You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Francis Bacon is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century. A major exhibition of his paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2020 explores the role of animals in his work - not least the human animal. Having often painted dogs and horses, in 1969 Bacon first depicted bullfights. In this powerful series of works, the interaction between man and beast is dangerous and cruel, but also disturbingly intimate. Both are contorted in their anguished struggle and the erotic lurks not far away: "Bullfighting is like boxing," Bacon once said. "A marvellous aperitif to sex." 0Twenty-two years later, a lone bull was to be the subject of his final painting. In this fascinating publication - a significant addition to the literature on Bacon - expert authors discuss Bacon's approach to animals and identify his varied sources of inspiration, which included surrealist literature and the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge. They contend that, by depicting animals in states of vulnerability, anger and unease, Bacon sought to delve into the human condition.00Exhibition: Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (22.01-12.04.2021).
On Charles II's restoration to the throne in 1660, four of his supporters were provided with plots of land in a leafy suburb of 0London, on which to build their extravagant town palaces. The only one to survive - built for the poet and courtier Sir John 0Denham (1615-1669) and now situated in the heart of Piccadilly - became the home of the Royal Academy of Arts, its exhibitions and its Schools. This important study charts the history of the estate through its many owners, including the 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753), who gave the house not only its name but also its distinctive and influential architecture. In his day, the house was host to leading scholars and celebrities, who met within Burlington's cutting-edge creation, which remains an unparalleled example of the Palladian style in England. Nicholas Savage's meticulous research examines 350 years of social and architectural history, as well as revealing the next phase in the life of the estate, as the Royal Academy opens up Burlington House as never before in an exciting redevelopment led by Sir David Chipperfield CBE RA to celebrate the institution's 250th anniversary.
Renzo Piano is one of the world’s greatest living architects and creator of a host of iconic modern buildings, including the Pompidou in Paris, the Menil Collection in Texas, Kansai Airport in Japan, the Shard in London and the new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Written and created in collaboration with the Piano Foundation in Genoa, this richly illustrated volume covers the early work as well as the most recent designs, making a complete survey of his career to date. Starting with his beginnings with the Pompidou Centre in the 1970s (in collaboration with Richard Rogers) the story continues up to construction of one of his latest works, a spectacular new bridge in Genoa in 20...
During his reign, King Charles I (1600-1649) assembled one of Europe's most extraordinary art collections. Indeed, by the time of his death, it contained some 2,000 paintings and sculptures. Charles I: King and Collector explores the origins of the collection, the way it was assembled and what it came to represent. Authoritative essays provide a revealing historical context for the formation of the King's taste. They analyse key areas of the collection, such as the Italian Renaissance, and how the paintings that Charles collected influenced the contemporary artists he commissioned. Following Charles's execution, his collection was sold. This book, which accompanies the exhibition, reunites i...
Picasso's artistic output is astonishing in its ambition and variety. Picasso and Paper examines a particular aspect of his legendary capacity for invention: his imaginative and original use of paper. He used it as a support for autonomous works, including etchings, prints and drawings, as well as for his papier-collé experiments of the 1910s and his revolutionary three-dimensional "constructions," made of cardboard, paper and string. Sometimes his use of paper was simply determined by circumstance: in occupied Paris, where art supplies were in short supply, he ripped up paper tablecloths to make works of art. And of course his works on paper comprise the preparatory stages of some of his v...
"Exhibition organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London."
A series of conversation with architects, artists and designers whose practices confront the current ecological emergency and propose alternative futures for our planet.
Born in Ireland, the artist Michael Craig-Martin studied in America. On returning to the UK, he became a key figure in British conceptual art and an influential educator, linked in particular to the YBAs including Damien Hirst and Gary Hume. Craig-Martin's works transform recognisable objects - such as sneakers, headphones, watches and, most recently, Modernist buildings - with bold colour and simplified lines. He cites his 'rationalism' as the root of his practice. Craig-Martin is the latest subject of a three-year curatorial partnership between The Gallery at Windsor, Florida, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, initiated to celebrate the Academy's 250th anniversary. This lively book re...
Published in association with the Royal Academy of Arts, London Animated by an unprecedented study of its collections, this book tells the story of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and illuminates the history of art in Britain over the past two and a half centuries. Thousands of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and engravings, as well as silver, furniture, medals, and historic photographs, make up this monumental collection, featured here in stunning illustrations, and including an array of little-studied works of art and other objects of the highest quality. The works of art complement an archive of 600,000 documents and the first library in Britain dedicated to the fine arts. This fresh history reveals the central role of the Royal Academy in British national life, especially during the 19th century. It also explores periods of turmoil in the 20th century, when the Academy sought either to defy or to come to terms with modernism, challenging linear histories and frequently held notions of progress and innovation. Published in association with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Royal Academy of Arts, London
Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Second nature: the art of Charles Tunnicliffe RA," held at the Tennant Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 11 July - 8 October 2017.