Criticism & Theory

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR CRITICISM 2019From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Changing My Mind and Swing Time - discover a second unmissable collection of essays from Zadie Smith'Generous,...

Why on earth do cars have the same symmetry as dragonflies? Is there really a beautiful swirling pattern lurking in every dripping tap? What do insect eggs have in common with planets, and why? In this exquisite book, the smallest and most concise ever...

For every great country house of the Georgian period, there was usually also a town house. Chatsworth, for example, the home of the Devonshires, has officially been recognised as one of the country's favourite national treasures - but most of its...

In the frenzied final years of the Weimar Republic, amid economic collapse and mounting political catastrophe, Walter Benjamin emerged as the most original practicing literary critic and public intellectual in the German-speaking world. Volume 2 of the...

Art in Theory 1815-1900 provides the most wide-ranging and comprehensive collection of documents ever assembled on nineteenth-century theories of art.About the AuthorCharles Harrison is Professor of History and Theory of Art at the Open University. He is...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9783956796005Author Bassam El BaroniFormat PaperbackPage Count 312Imprint Sternberg PressPublisher Sternberg PressWeight(grams) 652gDimensions(mm) 229mm *...

What is contemporary art, and how did art come to be what it is today? How can we understand what a work of art means; and can't just about anything be called art these days?Contemporary Art Decoded takes ten key questions about contemporary art and uses...

Postmodernism has been a buzzword in contemporary society for the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler challenges and explores the key ideas of postmodernists, and their engagement with theory,...

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the artist's birth, this book is the intended to be a faithful posthumous execution of the project. Containing a wealth of unpublished materials, and representing a decade of work and research, it promises to be the...

In today's art world many strange, even shocking, things qualify as art. In this Very Short Introduction Cynthia Freeland explains why innovation and controversy are valued in the arts, weaving together philosophy and art theory with many fascinating...

What can freedom really mean?'One of the most electrifying writers at work in America today, among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' OLIVIA LAINGIn this invigorating, essential book, Maggie Nelson explores how we might think,...

When it was first released in 1962, The Shape of Time presented a radically new approach to the study of art history. Drawing upon new insights in fields such as anthropology and linguistics, George Kubler replaced the notion of style as the basis for...

Sister Wendy, who has been dedicated to a life of prayer for more than half a century, has always resisted writing a book on the subject. Her reasons mix humility with a conviction that prayer is simple: books about prayer can be a dangerous distraction...

A thrilling journey through 100,000 years of art, from the first artworks ever made to art's central role in culture today "This lively volume is ideal for the precocious high-schooler, the lazy collegian . . . and any adult who wishes for greater...

Is colour just a physiological phenomenon? Does it have an effect on feelings? This vividly written book, the sequel to the award-winning Colour and Culture, is ultimately informed by the conviction that the meaning of colour lies in the particular...

In Feeling Media Miryam Sas explores the potentialities and limitations of media theory and media art in Japan. Opening media studies and affect theory up to a deeper engagement with works and theorists outside Euro-America, Sas offers a framework of...

As a novelist, essayist, and cultural historian, John Berger is a writer of dazzling eloquence and arresting insight whose work amounts to a subtle, powerful critique of the canons of our civilization. In About Looking he explores our role as observers...

The Elements of Art deconstructs great works of art into manageable components so that you can better understand and appreciate them. Knowing how to interpret art is one of the biggest issues facing casual gallery-goers. They may ask themselves questions...

This beautiful book brings you the very best of art throughout history - using a truly innovative timeline-led approach. Savour iconic paintings such as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper and Monet's Waterlilies, and discover less well-known artists,...

Here is the ultimate, one-volume story of Turner's life and work. Superb colour plates illuminate Turner's range - dramatic views of the sea or mountains, sweeping landscapes, architecture, imaginary scenes from history and legend, panoramas of...

The Curator's Handbook is the essential practical handbook for curators and curatorial students, mapping out every stage of the exhibition-making process from initial idea to final installation. In his introduction, Adrian George traces the history of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9783905829556Author Daniel BirnbaumFormat PaperbackPage Count 200Imprint JRP RingierPublisher JRP Ringier

Brimming with upbeat guidance, this accessible handbook shows how anyone can use art to enlighten, uplift, calm and ease stress and anxieties. Visual art is enlightening, challenging, informative and arresting; but it can also be therapeutic, reducing...

Ten years after the last edition, this thoroughly revised and updated third edition of The Visual Culture Reader highlights the transformed and expanded nature of globalized visual cultures. It assembles key new writings, visual essays and specially...

Phenomenal Difference grants new attention to contemporary black British art, exploring its critical and social significance through attention to embodied experience, affectivity, the senses and perception.Featuring attention to works by the following ...

* 'Great art has dreadful manners...' Simon Schama observes at the start of his epic exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. 'The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe,...

What was the golden secret known to Leonardo da Vinci, Kepler, Plato and the ancient magicians? Can there really be a key to nature and life itself? In this small but compact volume, internationally renowned divine proportion supersleuth Dr. Olsen...

During his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in What is Art?, published in 1898. Impassioned and...

In this one-of-a-kind volume, indispensable for students of art, architecture and film,Alex Danchev presents 100 Artists' Manifestos, each reproduced with an introduction on the author and the associated movement, in Penguin Modern Classics.This...

A new study of the early Renaissance portraitIn fourteenth-century Italy, ever more women and men-not only clergy but also laity-introduced their own portraits into sacred paintings. Images of modern supplicants, submissive and prayerful, shared space...

This is a history of one of the central organizing principles in all schools and periods of art. It traces the evolution of the conception and the depiction of space in European and American painting and the ways in which this evolution reflects...

In A Short Book About Painting, writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr tackles the subjects of inspiration, creativity, politics, beauty and form. How does the artist make good work? What constitutes "good"? How important is technique - and the imagination? ...

In A Short Book About Painting, writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr tackles the subjects of inspiration, creativity, politics, beauty and form. How does the artist make good work? What constitutes "good"? How important is technique - and the imagination? ...

Evening Standard's the Best Comedy Books of the Year, 2018Skinny's Book of the Year, 2018 'Joyfully entertaining. Full of warmth, wisdom and affectionate delight in the wonder and absurdity of being human.' Observer'Funny, honest and heart-warming.' Matt...

The perfect gift for Hockney fans and dog lovers everywhere, David Hockney's Dog Days, now in a gift edition, is an album devoted to two of the artist's closest friends, his dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie. This beautiful and engaging book includes almost...

'Insights from the zeitgeist are preserved with conviction and clarity, offering an inclusive way to access contemporary art in all its forms. If Talk Art is the fun podcast, then this book is the educational supplement to be prescribed alongside it.' -...

John Berger, one of the world's most celebrated storytellers and writers on art, tells a personal history of art from the prehistoric paintings of the Chauvet caves to 21st century conceptual artists. Berger presents entirely new ways of thinking about...

In How to See, David Salle explores how art works and how it moves us, informs us and challenges us. This internationally renowned painter's incisive essay collection illuminates the work of many of the most influential artists of the twentieth century...

With "The Invention of Art", Larry Shiner challenges our conventional understandings of art and asks us to reconsider its history entirely, arguing that the category of fine art is a modern invention - that the lines drawn between art and craft resulted...

Shortlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the EssayA blazingly intelligent first collection of essays from the award-winning author of Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief.With these pieces...