It was the decade of Coco Chanel, Joséphine Baker, Art Deco, Surrealism, café culture and cabarets. American luminaries mingled with European artists like Dalí and Picasso in Montparnasse’s bohemian arts scene, while Brassaï captured the vibrant dance halls of..
Cologne’s Museum Ludwig boasts one of the world’s most famous collections of photography. The first contemporary art museum to devote a substantial section to international photography, we traverse its rich collection of the most remarkable shots of the last century. Discover&nbs..
This essential introduction spans the international breadth, conceptual depth, and seismic impact of abstract art with a thorough survey not only of the big names such as Picasso, Klee, Kline, Rothko, and Pollock, but also lesser-known figures who made equally significant contributions, including An..
From vast, splattered canvases to quiet pools of color, enter the world of Abstract Expressionism, the movement which put feelings into paint and turned New York into the global center for contemporary art. This book features works from 20 key artists, including Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Rober..
The devil in the details: The life and times of Adolf Loos Adolf Loos (1870 1933) was a flamboyant character, whose presence in the cultural hotbed of early 1900s Vienna galvanized the country s architectural landscape. An early, impassioned advocate of modernism, he all-out rejected the grand Seces..
Annie Leibovitz began working as a photographer in the early 1970s, which was a volatile and frenetic time in America. The lines had yet to be drawn between journalists and the people they covered, so she had access that would now be considered unusual. This unique collection provides a vi..
In a fleeting fourteen year period, sandwiched between two world wars, Germany’s Bauhaus school of art and design changed the face of modernity. With utopian ideals for the future, the school developed a pioneering fusion of fine art, craftsmanship, and technology to be applied across pain..
A defining form-giver of the 20th century, Marcel Breuer is a modernist locus classicus. From his landmark tubular furnitureto “binuclear” housing, his projects across Europe and the United States are case studies in the balance of texture, colo..
An indispensable overview of the fascinating 19th-century artist that resisted categorization, Edgar Degas. At first associated with impressionism, Degas soon distanced himself from the movement and instead focused on pursuing a more realist approach. Turning his attention to subjects of the body..
All you need to know about Albrecht Dürer, the German Renaissance polymath whose masterful compositions—including Melancholia I and Knight, Death and the Devil—revolutionized woodcut illustration, engraving, and printmaking and left an indelible mark on European ar..
From prairie houses to skyscrapers and the Guggenheim Museum, explore the life and work of one of the greatest pioneers in the history of architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright. Sketches, plans, and photographs chronicle all of Wright’s major works, celebrating his organic architecture philosoph..
Lucian Freud (1922–2011) was interested in the telling of truths. Always operating outside the main currents of 20th-century art, the esteemed portrait painter observed his subjects with the regimen and precision of a laboratory scientist. He recorded not only the blotches, bruises, and swellin..
The most exciting new buildings today are almost all environmentally aware, sustainable, and conceived to consume less energy than ever before. Discover the best examples of green projects from the Architecture Now! series in this handy Bibliotheca Universalis edition.Celebr..
Walter Gropius (1883–1969) set out to build for the future. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, the Berlin-born architect had an inestimable influence on our aesthetic environment, championing a bold new hybrid of light, geometry, and industrial design, as dazzling today as it wa..
Helmut Newton did not distinguish compositionally or stylistically between his magazine work and assignments for commercial clients. He ironically referred to himself as “a gun for hire.” That was also the title of June Newton's legendary book about his commercial photography, which is now available..
Virtually unparalleled in scope and spanning more than five decades, the photography of visionary Helmut Newton (1920–2004) reached millions through publication in magazines like Vogue and Elle. His oeuvre transcended genres, bringing elegance, style, and..
Meet the artist whose majestic wave sent ripples across the world. Hokusai, master artist and printmaker, is not only one of the giants of Japanese art but a father figure to Western modernism, inspiring a whole new notion of space for artists from Monet to Morisot, Cassatt ..
Over the course of his artistic career, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) transformed not only his own style, but the course of art history. From early figurative and landscape painting, he went on to pioneer a spiritual, emotive, rhythmic use of color and line and is today credited with creating the fi..
With meticulous theories and many thousands of paintings, drawings, and watercolors, Paul Klee (1879-1940) is considered one of the most cerebral and prolific leaders of 20th-century European art. Though typically small in scale, his works are remarkable for their sophisticated thought and meticulou..
Discover the shimmering and sensual oeuvre of Gustav Klimt, the Austrian symbolist painter who polarized the art world by combining decorative finesse with erotic thrill. From landscape paintings to glistening renderings of the female body, the founding member of the Vienna Secession continues to fa..
Immortalized in Julius Shulman’s photograph of Case Study House #22, Pierre Koenig is one of the leading figures of the Modern movement. With his two contributions to the Case Study Houses program and many other pioneering projects, he championed the streamlined elegance of industrial materials and ..
With his geometric structures perched upon the hillsides, beaches, and deserts of California, John Lautner (1911–1994) was behind some of the most striking and innovative architectural designs in mid-20th-century America. This introductory book brings together the most important of Lautner’s proj..
London is immersed in history yet tirelessly innovative, a city of exciting contrast. This XL portrait collates a mass of photographs retrieved from all manner of archives to present a visual map of the city—both past and present. Images of London’s diverse inhabitants, streets, and s..
Through eye-popping colors and simple forms, rejoice in the restless creativity and infectious energy of Henri Matisse, the artist who never stopped making art, and whose vivid palette gave nudes, landscapes, and interior views a whole new modernity. This compact yet comprehensive monograph includes..