Art & Photography

Pop art is one of the most pivotal movements in modern art. It challenged the conventional idea of fine art and recognised the pervasive (read more)

Pop art is one of the most pivotal movements in modern art. It challenged the conventional idea of fine art and recognised the pervasive nature of materialism and consumerism that had taken over 20th century society. This beautifully illustrated book explores Pop art's origins in modern European avant-garde movements such as Cubism and Dadaism, prior to its true beginnings in early 1950's London with the Independent Group and their fascination with American popular culture - leading to the name "Pop".

Guiding the reader through the work of some of the most well-known practitioners, such as Warhol and Lichtenstein, this compelling book also travels the world to examine how Pop art influenced artists as far afield as Italy, Spain, Finland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Key figures include Japan's Yayoi Kusama and Italy's Mimmo Rotella. POP! The World of Pop Art explains how - and why - this movement appealed to so many diverse artists on so many levels, including often overlooked female artists who were central to the Pop art scene.
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For admirers of the world renowned life-drawer, and for those who have struggled to capture the ever-changing features of younger (read more)

For admirers of the world renowned life-drawer, and for those who have struggled to capture the ever-changing features of younger faces. This book by Giovanni Civardi will teach and guide you to observe, evaluate and recreate children's heads and expressions. With his expert knowledge in anatomy and proportion, he provides a number of tips and techniques on sketching and the different materials with which you can use.

Civardi will inspire both beginners and the more advanced to tackle and successfully draw portraits of babies, up to children aged six or seven years old.

Pub Date:01/01/2017 (hide)

With over 10 million views and growing, Mark Crilley's "Realism Challenge" YouTube videos have an enormous worldwide legion of fans (read more)

With over 10 million views and growing, Mark Crilley's "Realism Challenge" YouTube videos have an enormous worldwide legion of fans and have been featured on sites such as Yahoo News and Reddit. Now, for the first time, Crilley pulls back the curtain to reveal his artistic tricks and secret methods for creating these astonishing renderings. The Realism Challenge leads artists through Crilley's use of pencil, watercolour, pastel, and gouache to produce life-like, seemingly impossible drawings of common household objects like playing cards, crumpled paper, leaves, and seashells that look just like photographs.

Each lesson builds off the previous, with sidebars covering specific techniques-such as rendering drop shadows, applying white highlights, and building from light to dark-that artists can master in order to conquer The Realism Challenge. (hide)

This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt's fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate (read more)

This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt's fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate - and sometimes eccentric - craziness for Rembrandt's works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history.

In this book, the world's leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt's paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt's reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves. (hide)

Fifty years ago, main line steam in Britain ceased to exist, the last official date being 11 August 1968. At the time, British Railways' (read more)

Fifty years ago, main line steam in Britain ceased to exist, the last official date being 11 August 1968. At the time, British Railways' plan was that after this there would be no more steam traction - although a special dispensation was given for Britannia Class 4-6-2 No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell to travel under its own steam into preservation on the 12th and 13th of that month.
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The Routledge Companion to Photography and Visual Culture is a seminal reference source for the ever-changing field of photography. (read more)

The Routledge Companion to Photography and Visual Culture is a seminal reference source for the ever-changing field of photography. Comprising an impressive range of essays and interviews by experts and scholars from across the globe, this book examines the medium's history, its central issues and emerging trends, and its much-discussed future. The collected essays and interviews explore the current debates surrounding the photograph as object, art, document, propaganda, truth, selling tool, and universal language; the perception of photography archives as burdens, rather than treasures; the continual technological development reshaping the field; photography as a tool of representation and control, and more.

One of the most comprehensive volumes of its kind, this companion is essential reading for photographers and historians alike.
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Roy Lang shows you how to capture the power, majesty and atmosphere of the sea in oils. Learn how the sea and sky interact in nature, (read more)

Roy Lang shows you how to capture the power, majesty and atmosphere of the sea in oils. Learn how the sea and sky interact in nature, and how to portray their many moods. There is ample information on oil paints and on techniques such as tonal underpainting, as well as general painting advice on colour, tone and composition.

Then there is specific information on sea painting, from aspects of beaches to painting rocks to swells, foam bursts, waves, spray, mass foam, linear form patterns, submerged detail and shorelines. Roy explains how to paint cloudy, summer, stormy and evening and night skies, before examining light, reflections, mood and atmosphere. All this invaluable expertise is brought together in two highly accomplished sea and sky paintings, demonstrated step by step. (hide)

The Short Story of Art is a new and innovative introduction to the subject of art. Simply constructed, the book explores 50 key works, (read more)

The Short Story of Art is a new and innovative introduction to the subject of art. Simply constructed, the book explores 50 key works, from the wall paintings of Lascaux to contemporary installations, and then links these to se ctions on art movements, themes and techniques. The design of the book allows the student or art enthusiast to easily navigate their way around key periods, artists and styles.

Accessible and concise, it simplifies and explains the most important and influential concepts in art, and shows how they are linked. The book explains how, why and when art changed, who introduced certain things, what they were, where they were produced, and whether they matter. It demystifies artistic jargon, giving readers a thorough understanding and broad enjoyment of art.


Published:17 Apr 2017 (hide)

Show Time is the first book to explore the radical shifts that have taken place in the practice of curating contemporary art over (read more)

Show Time is the first book to explore the radical shifts that have taken place in the practice of curating contemporary art over the last twenty years. Tracing a history of the field through its most innovative shows, renowned curator Jens Hoffmann selects the fifty exhibitions that have most significantly shaped the practice of both artists and exhibition curators. The books nine thematic sections focus on a huge variety of exhibitions, including those that have explored public space; reflected on globalization; engaged audiences in revolutionary ways; and brought into the gallery other disciplines such as theatre and architecture.

Short texts introduce and place each exhibition in context, accompanied by installation photographs and factual data about the participating artists, venues, dates, curators and publications, and many feature quotations from the originating curators exploring the premise of the show. The book concludes with a roundtable discussion by some of todays leading curators. (hide)

Following Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work!, both New York Times bestsellers with 614,000 copies in print, The Steal Like (read more)

Following Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work!, both New York Times bestsellers with 614,000 copies in print, The Steal Like an Artist Journal is the next step in the journey. It combines Kleon's unique and compelling ideas on being creative with the physical quality that makes journals like Moleskines so enormously popular. Its page after page of ideas, prompts, quotes, and exercises are like a daily course in creativity a portable workshop and sourcebook of inspiration.

Each spread has one page offering a prompt or exercise, and the other blank for writing, drawing, doodling, whatever. There are lists to fill in, 10 Things I Want to Learn, 10 Things I Probably Think About More Than the Average Person. Challenges to take.

Amazon UK comparison price - £6.74 (plus any postage cost). (hide)