History

Ever since it came to the world's attention in the 17th century, the world's most famous tapestry has been a source of never-ending speculation. This book highlights the background of its construction and the events of 1066 that it portrays. It details...

'Enlightening and fascinating' John Banville, Wall Street JournalThrough the lives of major figures from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, including Copernicus, Gutenberg, Luther, Catherine de Medici, Rabelais, van Eyck and Shakespeare, Paul...

Instead of treating art as a unique creation that requires reason and refined taste to appreciate, Elizabeth Grosz argues that art-especially architecture, music, and painting-is born from the disruptive forces of sexual selection. She approaches art as...

Histories you can trust. The Renaissance is one of the most celebrated periods in European history. But when did it begin? When did it end? And what did it include? Traditionally regarded as a revival of classical art and learning, centred upon...

Philip Hook takes the lid off the world of art dealing to reveal the brilliance, cunning, greed and daring of its practitioners. In a richly anecdotal narrative he describes the rise and occasional fall of the extraordinary men and women who over the...

Pierre Bourdieu has established himself as one of the leading social thinkers in the world today and his work is increasingly influential throughout the social sciences and humanities. This volume of interviews, lectures and informal talks provides an...

Acclaimed on first publication, Harriet Vyner s Groovy Bob is the cult biography of hedonistic gallery owner Robert Fraser and a dazzling evocation of 1960s culture and counter-culture. Taste-maker, heroin addict and promiscuous homosexual, Fraser...

A renowned art historian confronts the specific powers of painting, and the hold of the visual image on the viewer's imagination Why do we find ourselves returning to certain pictures time and again? What is it we are looking for? How does our...

The first extended study of Frank Auerbach's remarkable portrait drawings reveals their complexity and ambition as works of graphic art This book offers an original approach to one of Britain's leading artists: Frank Auerbach (b. 1931). It looks in...

The Gothic Cathedral focuses on the interaction between design and the requirements of patrons, following the creative processes of architects by reconstructing the problems and opportunities which faced them. Christopher Wilson presents the essential...

Quentin Blake's illustrations are instantly recognisable to millions of people around the world. A new exhibition to be held at London's House of Illustration will explore an unusual aspect of Blake's work, however, exhibiting for the first time 100...

British abstract painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004) played a key role in the development of modern abstract art in Britain. This new paperback edition of Lynne Green's classic monograph completes the story of the artist's life and work with a...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781916041691Author Isabella SmithFormat HardbackImprint Eiderdown BooksPublisher Eiderdown Books

In the Middle Ages, it was thought that praying at the right shrine could save you from just about anything, from madness and famine to false imprisonment and even shipwreck. Kingdoms, cities, and even individual trades had patron saints that would...

In December 1888, Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. It is the most famous story about any artist in history. But what really happened on that dark winter night?In Van Gogh's Ear, Bernadette Murphy reveals the truth. She takes us on an extraordinary...

A timely exploration of artists whose work addresses the subject of conspiracy and media manipulation in modern culture Shaped by events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair, and 9/11,...

This illustrated biography follows Nicholas Hilliard's long and remarkable life (c. 1547-1619) from the West Country to the heart of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts. It showcases new archival research and stunning images, many reproduced in color for...

Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022 Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction The Cold War was not just a contest of power. It was also about ideas,...

A landmark publication on the drawings of one of the giants of the Italian Renaissance A New York Times Best Art Book of 2023 Sandro Botticelli (ca. 1445-1510) is one of the most beloved artists of the Italian Renaissance, especially known for his...

A diverse selection of contemporary ceramic work by Japanese women, featuring stunning pieces from virtuosic artists Since World War II, women artists from Japan have made influential contributions to ceramics that have been inadequately acknowledged...

CSI meets Who Do You Think You Are? meets Time Team meets The Antiques Roadshow. Two-dimensional works of art become three-dimensional thrillers. Philip Mould is an international art dealer who has lived the high stakes game of art sleuthing...

A compelling and vivid narrative history of one of the founding civilizations of the modern world, the Byzantine empire, evocatively told through the lives of its 92 emperors. The Byzantine empire was one of the most successful states of the Middle...

Envisioning the Past: Archaeology and the Image is a groundbreaking collection of original essays that brings together archaeologists, art historians and anthropologists to provide new perspectives on the construction of knowledge concerning the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781906690236Author Ray BackwillFormat HardbackPage Count 144Imprint HalstarPublisher Halsgrove

Deyan Sudjic's The Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power is a fascinating exploration of the language of architecture as an insight into the psychology of power, from tyrants to billionaires. Why do presidents and prime ministers, tycoons and...

As public interest in modern art continues to grow, as witnessed by the spectacular success of Tate Modern and the Bilbao Guggenheim, there is a real need for a book that will engage general readers, offering them not only information and ideas about...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781908211781Author Patrick PotterFormat HardbackPage Count 248Imprint Carpet Bombing CulturePublisher Carpet Bombing Culture

Everyone wants to find their own place in the world. But where is it and what is it? How do we recognize place as being significant and not just merely space? And what is it that makes one place special and another not? These are questions that have...

10,000 Years of Art is a compact guide to world art, offering a fresh perspective on the whole of art history from 8,000 BC to the present day. Organized in chronological order, the 500 works of art presented here cover all cultures (not just western)...

Charting over 45 years of feminist debate on the significance of gender in the making and understanding of art, the long-anticipated new edition of Feminism-Art-Theory has been extensively updated and reworked. Completely revised, retaining only...

This fascinating new book looks in detail at Renoir's influences, life and works. The first part begins examines his style; it covers Renoir's techniques and training: painting copies at the Louvre; his time at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; meeting his muse,...

A guide to the increasingly popular trend of transforming data into beautiful textile art. This stylish and fascinating book from up-and-coming textile art star Jordan Cunliffe shows how raw data, maps and personal experience can be distilled into...

In contrast to Henry Moore's well-known drawings depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz, little has been written about how this son of a Yorkshire coalminer tackled his second commission from the War Artists' Advisory Committee in 1941; drawing...

Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, the Bauhaus School had an enormous impact on the arts and everyday life. Fifty of the most representative pieces of Bauhaus art and design are presented here in illuminating and engrossing two-page spreads. This book...

Barbara Hepworth's work and ideas are illuminated in her own lucid and eloquent words in this first collection of her writings and conversations. The book makes available much that is out of print and inaccessible, and includes a significant number of...

An illustrated exploration of the artist, Rembrandt van Rijn, his life and context, with a gallery of 300 of his finest works. This is a fascinating biography that explores his early years, his personal life and the historical context of the early 17th...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780262534390Author Nato ThompsonFormat PaperbackPage Count 264Imprint MIT PressPublisher MIT Press LtdDimensions(mm) 254mm * 187mm * 25mm

A stunningly original portrait of one of England's grandest country housesNo house embodies the spirit of one dynasty better than Chatsworth. Set in an unspoilt Derbyshire valley, surrounded by wild moorland, and home to the Cavendish family for sixteen...

Showcasing IWM's extensive collection, this book includes works from the major artists of the time such as John and Paul Nash, Orpen, Spencer and Singer Sargent as well as other artists who are less familiar to us today. With an introductory essay by the...

The amazing discovery of the 'first European civilization' in Crete, Greece and the Aegean islands during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was beyond what anyone had imagined. Beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and...