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Art
A glimpse inside the mind and artistic process of a fascinating contemporary cartoonist
Born to working-class parents in a small town in Italy, and reared in Chicago, Ivan Brunetti (b. 1967) was drawn to cartoons and comic strips from an early age. Finding inspiration in Spider-Man and Peanuts, he began crafting his own stories and gradually developed a unique style that he applied to imaginative, sometimes shocking subjects. The dark humor of his graphic novels earned him a cult following, yet his illustrations have had broad appeal. Now recognized as an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator, Brunetti has published his work in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and McSweeney's, among others.This eye-popping illustrated autobiography by Brunetti traces his artistic trajectory and output, from youthful doodles to his latest cover illustrations and comic strips. Aesthetics: A Memoir unearths a trove of previously unpublished materials, including working drawings, sketches for cartoons, book covers, personal photographs, and items from the artist's collection of toys and handmade objects. In an introductory essay and captions, Brunetti explains--in a voice that is as quirky, smart, and clear as his drawings--his creative process and aesthetic sensibility. This overarching retrospective conveys Brunetti's philosophy of life and cartooning through his keen words and unforgettable images.
""If Leni Riefenstahl had done nothing but visit Africa and bring back her photographs, her place in history would be secure."" -Kevin Brownlow, from the introduction When she was in her early sixties, Leni Riefenstahl began traveling frequently to the African continent, where she has worked on various film and photography projects over the last half century. Her favorite destination was in Sudan, where she lived with and photographed the Nuba tribespeople, learning their language and becoming their friend. The Nuba were a loving and peaceful people who welcomed Riefenstahl as one of their own. Her images of the Nuba, as well as of the Dinka, Shilluk, Masai, and other tribes, are gathered in this monumental book. Riefenstahl remembers her experiences in Africa as the happiest moments in her life. Her beautiful, skilled photographs represent a landmark in the extraordinary career of the 20th century's most unforgettable artistic pioneer. * Interview by Kevin Brownlow * Extensive bibliography and biography section
Part memoir, part meditation, this intimate portfolio is a collection of vivid stories and evocative images that honor this immense and wild land. Through breathtaking illustrations and a well-informed narration, the collection captures an Africa full of color and texture, energy and motion, passion and hope. In addition to sketches drawn while trekking, the book features reproductions of final pieces painted on a variety of materials - bronze, copper, rice paper, silk - and expressed through the ancient art of sumi. Accompanying sidebars reveal facts about the various African animals - lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, water buffalo, and the like - such as their markings, size, behavior, gestation, life span, predators, defense, and conservation measures being taken to save them.
An exciting addition to White Star's renowned aerial presentation series, this handsome, compact volume takes readers on a memorable trip over Africa, giving them a rare glimpse of its spectacular, diverse landscapes and wildlife. Photojournalist Paolo Novaresio shares with readers his love of Africa in a portfolio of photographs that transports us to a land that remains, in many ways, wild and untamed. He captured unparalleled pictures of animal herds, savannahs, deserts, and deep jungle by using various means of aerial transport, including a montgolfier, a helicopter, and a twin-engine plane. His unique photographic techniques showcase the topography, light, and color of an entire region at a glance. More than 550 color photographs reveal a hidden Africa that readers could never experience without the benefit of these stunning above-ground views. Among the regions and countries photographed are Northern Africa and the Sahara Desert, Central Africa, Tanzania, Niger, Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Southern Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Armchair safari adventurers and world travelers alike will relish this aerial excursion over Africa.
With examples from every region of the continent, "African Art" demonstrates the wide variety of creative design and describes the social and religious background for each piece.
Aiming to place designs at the reader's fingertips, this collected edition includes motifs - masks, votary figures, fetishes, textile designs and others. It also includes an introduction to the art of each group.
The late 1950s and early 1960s saw a large number of central and sub-Saharan African countries gaining independence, and one of the key ways in which they expressed their newly established national identity was through distinctive architecture. Parliament buildings, stadiums, universities, central banks, convention centers, and other major public buildings and housing projects were built in daring, even heroic designs--markers of the bright future these nations envisioned after independence. African Modernism is the first book to take a close look at the relationship between these cutting-edge architectural projects and the processes of nation building in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Zambia. Presenting some seven hudnred color photographs by celebrated photographers Iwan Baan and Alexia Webster and insightful analyses of the interactions of architectural innovation and developing national political and social cultures, African Modernism will be of interest to historians of architecture and Africa alike.
Describes the traditional designs of the Moors, Berbers, Abyssinian Christians and more from jewellery, tattoos, camel bags, rugs and other ornamented objects.
Illustrated with more than 100 color and black-and-white photos, a rich celebration linking the vibrancy of Black identity and expression with mainstream popular culture from the past to the present.
The top memes, movements, and milestone moments dominating today's social media have focused on Beyoncé, Rihanna, Hip-Hop, Usher, Black Enterprise crews, Abbott Elementary's rise, and Oprah's slim down. Driven by Black millennials, these trending topics demonstrate the influence and power of Black artistry and celebrity in American popular culture and around the globe. As Shirley Neal argues, this is more than just a fleeting style. It is a profound display of how pop culture is being used as a conduit for the revival of Black identity, culture, and history.
The impact of Blackness in pop culture has never been as significant as it is today. African-themed searches have grown exponentially, and the surge of interest in Black pop culture crosses generations. Beautifully designed, Afrocentric Style explores the connection between Black identity and mainstream culture, interweaving more than 100 full-color and archival black-and-white photographs with thought-provoking commentary that offers parallels between the top Afrocentric stories that have trended on social media and their historical roots.
Timely and timeless, this stunning anthology educates celebrates, and elevates readers' knowledge about the powerful influence of Afrocentric Style on mainstream pop culture and America's increasingly diverse society.
Since she first came to the attention of the art world nearly ten years ago, Kara Walker has become one of the most important artists of her generation. Championed by the art world for her fearless embrace of challenging subject matter, Walker has created a body of work that looks unflinchingly at racial inequality in the United States. Known for her bold images using the traditional silhouette, Walker upends the genteel, Victorian origins of the medium by graphically portraying scenes from the antebellum South to explore the politics of slavery, race, and gender. Inspired by the tragedy that beset the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Walker has created a volume exploring the interconnectedness of the subject of the sea, race, and poverty by juxtaposing examples of her work and historical works from the 19th century. This unique and important book capitalizes on Walker's deftness at graphic and visceral storytelling, affording the reader a deeply intimate experience of the difficult themes the artist explores.
The world was in ruin at the end of World War II: from the Blitz in London to the aftermath of the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
A small group of Army soldiers witnessed it all.
They photographed Germany's last push, the Battle of the Bulge, and they rode into Germany to witness unimagined destruction. They documented the Burma Road, which opened Mainland China to supplies, and saw war atrocities as far away as the Philippines.
These soldier photographers are acclaimed for their war photographs, but their work showing the impact of total war has never been compiled in a book.
As towns fell and the result of years of war were being laid bare, the world began to comprehend the impact of the war. Ruined cities were unearthed. The gates of concentration camps were flung open. Former prisoners, captured soldiers, and desperate refugees scoured the landscape for food and shelter.
These GIs used cameras instead of guns, witnessing and capturing the loss and destruction on film. Their work is a remarkable record of pictures that is now housed at the National Archives. The photos they left behind are beautiful and brutal: cemeteries and churches. POWs and DPs. Surrenders and suicides. Liberators and prisoners.
Many of the photos have never before been seen. None have been seen like this--scanned directly from original negatives for this book. Aftershock is a permanent record that shows what these soldiers saw. And it tells the story of these young photographers, whose lives were changed forever because of 1945.
The Art Institute of Chicago, although renowned for its holdings of works by the French Impressionists, also houses a wealth of superb examples by American proponents of this distinctive style. The breadth of the museum's collection of American Impressionism is rich, with a substantial body of paintings and watercolors by Winslow Homer, who is seen today as a precursor to Impressionism, as well as impressive portfolios of work by Americans living in Europe, such as James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent, and the only American who was officially part of the French group, Mary Cassatt. In addition, important paintings and watercolors by notable artists such as Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, George Inness, Mauric Prendergast, and John Twachtman are included, along with handsomely reproduced images by lesser-known artists who worked in the Impressionist vein.
Over the course of a career that spanned fifty years, Agnes Martin's austere, serene work anticipated and helped to define Minimalism, even as she battled psychological crises and carved out a solitary existence in the American Southwest. Martin identified with the Abstract Expressionists but her commitment to linear geometry caused her to be associated in turn with Minimalist, feminist, and even outsider artists. She moved through some of the liveliest art communities of her time while maintaining a legendary reserve. "I paint with my back to the world," she says both at the beginning and at the conclusion of a documentary filmed when she was in her late eighties. When she died at ninety-two, in Taos, New Mexico, it is said she had not read a newspaper in half a century.
Agnes Martin, the recipient of two career retrospectives as well as the National Medal of the Arts, was championed by critics as diverse in their approaches as Lucy Lippard, Lawrence Alloway, and Rosalind Krauss. The whole engrossing story, now available in paperback, Agnes Martin is essential reading for anyone interested in abstract art or the history of women artists in America.
Return to thetear-stained, melodramatic heyday of romance comics in this fantastic anthologyof the genre's best stories, covers, advice columns, and more! In a valentineto a bygone era, perfect for fans of modern love stories, Archie comics, and series like Strangers in Paradise, pop-culture expert Michael Barson celebrates the stories that captivated the Americanimagination during the 1950s and 1960s. Readers of books like From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Female Comics From Teens to Zines will be captivated by this one-of-a-kind look atfour-color female portrayals, while collectors of the history of Golden Agecomics will be entranced by crucial stories from Fawcett, Marvel, DC, and manymore comics publishing giants. Above all, however, the indelible pathos at theheart of every Agonizing Love story makes Barson'scollection more than a pop-culture artifact; it's also an unforgettable lookinto the heart of true romance.
Since constructing his own studio in 1999, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has designed or collaborated with other architects on a wide range of architectural projects. These collaborations were the subject of Ai Weiwei: Art/Architecture, a 2011 exhibition at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, which this catalogue accompanies. A highlight of this overview is the widely celebrated "Bird's Nest" Beijing National Stadium, a collaboration between Ai and the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron that was constructed for the 2008 Olympic Games. Another feature is a new work based on a project titled "Ordos 10" for which Ai invited 100 young architectural firms worldwide to design single-family houses for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. An essay in the catalogue examines the role of architecture in relation to Ai's political activities, an issue of particular relevance since his arrest and conditional release in 2011.
This book covers a recent sculptural installation by the Chinese artist, architect and radical intellectual, Ai Weiwei--who is currently being watched the world over for his work on China's 2008 Olympic Stadium, designed in collaboration with the Swiss Architects, Herzog & de Meuron. Fragments depicts a mysterious large-scale sculpture that hybridizes architectural elements from several Chinese temples. "Each architectural element in a temple has a precise order. The fragments in my installation are from three or four temples, so everything is wrongly connected and misfit. They serve no purpose to each other, and the whole structure serves no purpose at all. At the beginning, many of my carpenters quit, despite the fact that I paid them a high salary and never rushed them. They quit because they didn't know what their job was for--why the table needed to be cut a certain way, or why the patina should be kept and joints hidden.
Recent work of one of China's most important and outspoken contemporary artists is featured in this book. One of China's most controversial artists, Ai Weiwei is also one of the world's most prominent critics of the Chinese government. A critic of China's handling of such matters as the 2008 Olympic Games, and the tragedy of the 2008 earthquake, Ai Weiwei brings questions about tradition, history, modernity, and change to his works of sculpture, architecture, photography and his blog texts. This attractive volume includes images of Ai Weiwei's acclaimed Fairytale installation for the 2007 Documenta in Kassel, German, as well as illustrations of his furniture and woodwork, teapots and vases, video stills and his recent works for the exhibition at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. These include Remembering, an installation at the front facade at the Haus der Kunst with backpacks, which commemorates the Sichuan Earthquake and the thousands of children who died in their schools then. Other works are Soft Ground and Rooted Upon. In addition to illustrations of Ai Weiwei's three-dimensional work, there are numerous photographs, images of installations in situ, and blog entries and poems by the artist.