Mathura, the Hindu art of the Panjab or the Jain art of Maheth. For this monograph, the author focuses on the years 1901-1913 and from his collection of 10,000 photographs, 150 views have been selected, taken between 1870 and 1920. In superb detail we can enjoy the statues of Vishnu, ornately carved fountain slabs and jinas, long lost and long forgotten landscapes, votives and statues, tombs and famous monuments like the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra’s Red Fort. Chronology of archaeological activities, 150 of his sepia photos taken 1901-1913. 192 page huge hardback with colour map.


£32 NOW £16


73956 GAUGUIN: Maker of Myth by Tate Modern, London


Huge paperback exhibition catalogue from January 2011 navigating the myth behind Paul Gauguin, his landscape and rural narrative, sacred themes, fictions of femininity, allusive and elusive titles. Contributors include Belinda Thomson, Tamar Garb on Martinique, Linda Goddard on the ‘Myth of the Primitive’, Gauguin’s politics, portrait of the artist as Mohican and exoticism, finishing with ‘A Very British Reception’ by Amy Dickson. This is the first book to fully examine his use of stories and myths to give powerful narrative attention to his paintings. He was deeply immersed in world art and a great reader of Polynesian stories and myths. More than 200 museum- quality reproductions of paintings, works on paper, ceramics, wood carvings and writings including his beautifully illustrated letters and books. 256pp in huge paperback, colour. $35 NOW £8.50


72564 A CHRONOLOGY OF WESTERN


ARCHITECTURE by Doreen Yarwood Clear organisation and layout make this unique volume into an easy-to-use reference work as well as a visual delight. Ranging from 2000 BC to the 1980s, its chronologically arranged photographs and drawings appear in 105 two-page spreads, each representing a specific era, and often covering different regions and countries. Accompanying text comments on architectural details, and places the buildings within the historical, artistic and scientific context of each period. 224 paperback pages with glossary and more than 1,000 illus.


£18.99 NOW £4


74711 LOST PHOTOGRAPHS OF CAPTAIN SCOTT


by David M. Wilson Here is a completely new dimension to the last great expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration and a humbling testament to the men


whose graves still lie unmarked in the vastness of what was known as the Great Alone - Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN and his four intrepid fellow explorers. Until now, the legend of Scott’s fatal expedition has been based upon his diaries and those of his companions, the sketches of his friend Edward Wilson and the celebrated photographs of Herbert Ponting, the expedition’s professional photographer. What has not been recognised is that, during the final fateful months of that polar journey, the principal visual record intended to be left to posterity was provided by Scott himself through his own photography. Confronted with extreme climatic conditions and technical challenges, Scott achieved a series of iconic images remarkable for their technical mastery as well as for their poignancy. Here they are in all their deeply moving grandeur: breathtaking panoramas of the continent, superb depictions of mountains and formations of ice and snow, action photographs of the explorers and their animals on the polar trail. At first, these pictures were fought over, then neglected and finally lost for more than half a century. Now, for the first time, they are resurrected, accurately attributed, catalogued and publicly shown as they were intended to be almost 100 years ago. 191 emotive pages 29cm x 26cm with photographs in b/w, often double page spreads, notes and list of members of the Terra Nova Expedition 1910-13. Very small remainder mark.


£30 NOW £10


Art and Architecture 74003 GAUGUIN CÉZANNE MATISSE:


11


Visions of Arcadia by Joseph J. Rishel The notion of a golden age set in an earthly paradise has long kindled the human imagination. The resonance of this enduring topic for European painters around 1900 is the subject of a superbly illustrated catalogue. It focuses on three monumental paintings - Paul Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? painted in 1897-8, Paul Cézanne’s Large Bathers (1900-1906) and Henri Matisse’s Bathers By A River (1909- 1913, 1916-17). Cézanne’s Large Bathers in particular had a profound impact on the European avant-garde during the period of creative ferment that took place in the first two decades of the 20th century. Why did the subject of figures in an idealized landscape hold such fascination for the generation of Henri Matisse, André Derain, Pablo Picasso and Robert Delaunay - to name but a few who were influenced by it? Masterpieces by Nicolas Poussin and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot also serve as examples of the high value given to Arcadia in the history of French painting. These are joined by major works from the likes of Henri Rousseau and Paul Signac, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc and Natalia Sergeyevna Goncharova. 243 pages 31cm x 25cm with plates in faithful colour, gatefold.


$40 NOW £16.50


74241 THE ADAM BROTHERS IN ROME: Drawings from the Grand Tour by A. A. Tait


Robert and James Adam dominated British architecture for the second half of the 18th century. The key period in the development of the Adam style was their time as Grand Tourists in Italy, when they amassed a vast collection of paintings and drawings. After being sold, the drawings were eventually acquired by Sir John Soane for his new Museum in London. They, together with the brothers’ intriguing letters, and James’ journal, make up a remarkable set of documents for anyone interested in architecture, Italy and the 18th century. This unique book describes their aspirations and achievements while making their Grand Tours. It was James, during his four years in Italy, who put together an outstanding collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture and who arranged the purchase of the huge Albani collection for George III. The way in which the brothers composed their architecture, and even the manner in which they drew in water colour and wash was matchless. Here are fluted pilasters, Corinthian capitals, porticoes, friezes, coffered ceilings, plans, façades and relief panels galore. 160 softback pages 28cm x 23cm, watercolour and wash, sepia/w and b/w.


$49.95 NOW £9


74459 ILLUSTRATION HANDBOOK:


A Guide to the World’s Great Illustrators


by Nick and Tessa Souter This chunky and lavishly illustrated book covers graphic design down the decades from 1850 to the present, including some stunning works of art that seem worthy of taking their place beside the old masters. The turn


of the century saw the “Bubbles” illustration for Pears Soap, Edward Lear’s comic cartoons to illustrate his nonsense-verse, and Tenniel’s slightly sinister Alice in Wonderland illustrations. Art Nouveau work includes Beardsley’s decadent black and white line drawings, Mucha’s posters and programmes for Sarah Bernhardt and Toulouse-Lautrec’s evocations of Paris nightlife. The early 20th century ranges from the Gothic fantasies of Arthur Rackham to Graham Sutherland, Norman Rockwell, the iconic Shell and BBC graphics of Abram Games, and Peter Blake’s Sergeant Pepper album cover. The modern period is dominated by children’s illustrators like Maurice Sendak, Jan Pienkowski and the crayon drawings of “Snowman” Raymond Briggs; at the other end of the scale are the savage cartoons of Scarfe and Searle. 320pp, softback, colour. $9.99 NOW £6


74422 VAN GOGH: The Master Draughtsman by Sjraar van Heugten with


Marije Vellekoop and Roelie Zwikker When Van Gogh started drawing in 1880, at the age of 27, determined to embark upon an artistic career, there was little to suggest that this might become successful. Unlike artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pablo Picasso who were already gifted draughtsmen in their youth, Van Gogh had to master the techniques of drawing the hard way - through trial and error. As well as many preliminary studies, his drawings include highly ambitious, stand-alone works that testify to his capacity for artistic innovation. This lavish survey of his works on paper brings together around 100 of the finest and most important drawings of his entire oeuvre. While living in Arles in 1888 he created some extraordinary sketches of the Provençal landscape in reed pen and later, at Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise, he experimented with rhythm and colour. Examples of those works are reproduced here. This magnificent volume is organised chronologically, and records the artist’s work during the early years, his townscapes, portraits of popular characters, the superb drawings of rural life, his paintings in pen and colour. 192 pages 30cm x 24.5cm, 170 colour illus.


£24.95 NOW £11


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