In the seventies, a group of American photographers challenged the established, modernist mode of photographic expression. Instead of viewing the camera as an objective, optical device and photographs as mechanically reproducible artistic products, the proponents of the new staged photography' seized the possibilities of conveying holistic life experiences by employing a full range of sensory impressions. In Impure Vision, photography theorist Moa Goysdotter analyses the work of four of the leading names in this new genre -- Les Krims, Duane Michals, Arthur Tress, and Lucas Samaras. Applying new perspectives to Seventies' art photography, she sheds fresh light on the four artists' critiques of purist ideals, and looks closely at their efforts to transcend the limitations of the purely visual effect of photography. Impure vision not only tells the history of American staged photography in a broad perspective, drawing on theories and methods new to the field, but also puts forward new approaches to photography history and theory in general.

Throughout the world, the American West has defined the character of the United States of America as no other region in America ever could. The combination of awe-inspiring topography and landscapes, from the 100th meridian to the Pacific Coast, along with the integration of Indian and Hispanic cultures into the American fabric of life have long inspired citizens of the world to travel to and explore the vast lands that define the American West, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present time. Photography helped to open up the West after the American Civil War by sharing views of nature unparalleled in any other place on Earth. And photography helped to create the beginning of a national park system that may well go down in history as America's greatest democratic ideal. It is no wonder that public lands have come to dominate the American West, from national parks to national grasslands and wildlife refuges, from national forests to national monuments and historical sites, from wild and scenic rivers to other sanctuaries of wilderness. Willy Sutton has spent much of the past thirty years getting out of his truck and into the landscape, taking his camera to places of natural wonder both well known and obscure. He has assembled one of the great photographic bodies of work dealing with the public lands of the American West, providing a glimpse of what these landscapes looked like before they were designated as national treasures. But, of course, because of their preservation, they are available to all citizens of the world today. Whether one has lived in or visited the West for an entire lifetime, or whether one is coming to the West for the very first time, all readers of this book will find in Sutton's photographs a magisterial guide to what makes the West so unique, so special. As essayists Toby Jurovics and Susan B. Moldenhauer make plain, Willy Sutton's photographs, as represented in this book, will long be held in esteem for the pioneering work they embody, even in this contemporary age dominated by urban development, social and economic inequality, and climate change. At Home in the West:The Lure of Public Land is a book for the ages.

"I am not sure there is any other pair of monosyllabic words in the English language that evokes as powerful a sense of place as Wall Street, except, of course, New York itself." So writes famed architectural critic Paul Goldberger in his introduction to one of the most important photographic books on New York City to appear since 9/11: David Anderson's On Wall Street. During the 1970s, a lot of glass-and-steel, boxlike buildings were going up in New York City. David Anderson realized that the architecturally elaborate and stylistic buildings of the late nineteenth century through the 1930s that defined Wall Street would never be made again. He thus embarked on a remarkable twenty-year project (from 1980 to 2000) to document Wall Street's classic architecture before further changes were made in the area, including the demolition and destructive renovation of too many historic structures.

The Harold Samuel Collection Art Collection of Dutch and Flemish seventeenth-century pictures is one of the finest groups of Old Master paintings assembled in Britain over the past hundred years, but one of the least known. Sir Harold Samuel, 1st and last Lord Samuel of Wych Cross (1912–1987) bequeathed the collection to the City of London to hang at Mansion House. Now in the care of the Guildhall Museum and Art Gallery, the collection of 84 paintings can be viewed at Mansion House on organized tours or by appointment. Built between 1732 and 1754, the House is the home, office and center of entertaining for the Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Corporation. This guide will enable visitors to take a tour through Mansion House and discover the artists and their subjects – landscapes, still lifes and genre scenes – the development of styles, forms, materials and techniques, and the history of the collection. Highlights include works by Frans Hals, Aelbert Cuyp, Jan van Goyen, Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter de Hooch. Lively and insightful entries accompany beautiful reproductions of every painting and are introduced by an essay about the creation of the collection and the history of artistic taste in relation to Dutch art. Michael Hall gained his PhD, on collecting Old Master paintings in the nineteenth century, from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2005. For the past twenty-five years he has been curator of the Rothschild family collections at Exbury in Hampshire. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angekes and was J. Clawson Mills Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He has catalogued the collection of gold boxes at the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino, California, and writes on French decorative arts and on collecting Old Master paintings. Clare Gifford is a doctor of science and medicine. She has over recent years become greatly interested in the history and culture of 'the City that made the world'. Her husband Roger was elected Lord Mayor of London for 2012–13. The Harold Samuel Collection is a unique collection of 17th-century paintings from Holland's Golden Age. Bequeathed to the City of London in 1987 by Sir Harold Samuel of Wych Cross (1912–1987), a wealthy property developer and philanthropist, this remarkable collection of 84 works – the finest collection of Dutch and Flemish art assembled privately in the UK in the last hundred years – enriches the splendour of the interior of the Mansion House, residence of the Lord Mayor of London. This book marks the 25th anniversary of the bequest. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards the Lord Mayor's Appeal which primarily supports the City Music Foundation, and the Harold Samuel Collection Fund, recently set up for the conservation and maintenance of the paintings. This publication, introduced by an essay of the Collection and the history of artistic taste in relation to Dutch art, has lively and insightful entries accompanying beautiful reproductions of each painting. The Merry Lute Player by Frans Hals (1582/3–1666) is perhaps the best known picture in the Collection, the first painting to be bought via a transatlantic telephone bid, but Samuel also gathered outstanding examples of genre painting, indeed several of the finest workds in existence by Nicolaes Maes, Jacob Ochtervelt, Adriaen van Ostade and Jan Steen.

The Lygo Collection of Qur’an manuscripts, which date from around a century after the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 CE to the middle of the 16th century, includes pages from some of the most celebrated manuscripts of the period as well as lesser-known ones, and provide a comprehensive overview of stylistic developments in Qur’anic calligraphy and illumination. During the period represented by this outstanding collection, the scriptsand formats used for copying and illuminating the Holy Word multiplied and developed – visual testimony to the extraordinary exchange of ideas that took place under the ’Abbasid dynasty, which stretched at its height from the Atlantic to the borders of China. The consistent esteem in which the art of the calligrapher was held across the Islamic world reflected the status of the Qur’an as the unmediated word of Allah and its centrality to the notions of Islamic culture and identity. As the most continuously copied text in the Islamic world the Qur’an is one of the best prisms through which to view changes in calligraphy and manuscript production – a survey of which is given in an introductory essay. Accompanying beautiful reproductions of each of the 73 objects in the collection are detailed descriptions in which the characteristic of the script and design as well as the history of each manuscript is considered. Important early examples in the Lygo Collection include a folio from a famous late 8th-century Qur’an writtenentirelyin gold Kufi script, every page of which is framed by an illuminated border, and a leaf from the Blue Qur’an – one of the most famous and luxurious Kufi Qur’an manuscripts, written in gold on blue parchment, dating to the 9th or 10th century. The preeminence of the early Kufi scripts was challenged in the 11th century by various cursive scripts and there was a concurrent change from papyrus to paper and from a landscape to an upright format for many copies of the Qur’an. A highly decorated leaf in the Lygo collection is from an 11th-or 12th century manuscript considered to be one of the masterpieces of Qur’anic calligraphy and illumination and is thought to have stretched over 2,250 leaves in total. New heights in calligraphy and illumination were reached under Mongol rule – a period of artistic brilliance and innovation– and the monumentality in Qur’an production by the Mamluk and Timurid dynasties can be seen as an artistic response to the Mongol challenge. A large fragment in the Lygo collection comes from a magnificent Qur’an of extraordinary dimensions thought to be made for Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire.

A mysterious little character can be seen on scene 10 of the famous Bayeux Tapestry. His name is Turold. In this activity booklet, Turold tells you the same story as the one related on the Bayeux Tapestry, from which the 12 scenes reproduced here by Gilles Pivard have been freely inspired. On each page, the illustration contains one or many little Turolds for you to find... You'll need an eagle eye to spot them all!

The Courtauld Gallery holds the most important collection of works in the United Kingdom by the Post-impressionist master Paul Gauguin (1841–1903). Assembled by the pioneering collector Samuel Courtauld (1876–1947), it includes major paintings and works on paper as well as one of the only two marble sculptures ever created by the artist. This special Summer display presents the complete collection together with the loan of two important works by Gauguin formerly in Courtauld's private collection: Martinique Landscape (Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh), and Bathers at Tahiti (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham). Today, Gauguin is widely celebrated as one of the most important and popular artists of the 19th century. Collecting Gauguin offers an opportunity to consider the contribution of Samuel Courtauld in developing the artist’s reputation in this country. In 1910, the critic Roger Fry organised his ground-breaking exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists, a major step in generating awareness of Gauguin in Britain. Fry included 37 works by Gauguin (more than by any other artist) and also chose a work by him for the poster, a rare surviving copy of which will be included in the display. Inspired by this exhibition, over the following decade the educationalist Michael Sadler (1861–1943) established the first substantial collection of works by Gauguin in this country. A small number of other individuals acquired single paintings, but Courtauld was the only other early collector to assemble a major group of works by Gauguin. Collecting Gauguin is the first of a new series of special Summer displays which will showcase aspects of The Courtauld’s outstanding permanent collection.

Mae Murray (1885--1965), popularly known as "the girl with the bee-stung lips," was a fiery presence in silent-era Hollywood. Renowned for her classic beauty and charismatic presence, she rocketed to stardom as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, moving across the country to star in her first film, To Have and to Hold, in 1916. An instant hit with audiences, Murray soon became one of the most famous names in Tinseltown. However, Murray's moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome.In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray's career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray's only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.

The city of Venice holds a special place in the global imagination. This book explores the creation of one of its largest surviving depictions, which has remained almost unknown to the wider public since its creation exactly four centuries ago.

The Nobile Index is a series of monographic publications of art sales prices achieved at auction, for a selection of leading 20th-century British artists. They involve the collaboration of a commercial art dealership, Piano Nobile Works of Art and the University of Bristol's History of Art Department; bringing together academic and commercial expertise on the artists for the benefit of those with an interest in their work. They are funded by the generosity of a private benefactor. The studies are confined to analyses of auction art sales results from 1990 to the time of the study. Although largely from UK sales, data supplied by international salerooms are also included. Graphs and interpretations of these figures are analysed and significant trends and buying patterns revealed. It is envisaged that this data will be of growing value to private and corporate clients, museums and fine art funds. Accurate commercial appraisal has always played an important role in the consideration of new acquisitions throughout the history of art. No more so than today is this seen with the fluctuating, but ever more significant rise in value commanded by the best of many 20th-century artists' work. This publication of the Nobile Index Series, written by Rhian Addison, who gained a Masters degree from Bristol University in History of Art, focuses on the sales history of L.S. Lowry, one of the most important British artists of the twentieth century, an idiosyncratically home-grown artist with a specifically British vision. Evaluating general market trends, genres, and media amongst other factors, Rhian Addison's investigation provides an invaluable source of information on L.S. Lowry as an artist and the legacy and future of his work within the art market. The publication come in two sections - an introduction, results and analysis and a booklet insert of appendices.

Hands On: The Art of Crafting in Ireland details the history of more than forty eclectic crafts, from basket making to woodturning, and provides concise information on where to see them, where to learn them and what’s involved. With over 150 images showcasing the extraordinary work of craftspeople from across Ireland, as well as insightful contributions from acclaimed writer, Jeanette Winterson and the Crafts Council of Ireland, Sylvia Thompson’s book is the first of its kind to offer a comprehensive guide to craft in Ireland. A lavishly illustrated volume containing everything you need to know about the traditional and innovative techniques involved in Irish craft, Hands On is sure to be an indispensable resource for beginners and experts alike.

Infinite Measure is both a creative workbook and an authoritative reference guide for teachers, students, and practitioners of design, including architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, painting, sculpture, the graphic arts, theater and stage design, and even musical instruments and crafts. Taking pages from books of nature, art, and architecture, Fletcher provides visual designers of all art forms and disciplines with geometric methods for composing harmonious spaces and places. Fletcher shares her professional knowledge and experience by offering practical techniques for design applications, including step-by-step elementary and advanced drawings for producing proportional schemes with a compass and rule; commentaries on geometric symbols and useful theorems; definitions; and etymologies of essential mathematical terms. A highlight of the book are Fletcher's original studies that analyze harmonious proportions in world-famous art, architecture, landscape design, and other compositions. These include the South Rose Window at Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, Andrea Palladio's Villa Emo and Teatro Olimpico, a Stradivari violin, Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Beatrix Farrand's garden courtyard for the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels, a Louis Sullivan stencil for the Chicago Stock Exchange, and Eero Saarinen's North Christian Church. The desire for harmony is universal among all cultures. In Infinite Measure, we rediscover a fundamental starting point for designers of all ages and skills: the simple act of drawing with a compass and rule―as Frank Lloyd Wright famously taught his architecture apprentices at Taliesin and Taliesin West―can sensitize the designer to the rich subtleties of spatial harmony and proportion, no matter how one ultimately chooses to express it.

Laurie Brown has long been fascinated with what happens at the edge of cities. In her pioneering, photographic work on Los Angeles, her focus was on the terraforming activities in that quintessential modern metropolis, where nature is literally scraped away and terraced to accommodate the most recent version of the American Dream: more roads and highways, more residential and commercial developments, more golf courses and city services, more pressure on the natural systems that undergird the city and region. It was only natural that Brown would turn her artistic attention to the eastern end of the Los Angeles corridor--Las Vegas--and she does so in full, living color. Few other places engender such a common image of excess and extravagance as does Las Vegas. But Brown reminds us that what makes Las Vegas such an alluring place to live and to visit is its location in the austere but beautiful landscapes of North America's driest and sunniest region: the magnificent Mojave Desert. As Las Vegas has expanded, the contrast between the native desert and recent human terrain is a palpable fact that Brown captures brilliantly in her panoramic format. In each photograph we see the impact of our newest designs and constructions on the land, raising questions about the availability of scarce natural resources and, ultimately, the wisdom of our vision for the place. By finding the interface between nature and culture that exists in these so-called paradisal environments, Laurie Brown takes us on a modern journey on a well-worn path in Western civilization: the pushing out of the city that emerged in ancient Greece and Rome and extended beyond the city walls of medieval Europe to today's political boundaries nestled beside nature's undeveloped frontier. But at what cost? Like the ruins of Pompeii, Brown's hauntingly beautiful photographs reveal how well (or not) we have created a modern American Eden: Las Vegas. (See the publishers website for a slide show and further information about the book: http://gftbooks.com/books_BrownLaurie.html ).

The Great Plains is one of Earth's greatest ecosystems. Comprised of short- and tall-grass prairie, it extends from the Canadian Arctic south to Texas and from the Rocky Mountains in the dry west to the north-south corridor of I-35, I-29, and Canadian Highway 6 in the humid east. Although some of North America's great cities are located on the Great Plains - Canada's Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Edmonton, for example, and Denver and Dallas in the United States - the region is best known for its isolated small towns, villages, and hamlets whose livelihood, historically, is based on converting the native prairie into ranch land and agriculture. Working in the tradition of documentary photography and using contemporary photographic techniques, Danny Singer here records, as no other Canadian or American photographer previously has, the Main Streets of those tiny settlements that define the Great Plains. In grand panoramas, we sense what it is like to live in these prairie towns that offer their residents the essential services for living - a bank, food store, co-op, gas station, and garage, post office, school, church, watering hole, public park, you name it. But when we look down the side streets of a Danny Singer photograph, we see what lies beyond: the infinite space and big sky that not only establish the character of the Great Plains landscape, but also overwhelm all but the hardiest of citizens. Danny Singer's Main Street offers an original and lasting view of the heart and soul of the North American Great Plains: its small towns, villages, and hamlets at the turn of the twenty-first century. Here we rediscover that, far from the maddening noise and traffic, hectic life and polluted air of the city, rural life in the hinterland still matters. A concluding essay by the renowned art critic and curator, Grant Arnold, establishes Danny Singer's place among the continent's great visual artists of all time. This beautiful book comes slip cased and shrink wrapped. (See the publisher's website for further information: http://gftbooks.com/books_Singer.html ).

The Virgin Mary rises up like a giant Tower of Babel in a close-up view, separated from us by a slender railing along which runs the painter's signature. The Virgin appears to be sitting on a marble slab, slightly raised, and her right shoulder is thrust forward to show us her nude son. Madonna and Child, also known as 'Dudley Madonna', was painted in c. 1508 by Giovanni Bellini (Venice, c. 1430–1516), one of the most celebrated of Italian artists. This book tells the story of the painting, its painter and its provenance – the journey from Bellini's 16th-century Venice to Dudley's 19th-century London – and the context in which it was created, and later collected. The painting was probably acquired in Bologna by John William Ward (1781–1833), who in 1827 became the 1st Earl of Dudley. He was described by his contemporaries as a cultured and educated man, but also, especially in his later years, tending to madness. The Dudley collection was one of the most outstanding in 19th-century England. The years 1505–10 were crucial ones in Giovanni Bellini's career, and this book examines anew the part he played in Venetian High Renaissance painting – his influence upon and response to the upcoming Giorgione, Titian and Sebastiano del Piombo; it looks in particular at the importance of the visit to the Venice of the Florentine Fra Bartolommeo in 1508. Antonio Mazzotta was Pidem Curatorial Assistant at the National Gallery, London, between 2008 and 2010, and he curated the exhibition, Titian's First Masterpiece: The Flight into Egypt, at the National Gallery, London, 4 April – 19 August 2012.