Louis Faurer

Anne Wilkes Tucker

Lisa Hostetler

Kathleen V.

Merrell

From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. The Contemporary African Art Collection-which is essentially run by only two guys, Italian collector Jean Pigozzi and French curator André Magnin-has managed to make some people very angry. Is it not the worst sort of cultural colonialism, detractors ask, for two white Westerners to define what contemporary African art is, especially when their collection consists almost exclusively of self-taught artists? But, as they make clear in the interviews included here, Pigozzi and Magnin make no claim to do anything other than present artists they love, and it is their idiosyncratic tastes that make this catalog (which is being published in conjunction with an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston) such a surprise and a pleasure. The surprise comes from the sheer scope of inventiveness and variety on display: from the spare, ominous watercolors of Barthélémy Toguo (from Cameroon) to the surrealistic allegories Cheri Samba (of Congo) paints in a slick, commercial art style. Some of the artists produce work at a polar extreme from the scruffy, homemade look one might expect from "outsider" artists: Rigobert Nimi of Congo uses scavenged materials to build gleaming, precisely rendered models of spaceships and robot factories, and Abu Bockari Mansaray of Sierra Leone draws maniacally detailed diagrams of such devices as a "Nuclear Telephone Discovered in Hell." If there is any flaw in this presentation of an explosively imaginative group of artists (33 of them in all, from 14 countries), it is that, with only two or three images for each artist, it feels far too short. Still, for open-minded readers more interested in art itself than what Pigozzi calls "intellectual art gossip," this is a book to linger over and absorb slowly, one intoxicating vision at a time.

African Art Now: Masterpieces From the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Thomas McEvilley

Andre Magnin

Alison De Lima Greene

Alvia J. Wardlaw

Arts & Photography

Impressionist Camera: Pictorial Photography in Europe, 1888-1918

Saint Louis Art Museum)

New Testament

Mark Catesby's Natural History of America: Watercolours from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle

Science & Math

anna-gruetzner-robins-barbican-art-gallery

Nature & Ecology

The art of the silversmith is at the cutting edge of modern design. Complex and vital, the work in the field of contemporary silverware combines ancient skills and techniques with the latest innovations in technology to produce objects that both reflect and challenge current aesthetic ideas.Taking as their brief the design of a simple fish server or cake slice, the British and American silversmiths whose work is represented in the more than sixty-strong collection of Benton Seymour Rabinovitch have produced an astonishing range of variations on a single theme. From the minimal simplicity of the purely functional to the lavish ostentation of the truly baroque, these pieces utilize elements of sea life, Scandinavian design, Florida Art Deco, eighteenth-century Rococo and totemic, timeless symbols of the natural world to forceful effect. Whether entirely abstract or startlingly representative, what these pieces have in common is the immense technical mastery that has gone into their design and construction - as well as the fact that, no matter how fantastic their appearance, they are all meant for practical use.Each piece in the collection is lavishly illustrated in colour with a specially commissioned photograph and accompanied by an account of the work's conception. Personal accounts of the artists' guiding aesthetic and technical principles provide a long-needed, unique and authoritative window into current design practice both in Britain and the United States.What keeps silversmithing alive today is the practice of commissioning, by individuals as well as institutions. Commissioning offers the prestige of associating with some of the world's greatest silversmiths, the pleasure of owning something unique and handwrought, and the opportunity of contributing to the survival of the craft - a personal stake in the future.The authors provide a step-by-step guide to commissioning one's own pieces, as well as a design-historical context to the last fifty years of the craft. Designers and makers, curators and collectors, craft writers and historians, as well as anyone interested in the beautiful, will find this volume a fund of information and inspiration.AUTHORBIO: Professor Benton Seymour Rabinovitch is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (London), a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Silver Society (London). He is a long-time collector of antique silver and serving pieces and is the author of Antique Silver Servers for the Dining Table. Helen Clifford, MA (Cantab), PhD (RCA), FSA, is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a member of the Silver Society (London) and an honorary member of the Association of British Designer-Silversmiths. She has written and curated exhibitions on historical and contemporary silver.

Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Benton Seymour Rabinovitch

Helen Clifford

Crafts & Hobbies

Until now, the rich textile tradition of the Ottoman Empire has rarely been been given the detailed consideration it deserves. Sumru Belger Krody here examines the practice of the intricate art of embroidery, which united the various ethnic and religious groups of the empire under a single aesthetic and gave rise to flowers of silk and gold that still enchant our imagination. 
 The Imperial City of Istanbul was the seat of power of the Ottoman Empire for nearly five hundred years, and like most imperial capitals it was a center for trade. The bazaars of this cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse city were famous for the embroidered textiles produced both by men in the city's workshops, and by women in the seclusion of the harems. In the decoration of their homes, the Ottomans mirrored the colors and abundance of their astonishing gardens; the wall hangings, cushions, and divan covers of the private houses of the city, products of the most exquisite design on the finest and rarest of cloth, combined to give an impression of opulence and luxury to astonished Western eyes. Embroidered textiles served as furniture and ornament in daily life and during rites of passage, while their production and sale provided an income for their makers, who occupied every level of Ottoman society up to the Palace harem and court workshop. 
 The Textile Museum's renowned collection of Ottoman embroidery began with a single purchase by its founder, George Hewitt Myers, in 1915. Flowers of Silk and Gold introduces this little-known but highly important collection for the first time. Examining the history of the various stitches, fabrics, and designs employed during Ottoman rule in Europe and Asia, as well as the social, political, and economic factors influencing their production and consumption, Flowers of Silk and Gold combines perspectives to give an engrossing insight into the glorious works of art of an unfamiliar, much-fantasized world.

Flowers of Silk & Gold: Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery

Krody, Sumru Belger

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Hidden Threads of Peru: Q'Ero Textiles by Rowe, Ann Pollard and John Cohen (2002) Hardcover

Pollard, Ann

Rowe, John Cohen

Decorative Arts & Design

An Imperial Collection: Women Artists from the State Hermitage Museum

Pomeroy, Jordana and Rosalind P. Gray

History & Criticism

This book publishes for the first time one of the supreme accomplishments of nineteenth century urban photography, a series of large-plate views of Reconstruction New Orleans entitled La Nouvelle Orléans et ses environs, taken in 1867 by the German-born photographer Theodore Lilienthal (1829-–1894). Comprising the first official photographic survey of any American city, the images –feature every aspect of the city, from Garden District mansions, churches and synagogues to mills, refineries and breweries. The photographs were exhibited at the Paris World Exposition of 1867 before being presented to Napoléon III, emperor of France (1852–-70). The author examines Lilienthal'’s photographic method and contextualizes his work in the history of New Orleans and Civil War photography. Short essays on each of the 126 photographs investigate the subject matter of the images in depth, often illuminating the architectural, urban, social, economic, or political history of the Civil War-era city. Longer essays explore panoramic and stereographic photography, and extensive biographical and bibliographical information is also provided. This detailed and evocative pictorial and historical survey of Civil War-era New Orleans will appeal to anyone interested in American history, the history of photography or the development of the modern city.

New Orleans 1867

Van Zante, Gary A.

Individual Artists

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