Over the course of his artistic career, Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944) transformed not only his own style, but the course of art history. From early figurative and landscape painting, he went on to pioneer a spiritual, emotive, rhythmic use of color and line and is today credited with creating the first purely abstract work. As much a teacher and theorist as he was a practicing artist, Kandinsky's interests in music, theater, poetry, philosophy, ethnology, myth, and the occult, were all essential components to his painting and engraving. He was involved with both the influential Blaue Reiter and Bauhaus groups and ... |
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While anchoring his practice in the traditions of antiquity and the Renaissance, Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917) paved the way for modern sculpture. From a very early stage, he was interested in movement, the expression of the body, chance effects, and the incomplete fragment. It was these elements that gave shape, and the impression of life, to such famous works as The Kiss and The Thinker. Produced in collaboration with the Musée Rodin, this "Taschen" Basic Art introduction examines the formative years of Rodin's training as well as the key stages of his subsequent career. It retraces the genesis of his ... |
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Complete and unabridged. A pocket sized book - 10 x 15.5 cm. ... James Joyce 's first novel follows the life of Stephen Dedalus, an artistic and fiercely individual young man. Along the way, Stephen learns to negotiate the "snares of the world", to avoid the pitfalls of his dysfunctional family, his terrifying and repressive boarding school, and the various beautiful young ladies who capture his heart. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is an unforgettable depiction of childhood and adolescence, as well as a lyrical evocation of life in Ireland over a century ago. It shocked readers on its ... |
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Hailed the "Prince of the Impressionists", Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) transformed expectations for the purpose of paint on canvas. Defying the precedent of centuries, Monet did not seek to render only reality, but the act of perception itself. Working "en plein air" with rapid, impetuous brush strokes, he interrogated the play of light on the hues, patterns, and contours and the way in which these visual impressions fall upon the eye. Monet's interest in this space "between the motif and the artist" encompassed too the ephemeral nature of each image we see. In his beloved water lily ... |
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Complete and unabridged. A pocket sized book - 10 x 15.5 cm. Illustrated by John Gilbert. ... "The Tempest" is Shakespeare's masterpiece of magical effects, redemptive romance, poetry and politics. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features illustrations by renowned artist Sir John Gilbert and an introduction by actor, writer and director Simon Callow. Prospero has long been exiled from Italy and banished to a ... |
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Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of the Italian Baroque, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial, violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run. Though famed for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all Caravaggio's boundary-breaking naturalism which scorched his name into the annals of art history. From the dirtied soles of feet to the sexualized languor of bare flesh, the artist allowed even sacred and biblical scenes to unfold with a startling, often visceral humanity. This ... |
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300 years before "A Game of Thrones" dragons ruled Westeros. The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work, the inspiration for HBO's upcoming "Game of Thrones" prequel series House of the Dragon. Centuries before the events of "A Game of Thrones", House Targaryen - the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria took up residence on Dragonstone. "Fire & Blood" begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, ... |
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A brief history of all things: Mathematical. ... In this book, Johnny Ball tells one of the most important stories in world history - the story of mathematics. By introducing us to the major characters and leading us through many historical twists and turns, Johnny slowly unravels the tale of how humanity built up a knowledge and understanding of shapes, numbers and patterns from ancient times, a story that leads directly to the technological wonderland we live in today. As Galileo said, 'Everything in the universe is written in the language of mathematics', and Wonders Beyond Numbers is your guide to this ... |
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"For a person to write a book like this, he has to love art, passionately and selflessly, and to love, of course, the artist as well. The author possesses these qualities in full measure. But even with the love, enthusiasm, and admiration that permeate the entire book, it in no way amounts to a glorification, veneration, or canonization of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev’s image. Quite the opposite - the author has succeeded in keeping a necessary distance, allowing him the opportunity to combine an up-close and a distant view of the artist. He doesn’t carve a monument, he doesn’t paint an icon; rather, he presents a dynamic image, ... |
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Complete and unabridged. A pocket sized book - 10 x 15.5 cm. Illustrated by John Gilbert. ... Comedy and tragedy intertwine when two very different couples fall in and out of love in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features illustrations by renowned artist Sir John Gilbert and an introduction from Professor Tiffany Stern. Whilst Beatrice and Benedick both despise love, exchanging ... |
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Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there's no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn't expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry. For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is keeping some major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it. The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can't seem ... |
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Complete and unabridged. A pocket sized book - 10 x 15.5 cm. ... Evocative of "the blue remembered hills" of his youth, Alfred Edward Housman's "A Shropshire Lad" is a collection of sixty-three poems of extraordinary beauty and feeling. Set in a semi-imaginary pastoral Shropshire, Housman's verse considers the helplessness of man, the fragility of life and the terrible effects of war, against the background of an achingly beautiful countryside. Inspirational for generations of readers, "A Shropshire Lad", with its sweeping themes of youth and love, has found its way into the canon ... |
