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

Elizabeth Taylor is one a series of biographies created purely to be a small (only 6-inch square, 96-page mini book!) token of remembrance for the larger-than-life personality it celebrates. For less than the price of a cappuccino, sit back, relax, and enjoy! Loaded with photographs, this little book chronicles her life's accomplishments, triumphs, and disappointments.

Elizabeth Taylor (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Dixon, Kathryn

Arts & Literature

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)

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 earliest botanical illustrations are found in ancient herbals, practical works of knowledge written to pass on crucial information about how to heal the sick. Around the time of the Renaissance, however, flowers began to be more generally appreciated for their beauty, thus encouraging talented artists to attempt to capture their magic. Botanical illustration developed into a high art form during the golden era of the 18th and early 19th centuries. From that era date some of the most stunning examples of botanical art ever made. The earliest known examples of published botanical illustration can be found in the five-volume De Materia Medica written by the ancient Greek physician and scholar Pedanius Dioscorides, a traveling physician from Asia Minor who followed the Emperor Nero’s army as it campaigned across the Roman Empire. Many other illustrators followed in the path of Dioscorides―even Leonardo da Vinci tried his hand at botanicals―but undoubtedly the most well-known illustrator is the Flemish artist Pierre Joseph Redouté (1759–1840), who painted exact scientific illustrations for the botanist Charles Louis L’Héritier. Redouté also became Marie-Antoinette’s official draftsman and Painter to the Queen’s Cabinet, especially well known today for his illustrations of roses.

Botanical Prints (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Science & Math

Forty, Sandra

Biological Sciences

Gauguin’s paintings are redolent of the South Sea islands, full of exotic women, vibrant flora, and brilliant color. In addition, his scenes range from normal life in France’s Brittany, to Provence where he painted and lived briefly with Vincent van Gogh, to French Polynesia. Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was born in Paris on June 7, 1848. After Napoléon III became the president of France, Gauguin’s family left for Peru in December 1849. They remained there four years at which point they returned to Paris. An early exposure to a non-European lifestyle and culture undoubtedly opened Gauguin’s mind to his later fascination with the Caribbean and with Tahiti and the peoples of those islands he portrayed so eloquently. Gauguin, a banker, started painting in his spare time. He never had any formal art training but set about painting as a hobby with commendable amateur skill. His first paintings were inspired by Corot and the Barbizon School and featured romantic-naturalist subject matter. He soon aligned himself with the Impressionists, but is now labeled by art historians as a Post-Impressionist. Gauguin called himself a Synthesist. His technique was often called Cloisonnisme.

Paul Gauguin (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Just a few short years after WWII ended, Audrey Hepburn was discovered in a Monte Carlo hotel lobby by the French novelist Colette to assume the title role in the Broadway production of Gigi. Having barely survived the war in her home in Arnhem, Netherlands, Audrey was forced to give up her dream of being a prima ballerina because she was both too tall and too malnourished from the starvation and deprivation she suffered during the war years. An immediate success as Gigi, Audrey was whisked away to Rome to film Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck. The role of Princess Anne would win her an Oscar for Best Actress, the first of five nominations throughout her career. This book tells the story of Audrey Hepburn, one of only ten actors to win a competitive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy. But, in her eyes, possibly the best role of her career was that of Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. Her firsthand experiences in the Netherlands during WWII uniquely qualified her to relate to children devastated by war and famine and to convincingly advocate on their behalf to the most powerful men and women of the 1980s and 1990s.

Audrey Hepburn (The TAJ Mini Book Series)

Art appreciation can never start too early in a child’s life. The art and artists that are included in this little book have been chosen to appeal to girls aged three to ten years. The text is intended to engage a little girl’s curiosity and encourage her imagination whether the book is read to her or she reads it alone. The pictures speak for themselves so a child of any age can thumb through the pages of the book at her leisure. Choosing only thirty artists and only three paintings of each is by definition a very selective process. As a result, many noteworthy, indeed truly great, artists have been excluded. Likewise, the artist’s paintings presented in this book may not be the artist’s most important works because the subject or scene depicted in those works are not appropriate for a child’s book. Instead, the works were selected with the goal of instilling in readers a desire to know more about art and the creative process and to be attracted to and identify with the colors, subjects, and scenes. As a little girl grows older, she will experience this book in different ways and from varying perspectives. The Little Girl’s Little Book of Art will grow with your little girl, suggesting new insights and ideas as the years go by. See:

The Little Girl's Little Book of Art

Study & Teaching

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)

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Books by Bellagio Press