Showing titles in History & Criticism

The idea of 'civilisation' has always been debated, even fought over. At the heart of those debates lies the big question of how people - from prehistory to the present day - have depicted themselves and others, both human and divine. Distinguished historian Mary Beard explores how art has shaped, and been shaped by, the people who created it. How have we looked at these images? Why have they sometimes been so contentious?

‘A captivating tale …This novel is a delight’ THE TIMES ‘A terrific novel … It springs off the page’ DEBORAH MOGGACH 'Vividly engaging’ SUNDAY TIMES Chelsea, 1876 Struggling artist Jimmy Whistler is at war with his patron. Denied full payment, he and muse Maud Franklin face ruin...

“A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world. Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight-errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose.” In this thought-provoking, endlessly enlightening, and entertaining essay on...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2017 A SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR From his time as Bernard...

Two modern adventurers sought a treasure possessed by the legendary “Wild Men of Borneo.” One found riches. The other vanished forever into an endless jungle. Had he shed civilization—or lost his mind? Global headlines suspected murder. Lured by these mysteries, New York Times bestselling...

Terracotta Warriors provides an intriguing, original and up-to-date account of one of the wonders of the ancient world. This is the first audiobook available for the general listener which incorporates the most recent excavations, new theories and discoveries.

The gigantic covert wartime mission led by the men and women of London's museums and galleries to save the nation's priceless heritage. As Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London's museums, galleries and archives formulated...

Through ancient art, evocative myth, exciting archaeological revelations and philosophical explorations Bettany Hughes shows why this immortal goddess endures through to the twenty-first century, and what her journey through time reveals about what matters to us as humans. Charting Venus's...

Burma, 1945. Bea, Plum, Bubbles, Joy and Lucy are five young women looking for adventure, fighting a forgotten war in the jungle attached to the 14th Army. Running a mobile canteen, navigating treacherous roads and dodging hostile gunfire, they soon become embroiled in life-threatening battles of their own - battles that will haunt the women for the rest of their lives. 

A collection of the New Yorker‘s groundbreaking writing on race in America, including work by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hilton Als, Zadie Smith, and more From the pages of the New Yorker comes a bold and telling portrait of Black life in America, with astonishing early...

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, in the broadest sense – economic and political, artistic and personal. In The Free World, the acclaimed Pulitzer...

Join the art critic Ben Eastham on a private tour of an extraordinary museum. Let him walk you through a building constructed from memory and filled with a series of bewildering art works, while he delivers a guide comprised of personal experience, professional expertise and sympathy. In this...

The story of the Stuart dynasty is a breathless soap opera played out in just a hundred years in an array of buildings that span Europe from Scotland, via Denmark, Holland and Spain to England. Life in the court of the House of Stuart has been shrouded in mystery: the first half of the century...

Символизм — крупное течение в искусстве, представители которого всегда стремились к новаторству и использовали в своем творчестве символику, недосказанность, таинство образов. В классических работах символистов как нигде показаны жизнь, образ каждой души, ее переживания, смятения, чувства и впечатления. В этой книге подробно разбирается самый загадочный стиль в искусстве, рассматриваются шедевры символизма и их многозначительные тонкие смыслы.

Из-за чего аптекари стали героями шекспировской драмы? Что прятал купец в тайной комнате? Для чего гимназист затопил кабинет директора? И как бани разбили два брака? "Ключи от Москвы" — книга, которая открывает 16 дверей самых изысканных, загадочных и необычных домов города. Каждое здание — это не только архитектурная жемчужина Москвы, но и хранилище опасных секретов, пронзительных драм, любви и надежд прежних жильцов. Совершите путешествие в прошлое. Сидя за обеденным столом с Алексеем Толстым, послушайте его истории о парижских устрицах и былой роскоши.

Когда речь заходит об архитектуре, мы тотчас ясно представляем себе предмет, ведь архитектура окружает нас повсюду и сопровождает всю жизнь. Но когда заходит речь об архитекторах – то былая ясность исчезает, предмет разговора начинает скрываться в тумане, хотя имена авторов самых знаменитых зданий многие хорошо знают – Палладио или Корбюзье, Баженов или Растрелли, все мы слышали об этих гениальных зодчих.

Una guía amena para entender cómo funciona el mercado del arte En 2019, una tabla que una anciana tenía olvidada en su cocina de París se vendió en subasta por 24 millones de euros. La mujer pasó años sin saber que aquel trozo de madera a priori irrelevante, hoy expuesto en el Museo del...

Léonard de Vinci est l’une des figures les plus emblématiques de la Renaissance. Fils illégitime privé de formation universitaire, son approche autodidacte dans quantités de domaines garantit l’originalité de cet esprit universel qui fut bien plus que l’auteur de La Joconde ou l’inventeur de machines volantes. Il fut également un anatomiste de renom, un ingénieur, un philosophe, un architecte et un inventeur.

В книгу включены важнейшие сочинения Василия Кандинского: его первое теоретическое обоснование абстракционизма и эстетический манифест художника "О духовном в искусстве", автобиографические записки "Ступени", в которых художник рассказывает, почему он посвятил свою жизнь искусству, и фундаментальное исследование основ художественного языка "Точка и линия на плоскости". Также в издание вошли статьи по педагогике искусства.

What is art? A mere imitation of life or something far greater—an act of creation that reveals the soul of the universe? Ralph Waldo Emerson, the philosopher-poet of American transcendentalism, elevates art beyond the canvas, beyond words, beyond form itself. In this essay, he explores the divine spark within creativity, arguing that true art is not bound by technique or tradition but flows from the spirit of the artist, a force both mysterious and essential.