A revelatory history of the first artist collective in the United States and its effort to reshape nineteenth-century art, culture, and politicsThe American Pre-Raphaelites founded a uniquely interdisciplinary movement composed of politically radical abolitionist artists and like-minded architects, critics, and scientists.
An illuminating look at a fundamental yet understudied aspect of Italian Renaissance paintingThe Italian Renaissance picture is renowned for its depiction of the human figure, from the dramatic foreshortening of the body to create depth to the subtle blending of tones and colors to achieve greater naturalism.
In the late nineteenth century, Scandinavian urban dwellers developed a passion for a new, utterly modern sort of visual spectacle: objects and effigies brought to life in astonishingly detailed, realistic scenes.
The extraordinary life story of the celebrated artist and writer, as told through four decades of intimate letters to her beloved motherBarbara Chase-Riboud has led a remarkable life.
A bold reorientation of art history that bridges the divide between fine art and material culture through an examination of objects and their usesArt history is often viewed through cultural or national lenses that define some works as fine art while relegating others to the category of craft.
A marvelously illustrated A-to-Z compendium of bird names from around the globeThe Bird Name Book is an alphabetical reference book on the origins and meanings of common group bird names, from "e;accentor"e; to "e;zeledonia.
How California's counterculture of the 1960s to 1980s profoundly shaped-and was shaped by-West Coast artistsThe 1960s exert a special fascination in modern art.
The first history of indigenous photography in the Middle EastThe birth of photography coincided with the expansion of European imperialism in the Middle East, and some of the medium's earliest images are Orientalist pictures taken by Europeans in such places as Cairo and Jerusalem-photographs that have long shaped and distorted the Western visual imagination of the region.
How Robespierre's career and legacy embody the dangerous contradictions of democracyMaximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) is arguably the most controversial and contradictory figure of the French Revolution, inspiring passionate debate like no other protagonist of those dramatic and violent events.
A new look at the interrelationship of architecture and sculpture during one of the richest periods of American modern designAlloys looks at a unique period of synergy and exchange in the postwar United States, when sculpture profoundly shaped architecture, and vice versa.
How the urban spectator became the archetypal modern viewer and a central subject in late nineteenth-century French artGawkers explores how artists and writers in late nineteenth-century Paris represented the seductions, horrors, and banalities of street life through the eyes of curious viewers known as badauds.
A richly illustrated history of textiles in the Mughal EmpireIn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a vast array of textiles circulated throughout the Mughal Empire.
A panoramic history of American individualism from its nineteenth-century origins to today's bitterly divided politicsIndividualism is a defining feature of American public life.
An illuminating reassessment of the architect whose innovative drawings of ruins shaped the enduring image of ancient RomeGiuliano da Sangallo (1443-1516) was one of the first architects to draw the ruins and artifacts of ancient Rome in a systematic way.
From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 yearsWhat does the face of power look like?
A meditation on how environmental change and the passage of time transform the meaning of site-specific artIn the decades after World War II, artists and designers of the land art movement used the natural landscape to create monumental site-specific artworks.
A bold reevaluation of Spinoza that reveals his powerful, inclusive vision of religion for the modern ageSpinoza is widely regarded as either a God-forsaking atheist or a God-intoxicated pantheist, but Clare Carlisle says that he was neither.
A groundbreaking work of scholarship that sheds critical new light on the urban renewal of Paris under Napoleon IIIIn the mid-nineteenth century, Napoleon III and his prefect, Georges-Eugene Haussmann, adapted Paris to the requirements of industrial capitalism, endowing the old city with elegant boulevards, an enhanced water supply, modern sewers, and public greenery.
From the celebrated cultural historian and bestselling author, a provocative history of the evolution of our ideas about art since the early nineteenth centuryIn this witty, provocative, and learned book, acclaimed cultural historian and writer Jacques Barzun traces our changing attitudes to the arts over the past 150 years, suggesting that we are living in a period of cultural liquidation, nothing less than the ending of the modern age that began with the Renaissance.
A captivating historical look at the cultural and artistic significance of shells in early modern EuropeAmong nature's most artful creations, shells have long inspired the curiosity and passion of artisans, artists, collectors, and thinkers.
A pathbreaking history of art that uses digital research and economic tools to reveal enduring inequities in the formation of the art historical canonPainting by Numbers presents a groundbreaking blend of art historical and social scientific methods to chart, for the first time, the sheer scale of nineteenth-century artistic production.
A vivid account of Dutch seventeenth-century art and material culture against the backdrop of the geopolitics of the early modern worldThe seventeenth century witnessed a great flourishing of Dutch trade and culture.
The first investigation of how race and gender shaped the presentation and marketing of Modernist decor in postwar AmericaIn the world of interior design, mid-century Modernism has left an indelible mark still seen and felt today in countless open-concept floor plans and spare, geometric furnishings.
The first major history of the bravura movement in European paintingThe painterly style known as bravura emerged in sixteenth-century Venice and spread throughout Europe during the seventeenth century.
A landmark work that demystifies the rich tradition of Indian art, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization analyzes key motifs found in legend, myth, and folklore taken directly from the Sanskrit.
A magisterial study of celebrated photographer Walker EvansWalker Evans (1903-75) was a great American artist photographing people and places in the United States in unforgettable ways.
A fascinating history of marginalized identities in the medieval worldWhile the term "e;intersectionality"e; was coined in 1989, the existence of marginalized identities extends back over millennia.
The classic and provocative account of how art changed irrevocably with pop art and why traditional aesthetics can't make sense of contemporary artA classic of art criticism and philosophy, After the End of Art continues to generate heated debate for its radical and famous assertion that art ended in the 1960s.
The first time she made a pizza from scratch, art historian Nancy Heller made the observation that led her to write this entertaining guide to contemporary art.
A richly illustrated celebration of the paintings of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama From the moment of their unveiling at the National Portrait Gallery in early 2018, the portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama have become two of the most beloved artworks of our time.
A new approach to late Ottoman visual culture and its place in the worldWith its idiosyncratic yet unmistakable adaptation of European Baroque models, the eighteenth-century architecture of Istanbul has frequently been dismissed by modern observers as inauthentic and derivative, a view reflecting broader unease with notions of Western influence on Islamic cultures.
An illustrated guide to one of the most enduring masterworks of world literatureWritten in the eleventh century by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece of prose and poetry that is widely considered the world's first novel.
An illustrious scholar presents an elegant, concise, and generously illustrated exploration of Alexander the Great's representations in art and literature through the agesJohn Boardman is one of the world's leading authorities on ancient Greece, and his acclaimed books command a broad readership.
A magisterial study of celebrated photographer Walker EvansWalker Evans (1903-75) was a great American artist photographing people and places in the United States in unforgettable ways.
The extraordinary life story of the celebrated artist and writer, as told through four decades of intimate letters to her beloved motherBarbara Chase-Riboud has led a remarkable life.
When he retired as the chief security officer of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Barelli had spent the better part of forty years responsible not only for one of the richest treasure troves on the planet, but the museum's staff, the millions of visitors, as well as American presidents, royalty, and heads of state from around the world.
'I wrote my thesis because it seemed incredible that a nineteenth century cleric could believe that paintings had the power to civilise his community of London's poorest.
'Thirst for information, faith in commerce and industry, inventiveness and technical daring, energy and tenacity, and a tendency to mix up religion with visible success - all these qualities have to be remembered as one embarks on a conducted tour of some of the exhibits of 1851.
A New York Times Notable Book A Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionNew York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Timothy Egan reveals the life story of the man determined to preserve a people and culture in Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis.
From the acclaimed author of Blue, a beautifully illustrated history of the color white in visual culture, from antiquity to todayAs a pigment, white is often thought to represent an absence of color, but it is without doubt an important color in its own right, just like red, blue, green, or yellowand, like them, white has its own intriguing history.
A revisionist reading of modern art that examines how artworks are captured as property to legitimize powerIn this provocative new account, David Joselit shows how art from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries began to function as a commodity, while the qualities of the artist, nation, or period themselves became valuable properties.
In this bold exploration of the political forces that shaped Impressionism, Albert Boime proposes that at the heart of the modern is a "e;guilty secret"e;--the need of the dominant, mainly bourgeois, classes in Paris to expunge from historical memory the haunting nightmare of the Commune and its socialist ideology.
An illustrated guide to one of the most enduring masterworks of world literatureWritten in the eleventh century by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece of prose and poetry that is widely considered the world's first novel.
The first major history of the bravura movement in European paintingThe painterly style known as bravura emerged in sixteenth-century Venice and spread throughout Europe during the seventeenth century.
A pathbreaking history of art that uses digital research and economic tools to reveal enduring inequities in the formation of the art historical canonPainting by Numbers presents a groundbreaking blend of art historical and social scientific methods to chart, for the first time, the sheer scale of nineteenth-century artistic production.
