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‘A jewel of a book’ Edmund de Waal ‘The only way to see something is to look more slowly. That’s what this book is showing us how to do’ Jeanette Winterson ‘This beautiful collection of artworks and equally moving essays is the ideal guide for anyone wanting to adopt the ethos of slow-looking’ Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate ‘Intoxicating … awakens the ecstatic potential in the encounter and contemplation of both nature and art’ Sophie Fiennes Looking at art is good for you. Slow Looking: The Art of Nature explores a whole new way of thinking about art – inviting the viewer to contemplate artworks of land, water and sky for inspiration and to better understand the world around us. Slow Looking: The Art of Nature takes readers on a meditative journey from fields, mountains, forest and glaciers to lakes, ponds, waterfalls and rivers and on to sunrises, rainbows, comets, clouds, constellations and so much more. This guided observation of nature offers a whole new way of contemplating the world – all through the medium of art. This beautiful book brings together artworks that explore our deep-rooted connection to nature – from Georgia O’Keeffe’s seashells to Van Gogh’s olive trees and ancient Egyptian carvings. With each pairing, Meehan encourages us to notice more, look closer and find calm in the beauty and power of the natural world, from volcanoes and tempestuous seas to shimmering forests and shooting stars. Slow Looking is a gentle reminder of the joy that can be found in paying attention, and how much nature continues to inspire, soothe and ground us. With essay contributions from Harriet Baker, Lizzie Marx, Miya Tokumitsu and Alice Vincent.
Annotated for the 150th anniversary of the first impressionism exhibition in Paris, this memoir offers a rare, firsthand account of the lives and works of the groundbreaking artists he made famous. Paul Durand-Ruel redefined the role of the art dealer. An exceptional entrepreneur and precursor of the international art market scene, he established a network of galleries between Paris, London, Brussels, and New York, and organized international traveling exhibitions. The first to recognize the talent of the Barbizon School artists and the impressionists, and confident in his role championing their art, Durand-Ruel established the careers of visionary artists including Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt. This book—fully revised and updated by the Durand-Ruel estate—is an indispensable reference for understanding the artistic life and the art market of the nineteenth century. Retracing his life from 1831 to 1922, it features more than sixty illustrations including archival documents and reproduction of works of art, a selection of articles and letters, a list of the principal exhibitions and artworks he displayed, and a biographical timeline and family tree. Extensive end matter includes excerpts of personal and professional correspondence between the dealer and his artists, detailed notes, historic addresses of the Durand-Ruel galleries, and a selected bibliography. Indexes to key figures in the art world, the artists, and their works—including the current location based on research by the estate—complete the volume.
Capturing the natural beauty of coastal landscapes and the delicate play of light on water, this volume celebrates impressionist depictions of nautical and beachside life. The impressionists were forever inspired by the sea, which Claude Monet considered “a wonderful teacher for landscape artists.” The movement’s penchant for plein air painting and its characteristic style, with delicate brushstrokes and incomparable color palettes, was perfectly suited to portrayals of the sea and its perpetual movement, from gently rippling waves to raging storms. Capturing the natural beauty of coastal landscapes and the delicate play of light on water, this volume illuminates the works of Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Courbet, Paul Gauguin, Eugène Boudin, Johan Barthold Jongkind, and more, taking readers on a journey along shorelines and beaches—from the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, to the Mediterranean Sea, to Tahiti—to discover all aspects of nautical and seaside life in the nineteenth century. Portraits of children playing in the sand or strolling vacationers at seaside resorts contrast with scenes of the maritime industry, which depict the hustle and bustle of ports with their dockers, the to-and-fro of passing ships, and fishermen at work in boats. Atmospheric marine landscapes abound, from rugged cliffs and jagged rocks emerging from the waves to serene sunsets or sunrises along the horizon. Published in collaboration with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, this volume includes 110 paintings and drawings, presented alongside photographs by masters such as Gustave Le Gray, which transport readers to the very coastlines interpreted by the impressionists.
Renowned architect Hala Wardé designed “A Roof for Silence” for the Lebanese Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The design of the work was based on a poem-in-paint by Etel Adnan, as well as on the Antiforms of Paul Virilio, hung facing a series of sixteen ancient trees of Lebanon that were photographed in daylight by Fouad Elkoury, then plunged into darkness by Alain Fleischer, who filmed them in their sleep, with the musical accompaniment of the Soundwalk Collective. The Lebanese Pavilion is conceived as a musical score, resonating disciplines, shapes, and periods to provoke the sensory experience of a thought, articulated around the notions of emptiness and silence, as temporal and spatial conditions of architecture. Treated as a manifesto for a new form of architecture, Hala Wardé's project is based on the cryptic shapes of a group of sixteen olive trees that are a thousand years old in Lebanon. These legendary trees, whose hollowed forms are home to various species, are the tutelary figure of the Lebanese Pavilion. They are places of recollection or gathering, where peasants have convened for generations to decide on village affairs or to celebrate weddings. This book tells the story of the Lebanese Pavilion and explains, through plans, sketches and models, the intentions, and concepts behind the spatial organization of the exhibition.
In this book the reader will find the full range of current container architecture projects – one container for a temporary exhibition Hall, or thousand containers for a football stadium. In an ever-changing world with its hybrid forms of living and working, this book presents a collection of remarkable and carefully selected container buildings. Invented in the 1950s by Malcom McLean, these plain steel boxes with corrugated profiles revolutionized the worldwide trade sector. Furthermore, these huge receptacles for storing and transporting cargo have found their way into architecture to become an essential part of global building culture. Ever more astonishing architectural applications and design experiments are based on these standardized, strictly geometrically conceived units. Their imaginatively designed shells are just as versatile as their use: sometimes with original, rough surfaces with traces of use that tell a story, sometimes with a curtain facade made of wood and large-scale glazing, or even as a purist composition with a sophisticated light installation.
Buildings from all over the world using the latest developments, innovations and achievements of eco-friendly architecture. Climate change and environmental pollution, rising energy prices and dwindling resources pose major challenges for the world of construction today. If sustainability is to become a global reality, it must also be designed and expressed with trend-setting aesthetics: The carefully selected sample projects of contemporary architecture show how this can be implemented in compelling ways. They offer an informative overview of current, very different concepts, approaches and techniques. Sustainable building also means that ecological parameters involve not only all aspects of the actual building, but also the construction process and the afterlife in the sense of deconstruction and conversion, all of which must be considered by the planner as early as the design process. It is becoming increasingly important not to focus on short-term goals, but above all, on long-term ones.
Functionally and esthetically compelling solutions for library building and spaces today that work for all users. Libraries are spaces for learning, discovery, and also for interaction. Their architecture is currently the subject of much discussion, as the demands on these cornerstones of modern civilization have changed enormously since they have had to meet the requirements of the new multimedia and digital age. The library as an institution underwent a real image change from an introverted knowledge repository to a globally networked information provider and communication mediator. The architectural expression of this expanded and constantly evolving profile of requirements makes library construction extremely multi-layered and complex. But this is also precisely the source of enormous potential for bold designs and ingenious aesthetic concepts. Whether involving new buildings, conversions or extensions, this volume shows the diversity of this building task with its interplay of state-of-the-art technology and cultural demands.
Since cities as living environments are steadily gaining in importance, they must not only grow in size, but rather develop in terms of quality. A first important step is understanding how cities function. The identity of each city is characterised by the behaviour of its inhabitants. At the same time, living conditions and realities are formed by the anatomy of a city. This anatomy is mostly determined by external factors. Remarkably, certain urban structures are used in a similar way all over the world. These influences and their effects on human life are illustrated and comprehensibly explained in this volume. The illustrated visualisations range from neighbourly urban quarters, via agglomerations, to macroregions stretching over thousands of kilometers.
How does design function? What is the difference between design and styling? Is the principle “form follows function” still valid? And what constitutes the design process in practice? There are so many questions on the highly topical subject of design. The authors provide answers to many of them by covering a wide range of topics, from the historical roots to the outlook on the near future, from a comprehensive look at product functions to the analysis of the complex design process, from theoretical foundations to descriptive case studies. The central theme is product design, taking the conflicting interests of consumers, manufacturers and designers into consideration. All factors of planning and designing of industrial products are considered and clearly presented. The book is aimed at enquiring users as well as committed entrepreneurs, interested technicians and aspiring designers from a great variety of fields.
Richard Gerstl (1883–1908) painted for just four years, but the work he produced in that short period is widely seen as well ahead of his time, including Self Portrait Against a Blue Background and The Fey Sisters. Although Gerstl never exhibited during his lifetime and his innovative work was largely ignored by both the academy and the art world, his portraits and landscapes are today regarded as some of the most important representatives of Austrian Expressionism. With Richard Gerstl, Diethard Leopold takes readers skillfully through the artist’s life and work. Gerstl trained at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but his rejection of the Vienna Secession made it difficult for him to find acceptance there, and he ultimately continued painting without formal guidance. While he felt marginalized by the art world, Gerstl forged a meaningful friendship with the musician Arnold Schönberg. Later, his affair with Schönberg’s wife would lead to the loss of both his lover and his friend, causing him to tragically take his life at the age of twenty-five. Working with in cooperation with the Leopold Museum in Vienna, Leopold has written a detailed, accessible portrait of Gerstl, illustrated with selected works, that will enhance our understanding of this important artist.
German-Danish painter and printmaker Emil Nolde (1865–1956) was one of the first and most important representatives of expressionism, as well as an essential precursor of modernism. First trained as a woodcarver, he later studied painting and developed the vigorous brushwork and vivid choice of colors for which he is best known—and which would make him one of the great oil and watercolor painters of the twentieth century. His works, including The Prophet and Portrait of a Young Woman and a Child, are exhibited in major museums around the world. Produced in close collaboration with the Nolde Foundation in Germany, Emil Nolde illuminates the artist’s life and provides extended discussions of his key works. As they trace Nolde’s path from a small village in Denmark to his evolution into a prestigious artist, noted Nolde experts Christian Ring and Hans-Joachim Throl explore Nolde’s world of color—as seen in his paintings of gardens, landscapes, and seas—and consider his use of the fantastic and grotesque in his work. They also examine his life during the Nazi regime, when his work was condemned and removed from museums and he was forbidden to paint, and his subsequent creation of the Unpainted Pictures, a gorgeous and diverse series of watercolors he created in seclusion between 1938 and 1945. Supplemented by rarely seen documents from Nolde’s archive and complemented by fifty-five color images, Emil Nolde sheds new light on the artist, his life in the German-Danish borderlands, and his prolific production of outstanding works.
