Art & Photography

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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Album art is indelibly linked to our collective musical memories; when you think of your favorite albums, you picture the covers. (read more)

Album art is indelibly linked to our collective musical memories; when you think of your favorite albums, you picture the covers. Many photographers, illustrators, and art directors have become celebrities from their album artworks-the best examples of which will go down in history as permanent fixtures in popular culture. Paying tribute to this art form, Rock Covers brings you a compilation of more than 750 remarkable album covers, from legendary to rare record releases. (hide)

Rubens: The Two Great Landscapes is a handsomely illustrated monograph that examines in depth Rubens's two greatest landscape paintings: (read more)

Rubens: The Two Great Landscapes is a handsomely illustrated monograph that examines in depth Rubens's two greatest landscape paintings: A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning and The Rainbow Landscape. Painted as pendants, the pair have been in London since 1803, when they were separated, the former eventually entering the collection of the National Gallery and the latter that of the Wallace Collection. The book puts the creation of these two landscapes into the full context of Rubens's later life and his semi-retirement.
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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)

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)

**Stocked 20 October 2014 **Originally published in 1982, Stephen Shores legendary Uncommon Places has influenced a generation of (read more)

**Stocked 20 October 2014 **Originally published in 1982, Stephen Shores legendary Uncommon Places has influenced a generation of photographers. Among the first artists to take colour beyond the domain of advertising and fashion photography, Shores large-format colour work on the American vernacular landscape stands at the root of what has become a vital photographic tradition over the past thirty years. Uncommon Places: The Complete Works is the definitive collection of this landmark series.

An essay by noted critic and curator Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen and a conversation with Shore by fiction writer Lynne Tillman examine his methodology as they elucidate his roots in the pop and conceptual art movements of the late sixties and early seventies. The texts are illustrated with reproductions from Shores earlier series American Surfaces and Amarillo: Tall in Texas. (hide)

Master proportion, tone, texture and form with this inspirational sketchbook. Line, shape, space, composition and depth are most (read more)

Master proportion, tone, texture and form with this inspirational sketchbook. Line, shape, space, composition and depth are most simply understood through the study and practice of still-life drawing. The artist can enjoy the freedom of arranging objects exactly as desired, testing perception and pushing the boundaries of reality.

Take inspiration from the words and drawings of 20 leading still-life artists, including the fantastically detailed works of the sixteenth-century Dutch masters, through to the cubist and surreal compositions of Picasso and O'Keeffe.
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This is the story of how Scotland has defined itself through its art over the past 5000 years, from the earliest enigmatic Neolithic (read more)

This is the story of how Scotland has defined itself through its art over the past 5000 years, from the earliest enigmatic Neolithic symbols etched onto the landscape of Kilmartin Glen to Glasgow's fame as a centre of artistic innovation today. Lachlan Goudie brings his perspective and passion as a practising artist and broadcaster to narrate the joys and struggles of artists across the millennia striving to fulfil their vision and the dramatic transformations of Scottish society reflected in their art. (hide)

A landmark survey of Sol LeWitt's printmaking practice The conceptual artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) is best known for his programmatic (read more)

A landmark survey of Sol LeWitt's printmaking practice The conceptual artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) is best known for his programmatic wall drawings and modular structures, but alongside these works he generated more than 350 print projects, comprising thousands of lithographs, silkscreens, etchings, aquatints, woodcuts, and linocuts. This generously illustrated volume is the first to take a comprehensive look at LeWitt's significant yet underexplored printmaking practice. Drawing together new archival research, interviews, and careful material and visual analyses, David S.Areford brilliantly situates LeWitt's prints within the broader context of his serial-, system-, and rule-based approach to artmaking.

Published:8 Sep 2020 (hide)

Birds have inspired people since the dawn of time. They are the notes behind Mozart's genius, the colours behind Audubon's art and (read more)

Birds have inspired people since the dawn of time. They are the notes behind Mozart's genius, the colours behind Audubon's art and ballet's swansong. In The Birds They Sang, Stanislaw Lubienski sheds light on some of history's most meaningful bird and human interactions, from historical bird watchers in a German POW camp, to Billy and Kes in A Kestrel for a Knave.

He muses on what exactly Hitchcock's birds had in mind, and reveals the true story behind the real James Bond. Undiscouraged by damp, discomfort and a reed bunting's curse, Lubienski bears witness to the difficulties birds face today as people fail to accommodate them in rapidly changing times. A soaring exploration of our fascination with birds, The Birds They Sang opens a vast realm of astonishing sounds, colours and meanings - a complete world in which we humans are never alone. (hide)