Eugène Delacroix was highly influential in the 19th century Romanticism art movement and is considered by many art historians to be the most important of the Romantic painters. Delacroix is often attributed with refining Romanticism, not only aesthetically but philosophically, as his work influenced not only art, but also literature. One of Delacroix’s best-known paintings, completed in 1830 and on the cover of this book, is Liberty Leading the People, which represents the Parisian people in their search for liberty, fraternity, and equality, a subject of great importance to the French nation on the heels of their revolution. In 1832, Delacroix traveled to North Africa and Spain as part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco. He sought artistic inspiration, as well as an escape from stifling Parisian society. Delacroix wished to immerse himself in a more primitive—socially and physically—environment in order to find new energy and subjects from which to create art. He produced over 100 works based on his experience in Morocco, furthering a new trend in art called Orientalism. Much of his work remains in French institutions. The Museum Eugène Delacroix is housed in a small building attached to the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

Delacroix (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Arts & Photography

ALSTON, ISABELLA

History & Criticism

Bellagio Press

When Liberace was just seven years old, he memorized the full 17-page score of Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” in one day. No matter your opinion of Liberace’s ostentatious and flamboyant style, his talent on the piano is unarguable. He learned the entertainment business as a teenager playing honky tonks and bars, moving after high school graduation to New York City, “the city that never sleeps.” He found moderate success there, but soon moved to California, staying only a year before returning to The Big Apple. To stand out in an extremely competitive market, Liberace practiced 12 hours a day and originated his unique style, combining the classic works, shortened to appeal to a mass audience, with the popular tunes of the day. It was at this time, in the early 1940s, that he plopped the infamous candelabra on his grand piano. The lavish, over-the-top costumes would come later. Soon, Las Vegas beckoned and Liberace did not look the other way. From 1945 until the end of his life in 1987, Liberace called Las Vegas home―along with his multiple other homes, all of which he decorated in the most lavish (some would say completely kitsch) way imaginable. Liberace was a force to be reckoned with, a very talented and original artist.

Liberace (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

The image most indelibly linked to the term Pin-Up Girl is a busty, long-legged, beautiful woman posing provocatively on calendars, posters, and in magazines primarily during the World War II years, most often in the U.S. military’s Yank magazine. These images make up the quintessential and most recognizable Pin-Up Girls, although they are only representative of a specific era in pin-up history. The Pin-Up Girl has actually been around since the late 19th century. The pin-up genre ran the gambit, both in art and photography, from simply the image of a glamorous and beautiful woman to what was considered quite risqué before the swinging sixties―total nudity. Many Pin-Up Girls made a mark for themselves later as models or actresses, but the launching pad of their careers was a growing market for these “cheesecake” images. Today, sex and nudity are no longer taboo. In the midst of the blatant exhibitionism we find ourselves surrounded by today, the discretion of pin-up is a welcome respite as well as a comforting recollection of years gone by. We invite you to take a stroll down memory lane and enjoy a more innocent time.

Pin-up Girls (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Photography & Video

The French poster, born of a basic utilitarian purpose, has developed with age into an admired and collected art form. Vintage posters command high prices at auction and curators specialize in their restoration. The earliest art-worthy posters appeared on the streets of Paris designed by French-born artists such as Jules Chéret, who popularized poster art with his Maîtres de l’Affiche publication from 1895 to 1899, Paul Émile Berthon, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Other poster artists just as well known but hailing from other countries include Eugène Grasset from Switzerland, Alphonse Mucha from what is now the Czech Republic, and Marcello Dudovich from Italy. The Art Nouveau and Art Deco posters created before and after the turn of the 20th century advertised everything from soap to chocolate, bicycles to cars, coffee to cordials, department stores to nightclubs. They promoted the performing artists in the revues, theaters, and cancan lines that dominated nightlife in the City of Light. Travel, another common poster theme, featured modern ocean liners and airlines as well as terribly exotic destinations and European resorts. This book includes examples of the works of the most popular poster artists working in France from 1890 to the 1930s.

French Posters (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

History

Kathryn Dixon

World

This small softback book is a collection of images and descriptions of some of the most historically important tarot decks ever seen, as well as of the wide variety of themed decks, many illustrated with gorgeous artwork and brilliant colors, currently available in stores today.

Tarot Cards (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Edvard Munch’s career is effectively divided into two periods: those before and after his mental breakdown in 1908. Prior to his psychiatric treatment and recuperation, the underlying themes of his work bounced between dark sorrow and an overt, aggressive sexuality. But after his breakdown, when he had returned to his homeland of Norway after two decades in France and Germany, his work took a decidedly positive turn in theme and subject. Munch’s body of work is now being revisited in a modern context. In recent years Munch has finally gained the attention and appreciation of the public and critics alike. The art world was caught off guard when in May 2012 a pastel version of The Scream , created in 1895, sold at auction for $119.9 million. The Nazis labeled Munch’s art “degenerate” along with the art of his contemporaries such as Picasso, Matisse, his beloved Gauguin, and Paul Klee. Eighty-two of Munch’s paintings were confiscated by the Nazis, but most have now been found.See:

Edvard Munch (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

A small softback book that recounts the life of Coco Chanel from her early days in a French orphanage where she learned to sew to her first boutique in the resort town of Deauville to her iconic house of haute couture at 32 Rue Cambon in the heart of Paris. Over 100 images fill the pages of this "mini" book, creating a thorough review and celebration of Chanel's contribution to the world of fashion in the 20th century.

Coco Chanel (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Historical

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as simply Sandro Botticelli, was born in Florence, Italy, probably in or around 1445. Serendipitously winning a high-profile commission from the Florentine court, he was catapulted to notoriety as wealthy patrons, in particular the Medici family, hired him to create works that celebrated their lives and their family’s lives and marked important events such as weddings. Botticelli’s range was wide: he embellished the walls of the Sistine Chapel with three frescoes, illustrated Dante’s The Divine Comedy (just under 100 drawings still exist), and painted both mythological and religious scenes—Primavera and The Birth of Venus, and Adoration of the Magi, being respective examples of his excellence in the genre. By the end of 15th century, Botticelli came to believe that Humanism—a philosophy embraced by the Medici family—was amoral. His reaction was to burn many of his paintings and thereafter to produce only religious-themed works.

Botticelli (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Edith Head is probably the most iconic of all Hollywood costume designers. Beginning in the early 1930s until her retirement in 1977, Edith Head costumed the stars of over 500 films. With 35 Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design, she won 8― the closest to come to her record is Irene Sharaff, who garnered 15 nominations and 5 wins. Edith Head truly surpassed all of her competition. Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Natalie Wood, Lucille Ball, Barbara Stanwyck, Mae West, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, and Katherine Hepburn are just a few of the female stars Head dressed, both in character and as themselves. And winning her last Oscar for The Sting in 1974 meant that her designs for male stars, explicitly Paul Newman and Robert Redford, were superb as well. Her style acumen stretched from the exotic, historical costumes she designed for Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments to the classic, timeless costumes she designed for Roman Holiday, To Catch a Thief, and Sabrina. This book is a sampling of Edith Head’s most famous work.

Edith Head (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Dixon, Kathryn

Chinese Zodiac [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2013] ALSTON, ISABELLA ...

Chinese Zodiac

TEXAS BOOK

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ALSTON, ISABELLA. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by ALSTON, ISABELLA