The Repeating Image: Multiples in French Painting from David to Matisse

An authoritative and elegant study of the theme of repetition in early modern painting Today serial imagery dominates all forms of visual media, from advertising to conceptual sculpture. In this innovative project, the authors show that the phenomenon of repetition appears as a radical element in early modern painting, long before its embrace by 20th-century high modernism. In works by Ingres, Delaroche, Gérôme, Corot, Millet, Monet, Cézanne, Degas, and Matisse, the reader can compare closely related versions of some of the most familiar imagery of the 19th and early 20th centuries. By making multiples of closely related subject matter in their paintings, the authors argue, these painters challenged an aesthetic based on the notion of an inimitable, unique masterpiece. Through beautiful illustrations and essays by leading scholars, this book ultimately shows how the 19th-century invention of photography and film—with their intrinsic attributes of repetition—did not diminish the traditional medium of painting but rather propelled it in new directions.

Arts & Photography

Bann, Stephen

Shiff, Richard

Weiss, Jeffrey

Kelly, Simon

Stuckey, Charles F.

History & Criticism

Walters Art Museum

This handsome volume explores the integral role of heroes in ancient Greek art and culture. More than a hundred stunning statues, reliefs, vases, bronzes, coins, and gems drawn from major American and European collections highlight how heroes were represented, why they were important, and what encouraged individuals to seek them out. 
To contemporary eyes, Greek heroes embody contradiction: they might have superhuman powers, but their mortality was what made them heroic. Many were regarded as benevolent ancestors with powers to protect and heal, but others were dangerous and haunted spirits of the dead, who had to be appeased. Although epic, drama, and the visual arts abound in representations of heroes whose fame has carried over into modern times, cult and funerary architecture commemorate many more individuals whose names and deeds are entirely lost to us. 
Featuring essays by leading authorities in the field, this book draws on recent archaeological, literary, and art historical research to explore such issues as gender, cult, and iconography, as well as overlooked aspects of familiar (Herakles, Achilles, and Odysseus) and unfamiliar heroes (Helen of Troy).

Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece

Drawing together a vast array of treasured objects from collections throughout Europe and the United States, this beautifully illustrated volume examines the cult of sacred relics in greater depth and breadth than ever before. Tracing the making of reliquaries from the earliest days of Christianity to the apogee of the practice in the 16th century, the book considers the importance of reliquaries as markers of the divine in both Eastern Christianity (Byzantium) and Western Christendom. The book also tracks the fate of relics and reliquaries in the wake of the Reformation, anti-clerical movements, and the French Revolution.
An international group of scholars explores how medieval artists used earthly materials to construct the heavenly power of sacred objects and sheds fascinating new light on some 140 extraordinary and rare reliquaries from sources ranging from the Sancta Sanctorum of the Lateran Palace to cathedral treasuries to small parish churches.

Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe

During a tragically short career, Richard Caton Woodville (1825–1855) produced iconic works depicting mid-century America. Born in Baltimore and trained in Düsseldorf, Woodville painted 19th-century America in a new way. His paintings depict contemporary life and realistic period interiors, while using colorful, closely observed narrative detail. The themes he represents, including the generational divide that informed so many pressing issues of the time, offer a unique perspective on both America and Europe in the decades preceding the Civil War and capture a period of rapid social, political, and technological transformation.
New Eyes on America, the most comprehensive work on Woodville to date, reproduces all of the artist’s known works. Five essays explore Woodville’s artistic genius, his Baltimore upbringing, his education at the Düsseldorf School, his place in the international art world, and his technique, which was acclaimed for its attention to detail and color. This important book shines new light on the formation, historical and social context, and contemporary reception of this engaging painter.

New Eyes on America: The Genius of Richard Caton Woodville

Heyrman, Joy Peterson

The late medieval world was marked by a culture of refinement and sophistication. The period’s media of choice—paintings, manuscripts, prints, tapestries, embroideries, ivory sculpture, metalwork, and enamels—speak volumes about the pleasures of sensory engagement. Art objects were touched, smelled, tasted, and heard, as well as seen. This sumptuous new book brings together sacred and secular art to reveal the shared intellectual culture that governed the understanding of perception and the role of senses in Europe from the 12th through the 16th century. A focused exploration of the performative and multifaceted nature of medieval art underscores its direct appeal to the senses, revealing the rich experiential world that informed its interpretation. Eight essays explore these themes through representations of religious practices, royal rituals, feasts and celebrations, music, and literature. Beautifully designed and produced, A Feast for the Senses contributes significantly to an emerging field in the history of art and showcases approximately 130 objects, each accompanied by a full description, provenance, and bibliography.

A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe

The Morgan Picture Bible was designed to bring selected Old Testament stories into the 13th-century, the time of its original audience. The creators' original intention was to make these stories not only powerful and meaningful, but as appealing and entertaining as possible by placing biblical heroes in contemporary castles, cathedrals, and other daily settings. This milestone publication marks the first time this manuscript has been presented to the public unbound and so makes the same stories powerful and informative for today's museum visitor. The volume is beautifully illustrated, evoking the color and richness of the original.

The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible

David (editors). Noel William & Weiss

Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye

William, Johnston

Antoine-Louis

Simon Kelly Barye

Sculpture

Created as objects of unsurpassed beauty and refined elegance, the enameled metal boxes, vases, trays, and urns at the heart of this exhibition have the potential to transport us back to an era rich with sumptuous decoration and marked by cultural discovery. In the decades leading to the dawn of the 20th century, these masterful works of art featured prominently in the international cultural and industrial expositions that occurred almost annually in the great cities of Europe and America. In this gorgeous exhibition, you will have the opportunity to explore the intricate surfaces of many of the finest examples of this art form ever created.

Japanese Cloisonne Enamels: The Stephen W. Fisher Collection

Robert Mintz

Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection

Documents an exhibition titled "Designed for Flowers: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics." Indexing: Western, Non-Western in a Western Style, Asia (Western Style) - Japan - Post-1990 - Ceramics

Japanese Ceramics for the Twenty-First Century: The Betsy and Robert Feinberg Collection

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Books by Walters Art Museum