Download or read book The Louvre written by James Gardner and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The centuries-long history of the Louvre, from humble fortress to Royal palace to the world’s greatest art museum—with photos and building maps. Some ten million people from all over the world flock to the Louvre each year to enjoy its incomparable art collection. Yet few of them are aware of the remarkable history of the site and buildings themselves—a fascinating story that historian James Gardner elegantly chronicles in this authoritative history. More than seven thousand years ago, men and women camped on a spot called le Louvre for reasons unknown. Centuries later, King Philippe Auguste of France constructed a fortress there, just outside the walls of a nascent Paris. Intended to protect the capital against English soldiers stationed in Normandy, the fortress became a royal residence under Charles V two centuries later, and then the monarchy’s principal residence under the great Renaissance king François I. In 1682, when Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, the Louvre languished until the French Revolution when, during the Reign of Terror in 1793, it first opened its doors to display the nation’s treasures. Ever since—through the Napoleonic era, the Commune, two World Wars, to the present—the Louvre has been a witness to French history, and expanded to become home to a legendary art collection that includes the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Includes sixteen pages of full-color photos illustrating the history of the Louvre, a full-color map detailing its evolution from fortress to museum, and black-and-white images throughout the narrative.
Download or read book Museums and Biographies written by Kate Hill and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2014 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the relationship between museums and biographies, this collection of essays examines examples from the early 19th century to the present day.
Download or read book Buenos Aires The Biography of a City written by James Gardner and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buenos Aires, Argentina, recognized for its European-style architecture and lively theater scene, is a truly special place. The second-largest city in South America, it has been the home of such renowned cultural and historical figures as Jorge Luis Borges and Astor Piazzola, Che Guevara and Eva Peron. Like every truly great city, New York, London and Prague; Buenos Aires is its own universe, with its own center of gravity, its own scents and flavors, its own architectural signature-in short, its own way of being. From San Telmo's oak-paneled restaurants and brightly tiled apothecaries from 1900, and the phantasmagoric Beaux Arts palaces along Avenida Alvear and Plaza San Martin, to the parks of Palermo and the bustling bars and cafes along Corrientes and LaValle, Buenos Aires is steeped in exotic culture and history. In Buenos Aires, Art and culture critic James Gardner offers a colorful biography of the "Paris of the South," from its origins and time as a colonial city, through its Golden age, the rise of Peron, and the Falklands War, to the present day. With entertaining asides about art, architecture, literature, food and dance, as well as local customs and colorful personalities, this is a rich and unique historical narrative of Buenos Aires.
Download or read book Saving Mona Lisa written by Gerri Chanel and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2018-09-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In August 1939, curators at the Louvre nestled the world's most famous painting into a special red velvet-lined case and spirited her away to the Loire Valley as part of the biggest museum evacuation in history. As the Germans neared Paris in 1940, the French raced to move the masterpieces still further south, then again and again during the war, crisscrossing the southwest of France. Throughout the German occupation, the museum staff fought to keep the priceless treasures out of the hands of Hitler and his henchmen, often risking their lives to protect the country's artistic heritage. Saving Mona Lisa is the sweeping, suspenseful narrative of their struggle.
Download or read book Cats of the Louvre written by Taiyo Matsumoto and published by VIZ Media LLC. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris contains more than just the most famous works of art in history. At night, within its darkened galleries, an unseen and surreal world comes alive—a world witnessed only by the small family of cats that lives in the attic. Until now... Translated by Tekkonkinkreet film director Michael Arias. -- VIZ Media
Download or read book Light on Fire written by Gabrielle Selz and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first in-depth biography of Sam Francis, the legendary American abstract painter who broke all the rules in his personal and artistic life. Light on Fire is the first comprehensive biography of Sam Francis, one of the most important American abstract artists of the twentieth century. Based on Gabrielle Selz’s unprecedented access to Francis’s files, as well as private correspondence and hundreds of interviews, this book traces the extraordinary and ultimately tragic journey of a complex and charismatic artist who first learned to paint as a former air-corps pilot encased for three years in a full-body cast. While still a young man, Francis saw his color-saturated paintings fetch the highest prices of any living artist. His restless desire resulted in five marriages and homes on three continents; his entrepreneurial spirit led to founding a museum, a publishing company, a reforestation program and several nonprofits. Light on Fire captures the art, life, personality, and talent of a man whom the art historian and museum director William C. Agee described as a rare artist participating in the “visionary reconstruction of art history,” defying creative boundaries among the likes of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. With settings from World War II San Francisco to postwar Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, Selz crafts an intimate portrait of a man who sought to resolve in art the contradictions he couldn’t resolve in life.
Download or read book Mona Lisa written by Serge Bramly and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The woman in Leonardo da Vinci's work gazes out from the canvas with a quiet serenity. But what lies behind the famous smile? Shrouded in mystery, the Mona Lisa has attracted more speculation and questioning than any other work of art ever created. This work provides an aide memoire of the world's most famous painting. The full-page colour plates portray the Mona Lisa in close-up photographs, while Serge Bramly, the author, explores its shadowy history and the fascination the painting has engendered.
Download or read book Object Biographies written by Menil Collection (Houston, Tex.) and published by Menil Foundation. This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revealing look at ancient art in the Menil Collection that addresses the problem of objects lacking archaeological context This innovative anthology discusses a diversity of ancient Mediterranean objects--a Mesopotamian votive figure, a Egyptian relief from the New Kingdom, and a Greek Geometric fawn among them--in the Menil Collection and three other US museums. It offers new models for understanding works from antiquity that lack archaeological context. Essays by 13 authors written with the layperson in mind employ a creative mixture of iconography, technical studies, and modern provenance research to gain insight into the meaning of the objects themselves and what they can teach us more broadly aboutarchaeology, art history, and collecting practices. They take on complex issues of cultural heritage, legality, and taste to bring to life works that are often consigned to either the imperial past or a conceptual limbo. Essays on related groups or single objects introduce fresh frameworks to engage with the multilayered history these objects represent. The eight object biographies on ancient artifacts in the Menil are the first in-depth studies published on the collection. Essays by seven university professors probe works in their areas of expertise, while those by seven curators lay bare one object biography; frame provenance studies at the San Antonio Museum of Art, Getty Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and survey war's effect on ancient works. The editors' introduction and an epilogue responding to the other 13 texts review theoretical and practical issues in the study of artifacts lacking archaeological findspots (provenience). Recommended for programs and libraries in museum studies, archaeology, and art history; art and heritage law programs; and readers fascinated by cold-case detective work on the material culture of the ancient Mediterranean. Distributed for the Menil Collection
Download or read book Museums and Digital Culture written by Tula Giannini and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how digital culture is transforming museums in the 21st century. Offering a corpus of new evidence for readers to explore, the authors trace the digital evolution of the museum and that of their audiences, now fully immersed in digital life, from the Internet to home and work. In a world where life in code and digits has redefined human information behavior and dominates daily activity and communication, ubiquitous use of digital tools and technology is radically changing the social contexts and purposes of museum exhibitions and collections, the work of museum professionals and the expectations of visitors, real and virtual. Moving beyond their walls, with local and global communities, museums are evolving into highly dynamic, socially aware and relevant institutions as their connections to the global digital ecosystem are strengthened. As they adopt a visitor-centered model and design visitor experiences, their priorities shift to engage audiences, convey digital collections, and tell stories through exhibitions. This is all part of crafting a dynamic and innovative museum identity of the future, made whole by seamless integration with digital culture, digital thinking, aesthetics, seeing and hearing, where visitors are welcomed participants. The international and interdisciplinary chapter contributors include digital artists, academics, and museum professionals. In themed parts the chapters present varied evidence-based research and case studies on museum theory, philosophy, collections, exhibitions, libraries, digital art and digital future, to bring new insights and perspectives, designed to inspire readers. Enjoy the journey!
Download or read book Fragonard written by Perrin Stein and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2016 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most forward-looking artists of the eighteenth century, Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) was a virtuoso draftsman whose works on paper count among the great achievements of his time. This book showcases Fragonard's mastery and experimentation in a range of media, from vivid red chalk to luminous brown wash, as well as etching, watercolor, and gouache. With essays that focus on the role of drawing in his creative process and provide a modern reevaluation of his graphic work, the book offers fresh perspectives on this innovative and independent artist, who began his career in the Rococo era but lived through and adapted to changing times in France, and who chose to leave the more defined path of official patronage in order to work for private clients. Unlike many earlier painters who used drawings primarily as preparatory tools, Fragonard explored their potential as works of art in their own right, ones that permitted him to work with great freedom and allowed his genius to shine. The 100 featured works come from New York collections, public and private, balancing a mix of well-loved masterpieces, new discoveries, and works that have long been out of the public eye. Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant illuminates the approach of a ceaselessly inventive artist whose draftsmanship was at the core of his remarkable body of work.
Download or read book Yves Saint Laurent and Art written by Stephan Janson and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrating sixty years of Yves Saint Laurent, this collection juxtaposes YSL creations with fine art masterpieces from major museums. In January 1962, Yves Saint Laurent launched his very first collection. To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of his couture house, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, is looking back at the couturier’s work and juxtaposing his creations with art works from the collections of five major Paris institutions: the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Musée Picasso, as well as presenting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the secrets of couture at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent. From the ancient world to pop art, Yves Saint Laurent regularly took inspiration from art history as he combined colors, carved out new forms, and rethought the structure of garments in order to create his own masterpieces. Here, androgynous silhouettes and Proustian gowns stand alongside Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, feather patterns respond to Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, flowing silhouettes merge with a mural by Raoul Dufy, Lucio Fontana’s neon lights make metallic fabrics sparkle, and the motifs on a coat echo The Dance by Henri Matisse. Exploring the couturier’s deliberate homages to the masters of art and his never-ending quest for new means of aesthetic expression, Yves Saint Laurent and Art takes readers on an unforgettable journey through art history with Yves Saint Laurent as a guide.
Download or read book A Museum of One s Own written by Anne Higonnet and published by Periscope. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1850 cash-flush Americans like J.P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Henry E. Huntington, Arabella Huntington, and Mildred and Robert Bliss went on collecting campaigns that netted masterpiece after masterpiece, along with the furniture and fittings of dozens of aristocratic residences. From the outset, these collectors planned to present their trophies to the public as museums in which they could dictate each and every detail of the arrangements. Drawing on a decade of research, Higonnet weaves letters, auction records and photographs into an engrossing account of the founding of both renowned and obscure collection museums. She also explores how these collectors stoked the tremendous values accorded paintings by Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velazquez, Gainsborough and Reynolds. Also references the Hertford family, Sir Richard and Lady Amelie Wallace, Le duc d'Amale and others.
Download or read book Art and Its Publics written by Andrew McClellan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together essays by museum professionals and academics from both sides of the Atlantic, Art and its Publics tackles current issues confronting the museum community and seeks to further the debate between theory and practice around the most pressing of contemporary concerns. Brings together essays that focus on the interface between the art object, its site of display, and the viewing public. Tackles issues confronting the museum community and seeks to further the debate between theory and practice. Presents a cross-section of contemporary concerns with contributions from museum professionals as well as academics. Part of the New Interventions in Art History series, published in conjunction with the Association of Art Historians.
Download or read book My Four Seasons in France written by Janine Marsh and published by Michael O'Mara Books. This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this follow up to My Good Life in France, Janine Marsh tells of the delights and dramas of getting to grips with rural life in northern France.
Download or read book Grasping the World written by Donald Preziosi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 1330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2004, this volume recognises that there is much more to museums than the documenting, monumentalizing, or theme-parking of identity, history and heritage. This landmark anthology aims to make strange the very existence of museums and to plot a critical, historical and ethical understanding of their origins and history. A radical selection of key texts introduces the reader to the intense investigation of the modern European idea of the museum that has taken place over the last fifty years. Texts first published in journals and books are brought together in one volume with up-to-the-minute and specially commissioned pieces by leading administrators, curators and art historians. The selections are organized by key themes that map the evolution of the debate and introduced by Donald Preziosi and Claire Farago, two considerable critics, who write with the edge and enthusiasm of art historians who have spent their lives working with museums. Grasping the World is an invaluable resource for students and teachers of art history and museum studies.
Download or read book Civilizing Rituals written by Carol Duncan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-06-20 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrated with over fifty photos, Civilizing Rituals merges contemporary debates with lively discussion and explores central issues involved in the making and displaying of art as industry and how it is presented to the community. Carol Duncan looks at how nations, institutions and private individuals present art , and how art museums are shaped by cultural, social and political determinants. Civilizing Rituals is ideal reading for students of art history and museum studies, and professionals in the field will also find much of interest here.
