Is there a finer season than summer? The sun is presumably shining, work is in relatively short supply and there’s plenty of opportunity for al fresco reading. This selection of summer art books from Yale University Press contains a diverse collection of titles, ranging from the fantastic treasures of Medieval Germany to the latest rooftop installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The books featured are abundantly illustrated investigations into a variety of subjects and all are ideal for summer reading, and beyond.
Imran Qureshi
Sheena Wagstaff, Ian Alteveer & Navina Najat Haidar
Named the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year for 2013, Imran Qureshi combines traditional motifs and techniques of Islamic art with contemporary reflections on the relationship between Islam and the West. His investigations into ornamentation reference both the miniature painting of the Mughal tradition, in which he was trained, and large, site-specific installations in architectural space, which address both the building itself and its historical and political meanings. Qureshi’s Roof Garden Installation will remain on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until November, giving visitors the chance to explore his work for themselves. This volume discusses the specific interplay between the artist’s vision and the particulars of the space for which the work was created. An interview with Qureshi highlights the traditions from which his work derives, as well as the political and aesthetic connotations that inform this latest creation.
Printmaking in Paris: The Rage for Prints at the Fin De Siecle
Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho & Marije Vellekoop
In the years between 1890 and 1905, Paris witnessed a revolution in printmaking. Before this time, prints had primarily served reproductive or political ends, but, as the century came to a close, artistic quality became paramount, and printmaking blossomed into an autonomous art form. This gorgeously illustrated and accessibly written book looks at the circumstances in which this terrific new enthusiasm for prints unfolded; the principal players in its development; and the various printmaking techniques being used. Most modern French artists experimented with lithographs, etchings, or woodcuts, many of which were published in small editions intended for art connoisseurs and collectors. Colourful prints designed by Pierre Bonnard, Paul Gauguin, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edouard Vuillard, among others, were seen and admired all over Paris in the form of illustrated theatre programmes, sheet music, magazines, books and street posters.
Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim
Peter Barnet & Michael Brandt
Hildesheim, Germany, was a leading centre of art between 1000 and 1250, when outstanding precious works, such as the larger-than-life size Ringelheim Crucifix, illuminated manuscripts lavishly bound in jewelled covers, and a monumental bronze baptismal font, were commissioned for its churches and cathedral. In 1985, UNESCO designated St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Michael’s Church in Hildesheim a world cultural heritage site, recognising them as monuments of medieval art with exceptionally rich treasures. Despite its significance, Hildesheim’s incomparable collection of medieval church furnishings is little known outside of Germany. This book provides the first comprehensive examination in English of the city’s treasures, its leading role in the art of the Middle Ages, and its churches’ history of commissioning and collecting outstanding objects.
Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena
John Marciari & Suzanne Boorsch
Francesco Vanni was the most important artist in Siena at the turn of the 17th century. His works combine dazzling technical virtuosity and brilliant colouring with the naturalistic approach employed by his more famous contemporaries Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio. Beautifully illustrated and featuring new research, Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena is the definitive resource on the artist. John Marciari investigates Vanni’s career, including his connections with patrons and his adaptation of traditional subject matter to serve the Counter-Reformation. Suzanne Boorsch explores Vanni’s engagement with printmakers and the dissemination of his compositions through prints. The catalogue examines more than 80 paintings, drawings and prints, including the Madonna della Pappa, one of Vanni’s masterpieces.
From Still Life to the Screen: Print Culture, Display, and the Materiality of the Image in Eighteenth-Century London
Joseph Monteyne
From Still Life to the Screen explores the print culture of 18th-century London, focusing on the correspondences between images and consumer objects. In his lively and insightful text, Joseph Monteyne considers such themes as the display of objects in still lifes and markets, the connoisseur’s fetishistic gaze, and the fusion of body and ornament in satires of fashion. The desire for goods emerged in tandem with modern notions of identity, in which things were seen to mirror and symbolise the self. Prints, particularly graphic satires by such artists as Matthew and Mary Darly, James Gillray, William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson and Paul Sandby, were actively involved in this shift. Many of these images reveal the recurring motif of image display, whether on screens, by magic lanterns, or in ‘raree-shows’ and print-shop windows.
JFK: A Photographic Memoir
Lee Friedlander
The public outpouring of support for newly elected President John F. Kennedy in 1960 was exceeded in scope and magnitude by the manifestations of grief and mourning after his assassination in 1963. These responses had an unusually strong visual component: likenesses of the president were framed in shop windows, pinned to living room walls, and plastered in public spaces across the nation. Fifty years after Kennedy’s death, this book observes the public’s reaction to the president’s election and assassination, featuring many photographs published here for the first time. In his travels throughout America during this period, Lee Friedlander encountered these responses and photographed what he witnessed.
Josef Albers: Interaction of Color ipad app
Josef Albers
Yale University Press is proud to announce the landmark release of the digital edition of Interaction of Color. One of the most influential books on colour ever written, now in the 50th anniversary year of its publication, Josef Albers’ masterwork achieves its full, interactive potential in this groundbreaking new application. Created by Yale in partnership with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and developed by Potion Design, this captivating interactive experience is inspired by Albers’ teaching methodologies and will transform the way colour is taught and understood among teachers, students, designers, artists and anyone interested in learning how we perceive and use colour. You can see more about the app on Pinterest and Facebook.
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