Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Klimt

by Gottfried Fliedl, Gilles Neret, Gustav Klimt, Catherine Dean

Gustav Klimt's art is thoroughly fin de siecle. It expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna's upper middle-class society - a society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult of pleasure. The ecstatic joy which Klimt and his contemporaries found - or hoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death. And death therefore plays an important role in Klimt's art. Klimt's fame,... (more)

J W Waterhouse

by Anthony Hobson

J.W. Waterhouse was one of the most successful painters of the Victorian age, with many of his paintings becoming archetypal Victorian images. In this book the author, a practising painter and teacher, gives an artist's appreciation of Waterhouse as a master of Romantic Classicism.

The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition

The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition

by Anthony Ryder

Many of us want to learn “how to draw.” But as artist Anthony Ryder explains, it’s much more important to learn what to draw. In other words, to observe and draw what we actually see, rather than what we think we see. When it comes to drawing the human figure, this means letting go of learned ideas and expectation of what the figure should look like. It means carefully observing the interplay of form and light,... (more)

The Pencil

by Paul Calle

Whether he's drawing a sports figure or an American Indian, a stately tree or a space rendezvous, illustrator and NASA artist Paul Calle's love for art shines through. In this book, Calle explores pencil drawing as a serious medium, rather than just a preliminary step in painting. He offers a brief history of the development of the pencil and its use and demonstrates various picture projects.

The Renaissance: 1401-1610: The Splendor of European Art

The Renaissance: 1401-1610: The Splendor of European Art

by Stefano Zuffi

The Renaissance was the period of greatest splendor in European art, and every page in this dazzling and immensely useful book captures that beauty. It’s large-sized, exquisitely produced, all in color, and filled with 600 unforgettable works from Donatello, da Vinci, Bosch, Michelangelo, Dürer, Raffaello, Bruegel, El Greco, Botticelli, and other masters.

Michelangelo, paintings, sculptures, architecture

Michelangelo, paintings, sculptures, architecture

by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Ludwig Goldscheider

This work contains illustrations of all of Michelangelo's work, his paintings, sculpture and architecture, excluding his drawings. The text surveys the opinions of leading Michelangelo scholars and provides a commentary with bibliographical notes. The exhaustive selection of plates devoted to the paintings of the Sistine Chapel provides a record of their condition before the recent controversial cleaning. Ten of... (more)

Landscape: The World's Top Photographers and the Stories Behind Their Greatest Images (Worlds Top Photographers)

Landscape: The World's Top Photographers and the Stories Behind Their Greatest Images (Worlds Top Photographers)

by Terry Hope

The World's Top Photographers: Landscape is packed with shots of beautiful landscapes. The work of contributors such as Charlie Waite, Michael Busselle, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Jim Brandenburg, and the late Galen Rowell graces the pages of magazines such as National Geographic and Geo, and is exhibited worldwide. In The World's Top Photographers: Landscape, they and other top photographers tell the stories behind... (more)

Ins and OutsPaul Richmond

Ins and Outs

by Paul Richmond

The Interior Design Course: Principles, Practices and Techniques for the Aspiring Designer

The Interior Design Course: Principles, Practices and Techniques for the Aspiring Designer

by Tomris Tangaz

Not every home owner or apartment dweller can afford to hire an interior decorator, but this book and a bit of do-it-yourself spirit are all that’s needed to give living interiors an elegant, professionally finished look. Presenting all the design principles and techniques needed for creating beautiful rooms, Interior Design Course advises readers on how to think visually and develop distinctive, personal styles... (more)

The Pre-Raphaelites (Tate Gallery Colour Book Series)

The Pre-Raphaelites (Tate Gallery Colour Book Series)

Tracing the Pre-Raphaelite movement through its chronological development rather than by artist, this volume concentrates on the vital years from 1848 (when the Brotherhood was formed) to 1860, but also includes a substantial group of works from the following 20 years - a period during which the movement took new directions. The full range of Pre-Raphaelite painting is represented, from the hard-edged style of... (more)

Femme Fatale: The Timeless Style of Beautiful Women

Femme Fatale: The Timeless Style of Beautiful Women

by Serge Normant, Bridget Foley, Michael Thompson

Paying tribute to a century of female glamour, this illustrated book looks at such iconic beauties as Jean Harlow and Brigitte Bardot, and also recreates today's celebrities in the styles of the past. The book invokes the looks that defined the 20th century. Celebrity stylist Serge Normant crafts the clothes, settings, hair and make-up to transform some of today's most beautiful women. He re-creates Julia Roberts... (more)

Van GoghFrank Milner

Van Gogh

by Frank Milner

In this stunningly illustrated volume, art historian Frank Milner introduces 60 of Van Gogh's most characteristic works. Dimmensions: 14.5x10.5x0.5 inches

Oil Painting Secrets from a Master

by Linda Cateura

Like some of the most popular art instruction books ever written, this 25th anniversary edition of a W-G classic is based on student notes culled over the years from actual workshop sessions. For more than two years, Linda Cateura pursued master teacher David A. Leffel, notebook in hand, as he critiqued the work of students. Her succinct notes capture his insights, philosophy, and painting tips and tricks.... (more)

Barney: Cremaster Cycle

by Neville Wakefield, Matthew Barney

Recently Released~The definitive user's guide and then some to Matthew Barney's epic five-part epic film series, The Cremaster Cycle is filled with hundreds of Barney's fantastical images and surveys the project, which uses the biological model of sexual difference as its conceptual departure point. Three essays by Barney experts articulate the series' diverse themes and explore the artist's innovative aesthetic... (more)

Picasso : art can only be erotic

by Diana Widmaier Picasso, Pablo Picasso

Picasso’s granddaughter introduces readers to a sublime selection of the artist’s erotic masterpieces, brought together in this lush and elegant volume. Pablo Picasso lived life as he painted it—with sensual energy and abandon. Nearly every woman whom he loved has been immortalized in his work, from the playful nudes of his early years to the classical representations twenties and the more frankly sexual... (more)

Chagall : A Retrospective

by Marc Chagall

Calling Marc Chagall the greatest image-maker of this century, Andre Malraux, in one of the selections in this gorgeously illustrated anthology, probes the Russian-born artist's ``inner dialogue with himself.'' French art critic Alain Jouffroy explores ``the omnipotence of the Chagallian dream'' mingling ``love, reality, society, poetry, revolution, the circus'' into a seamless universe where fantasy, reality and... (more)

Sight & Insight; the Art of Burton Silverman

Sight & Insight; the Art of Burton Silverman

by Burt Silverman

"Prolifically illustrated, the book documents why Silverman' art is a kind of radical realism, as noted art historian Robert L. McGrath suggests in one of the essays. The pictures, accompanied by the artist's commentary, reveal how Silverman has moved beyond "self-reflexive formalism ... to investigate the nature of art as it applies to social concerns," as McGrath writes. The other essay focuses in... (more)

Frank Auerbach

by Robert Hughes

A monograph of one of the most prominent contemporary representational artists, which features paintings selected by Auerbach himself as the most important of his career.

Pre-Raphaelitism and Notes on the principal pictures in the Royal Academy, the Society of painters in water colours, etc (New Universal library)John Ruskin

Pre-Raphaelitism and Notes on the principal pictures in the Royal Academy, the Society of painters in water colours, etc (New Universal library)

by John Ruskin

100 Artists See Satan

100 artists showcase their conceptions of the world's all-time favorite bad boy, Satan, in this subversive response to the popular traveling exhibit ""100 Artists See God."" As the popularity of angels arises, so does their oversaturation in the art world. This is a tongue-in-cheek balancing of the cultural phenomena of angels: 100 devilish works of art, sincere, irreverent, and parodic.

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Tags: fine art