James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was a central figure in the artistic life of mid-19th-century Paris and London. His distinct aesthetic--appreciating a work of art as an arrangement of colors, lines, and shapes, was a precursor for the abstract art of the 20th century. This retrospective brings together Whistler's letters, interviews, and other writings--many previously unpublished. In letters to other artists, family, and patrons, Whistler discusses his principles of composition, his use of the terms "Nocturne" and "Symphony," the rights of dealers and owners, and his celebrated libel suit ... View More...
This classic portfolio uses elevations, floor plans, and other line drawings by Scotland's first great classical architect to document the high Scottish style of the eighteenth century. It was assembled by William Adam (1689-1748), whose sons were the developers of the "Adam style," and published posthumously in 1812. The elder Adam designed, extended, and remodeled numerous country homes and undertook many public contracts. Vitruvius Scoticus's 160 plates include 100 of his own designs.Unlike the Vitruvius Britannicus books, this volume features plans for many smaller buildings that served as... View More...
Contemporary art is obsessed with the politics of identity. Visit any contemporary gallery, museum or theatre, and chances are the art on offer will be principally concerned with race, gender, sexuality, power and privilege.The quest for truth, freedom and the sacred has been thrust aside to make room for identity politics. Mystery, individuality and beauty are out; radical feminism, racial grievance and queer theory are in. The result is a drearily predictable culture and the narrowing of the space for creative self-expression and honest criticism, the things that draw most people to art in t... View More...
Near fine 2 vol. set -- hand-tied, orange cloth boards are slightly bowed, but otherwise in mint condition, in fine dark blue slipcase with faux ivory fasteners, along with original cardboard storage box which has one loosened side. Table of contents and plate labels in English, other text in Japanese. An elegant work of art all in itself. View More...
"One of the most important books on color ever written."--Michael Hession, Gizmodo "Interaction of Color with its illuminating visual exercises and mind-bending optical illusions, remains an indispensable blueprint to the art of seeing. . . . An essential piece of visual literacy."--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings Josef Albers's classic Interaction of Color is a masterwork in art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers's singular explanation of complex color theory principles. Originally published by Yale ... View More...
The venerable cities of the past, such as Venice or Amsterdam, convey a feeling of wholeness, an organic unity that surfaces in every detail, large and small, in restaurants, shops, public gardens, even in balconies and ornaments. But this sense of wholeness is lacking in modern urban design, with architects absorbed in problems of individual structures, and city planners preoccupied with local ordinances, it is almost impossible to achieve. In this groundbreaking volume, architect and planner Christopher Alexander presents a new theory of urban design which attempts to recapture the process b... View More...
As an innovative thinker about building and planning, Christopher Alexander has attracted a devoted following. His seminal books--The Timeless Way of Building, A Pattern Language, and The Oregon Experiment--defined a radical and fundamently new process of environmental design. Alexander now gives us the latest book in his series--a book that puts his theories to the test and shows what sort of production system can create the kind of environment he has envisioned. The Production of Houses centers around a group of buildings which Alexander and his associates built in 1976 in northern Mexico. E... View More...
The theory of architecture implicit in our world today, Christopher Alexander believes, is bankrupt. More and more people are aware that something is deeply wrong. Yet the power of present-day ideas is so great that many feel uncomfortable, even afraid, to say openly that they dislike what ishappening, because they are afraid to seem foolish, afraid perhaps that they will be laughed at. Now, at last, there is a coherent theory which describes in modern terms an architecture as ancient as human society itself. The Timeless Way of Building is the introductory volume in the Center for Environment... View More...
You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to work with your neighbors to improve your town and neighborhood; you can use it to design an office, or a workshop, or a public building. And you can use it to guide you in the actual process ofconstruction. After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure are now publishing a major statement in the form of three books which will, in their words, "lay the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will wehope r... View More...
This book is a record of the first 25 years of Christians in the Visual Arts and features more than 200 images that showcase the work of CIVA's most accomplished artists and highlight the quality and breadth of its many traveling exhibitions, conferences, directories, and publications. View More...
Christianity Today's 2017 Book of the Year Award of Merit - Culture and the ArtsFor many Christians, engaging with modern art raises several questions: Is the Christian faith at odds with modern art? Does modernism contain religious themes? What is the place of Christian artists in the landscape of modern art? Nearly fifty years ago, Dutch art historian and theologian Hans Rookmaaker offered his answers to these questions when he published his groundbreaking work, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, which was characterized by both misgivings and hopefulness. While appreciating Rookmaaker's ... View More...
