Basic Art & Architecture

The arresting paintings of Frida Kahlo were in many ways expressions of trauma. Through a near-fatal road accident at the age of 18, failing health, a turbulent marriage, miscarriage and childlessness, she transformed the afflictions into revolutionary...

This Is Not a Book Everyday enigma from Belgium's leading Surrealist From men in bowler hats, floating in the sky, to a painting of a pipe above the caption "this is not a pipe", René Magritte (1898–1967) created an echo chamber of object and image, name...

 Thinking Eye A unique language of symbols, literature, and light With meticulous theories and many thousands of paintings, drawings, and watercolors, Paul Klee (1879–1940) is considered one of the most cerebral and prolific leaders of 20th-century...

When is a urinal no longer a urinal? When Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) declared it to be art. The uproar that greeted the French artist’s Fountain  (1917), a porcelain urinal installed in a gallery, sent shock waves  through the art world...

Unleash the unconscious Provoking the establishment with primal instincts With Salvador Dalí as its figurehead, the great ship of Surrealism traversed the turbulent seas of the early 20th century with sails billowing with dreams and desires. Inspired by...

Mood Marks The painterly gestures of personal feelings Hailed as the first American-born art movement to have a worldwide influence, Abstract Expressionism denotes the non-representational use of paint as a means of personal expression. It emerged in...

Between Heaven and Hell Hieronymus Bosch’s meticulous visions of the grotesque, debauched, and divine As cryptic as they are compelling, the masterpieces of Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) remain some of the most enduring enigmas of the art world. Their...

  All about the Belle Époque Delicate illustration that defined an era With his instantly recognizable decorative style, Czech artist and Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) defined the look of the fin-de-siècle. In evocative shades of...

Sculptural Structures Eero Saarinen’s new dimensions The creator of the ubiquitous Knoll “Tulip” chairs and tables, Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) was one of the 20th century’s most prominent space shapers, merging dynamic forms with a modernist sensibility...

The creative duo Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser Eames transformed the visual character of America. Though best known for their furniture, the husband and wife team were also forerunners in architecture, textile design, photography, and film.   The...

The Japanese woodblock print showcased breathtaking landscapes, blush-inducing erotica, ghosts and demons that torment the living, and made sumo wrestlers and kabuki actors into rock stars. This book reveals the most exceptional prints from 1710–1925,...

A hairless, ghostly figure on a bridge. The sky orange-red above him.  His hands raised to his ears, his mouth wide in a haunting wail. In  painting The Scream, Edvard Munch created Mona Lisa for our times. The shriek of his iconic figure...

In our imaginings of Paris, painter and graphic artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) has no small role to play. In his prints, posters, paintings, and drawings, the artist immortalized the city’s Belle Époque nightlife and put the northern...

From majestic desertscapes to magnified lilies and irises, survey the unique and luminous oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe, a seminal figure in modern American art and radical pioneer of abstraction. This book  follows the artist through her pioneering...

 Back to the Années Folles A vivid cultural portrait of 1920s Paris Paris is the City of Light in all its facets. In the 1920s La Ville des lumières gleams especially bright and becomes a magnet for creative people from around the world. This is the...

William Morris was a polymath designer, writer, artist, and social activist, associated with England's Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as well as Arts and Crafts movement. His prolific design work included tiles, embroidery, tapestries, wallpaper, and carpets...

A key figure in the international avant-garde, Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) was at once an extraordinary painter and leading art theoretician whose influence resonates to this day. Coining the term “Neo-plasticism”, he pursued a style of painting composed...

Enter a world of ravishing light and color. English Romanticist J. M. W. Turner transformed the essence of landscape painting from serene contemplative scenes to pictures pulsating with life, as if the sun itself were gleaming out of his canvases...

Renowned for his distinctive, elongated female nudes, Amedeo Modigliani is a legend of early modernism. His unique figuration corresponded to his own personal idea of beauty, but drew upon a rich variety of visual influences, including contemporary...

Struggling artist turned icon of the modern, urban experience, Edward Hopper is most famed for his haunting nocturnal diner scene Nighthawks. This book introduces his mastery of place, mood, and melancholy through vivid color juxtapositions; stark,...