Искусство

Mythologies for the Future. The powerful world of HR Giger

“At its essence, Giger’s art digs down into our psyches and touches our very deepest primal instincts and fears. His art stands in a category of its own. The proof of this lies in the intensity of his work and imagination, which I can only compare to Hieronymus Bosch and Francis Bacon in their powers to provoke and disturb.” — Ridley Scott

Swiss artist HR Giger (1940–2014) is most famous for his creation of the space monster in Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror sci-fi film Alien, which earned him an Oscar. Yet this was just one of the most popular expressions of Giger’s biomechanical arsenal of creatures, which consistently merged hybrids of human and machine into images of haunting power and dark psychedelia. The visions drew on demons of the past, as well as evoking mythologies for the future. Above all, they gave expression to the collective fears and fantasies of his age: fear of the atom, of pollution and wasted resources, and of a future in which our bodies depend on machines for survival.

Following the SUMO-sized monograph which was begun shortly before the artist's unexpected death, this affordable anniversary edition pays homage to Giger’s unique vision. The book shows the complete story of Giger’s life and art, his sculptures, film design, and iconic album covers as well as the heritage he left us in his own artist’s museum and self-designed bar in the Swiss Alps. In an in-depth essay, Giger scholar Andreas J. Hirsch plunges into the themes of the artist’s oeuvre while an extensive biography draws on contemporary quotes and Giger’s own statements.

The artist

HR Giger (1940–2014) was a Swiss painter, sculptor, and designer, who combined surrealist influences and dark fantasies to create his very own biomechanical universe. He first received acclaim in the 1960s with his airbrushed fantasies of post-apocalyptic creatures and landscapes and rose to fame through high profile movie work, most notably the creation of the monster in Alien, which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. HR Giger was named in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2013.

The editor

Hans Werner Holzwarth is a book designer and editor specializing in contemporary art and photography. His TASCHEN publications include the Collector’s Editions Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen, Ai Weiwei, and the David Hockney SUMO A Bigger Book, as well as monographs like the XXL-sized Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The author

Andreas J. Hirsch, born in 1961 in Vienna, is an author, curator and artistic photographer. His writings include books on Pablo Picasso, Tina Modotti, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and HR Giger. From 2009 to 2014, he was curator at the KunstHausWien and organized exhibitions on Henri Cartier-Bresson, Linda McCartney and HR Giger, among others.

About the series:

TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program—now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.

The hula dance, historic, exotic, and romantic, has epitomized the somewhat intangible lure of the tropical Pacific for over two centuries. The idealized Hula Girl - with her ukulele, grass skirt, and curvy figure - evolved into the ultimate symbol of fantasy and lured tourists to Hawaii. This collection of unique vintage images will transport you to the Islands in no time.

Humphrey Bogart is a legend and an icon whose magic has not dissipated with time. The wounded tough guy image Bogart moulded over the decades of his career still resonates. There is a truth to this image; audiences sense that the world-weariness, the angst, and the vulnerability, which made him an icon of noir as well, were rooted somehow in reality. Even if the spectator knew nothing about his personal life, they believed and still do believe in his performances in cinema classics like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, The Big Sleep, In a Lonely Place, and The African Queen.

The Movie Icon series:

People talk about Hollywood glamour, about studios that had more stars than there are in heaven, about actors who weren't actors but were icons. Other people talk about these things, TASCHEN shows you.

Movie Icons is a series of photo books that feature the most famous personalities in the history of cinema. These 192-page books are visual biographies of the stars. For each title, series editor Paul Duncan has painstakingly selected approximately 150 high quality enigmatic and sumptuous portraits, colourful posters and lobby cards, rare film stills, and previously unpublished candid photos showing the stars as they really are. These images are accompanied by concise introductory essays by leading film writers; each book also includes a chronology, a filmography, and a bibliography, and is peppered with apposite quotes from the movies and from life.

Friedrich Stowasser (1928, Vienna – 2000, New Zealand), better known by the name of Friedrich Hundertwasser, was a painter, thinker, and architect, or rather a “doctor of architecture", as he declared in his manifesto of the 24th of January 1990.

His architectural creations, organic and full of imagination, may have been influenced by the works of Antoni Gaudí. Yet, Hundertwasser was more radical in his philosophy. As expressed in his remarkable eco-artistic manifestos, and other achievements (paintings, posters, stamps, houses, and architectural designs), his message remains profoundly and viscerally ecological.

His pictorial work is characterised by an organic abundance of forms and by the brilliance of its colours.
Hundertwasser is an artist who is difficult to classify. With his tremendous love of nature, he is one of the pioneers of humanist and environmentalist architecture, which attempted to reconcile creativity and ecology. This vision has been shared by many young artists all over the world and by the founders of eco-villages.

The Author:

Pierre Restany remains the most influential French art critic of the second half of the 20th century. A witness to the dynamic New York art scene, he founded, along with Yves Klein, the “New Realism" an artistic movement created in reaction to Pop Art, which expressed the distress of the post-war period.
Always alert and on the look-out for a new artistic creation, this eminent art critic became interested in Hundertwasser’s fascinating work and ecological theory. They met on several occasions: in Paris in 1957, and also in Vienna, where they spent three days together. This text is an account of the encounters between two exalted giants of the artistic scene, as well as the homage of a critic to the great Austrian artist.

The painter-king with the five skins

Friedensreich Hundertwasser constantly rebelled against the omnipresent might of rational and pragmatic thought patterns and became a symbolic figure for a non-conformist way of life and an ambassador for a self-determined alternative existence. Hundertwasser’s world of images awakens the longing for universal harmony, for an existence in accord with nature.
With emphasis on Hundertwasser’s ecological, civilization- and architecture-critical approaches, Pierre Restany examines the phases of his multifaceted work. Restany creates a comprehensive portrayal of an artist of visionary power, of his artistic development, from the architectural boycott and the naked addresses at the end of the sixties, through the worldwide architecture projects, to his alternative blueprints for society.

About the Series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:
- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Pierre Restany (1930-2003) was brought up in Morocco. He later studied in France, Italy and Ireland. In 1963 he worked on the art and architecture journal "Domus", and since 1985 he has edited the magazine "D'ARS". His meeting with Yves Klein in 1955 inspired his 1960 theory of "Nouveau Réalisme" and he founded an art-group of the same name in Paris. He wrote and published extensively on the art of the twentieth century.

Our epoch has found in the painter-king the most formidable accuser of totalitarian thinking, from nuclear energy to the organization of our living environment. He lives up totally to his way of seeing things, against the contradictions of our post-industrial society.

His trump card is his art, the creator of beauty: of natural harmony, peace and joy. The extra-lucid power of his analytical sensitivity makes him the perfect decoder of global culture and its guided information. Hundertwasser reveals the prodigious quality resources of naturist empiricism against the abusive uniformity of rationalist totalitarianism, against the tyranny of ugliness and the iron rule of its straight line.

It is all inscribed in his painting, which is the revelation of sensitivity, the open book of destiny; it translates intuition into images, and those images inspire the major orientations of his thinking and action. When concretized moreover, those orientations fit perfectly into the practical norms of his aesthetic. Based on the empirical, artisan and organic intelligence of man-nature relations, his project for society is a cry of hope in beauty, a sine qua non-condition for human development.

Images included:
The Small Way, Kaurinui, 1991
European Twirling his Moustache, Bürgeralm hut, Aflenz, 1951
Yellow Ships - Sea of Tunis and Taormina, Tunis - Taormina, 1951
Yellow Houses - It Hurts to Wait with Love if Love is Somewhere Else, Venice, 1966
Hommage au Tachisme, La Picaudière, 1961
Winter Painting - Mister Snow, Venice, 1966
The Third Skin, Venice, 1982
Mourning Schiele, Lugano, 1965
Water Fire, Venice, 1991
Rain of Blood Dropping into Japanese Waters Located in an Austrian Garden, Tokyo, 1961
The 30 Days Fax Painting, Vienna, 1994
The Beard is the Grass of the Bald-Headed Man, La Picaudière, 1961
Original poster Hundertwasser House, Vienna

Viennese-native Friedrich Stowasser (1928-2000) called himself  Hundertwasser Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt. True to the colorful variety of his names, he pursued many activities as a painter, architect and ecologist, and as "one who awakens identities." This presentation of Hundertwasser's work in all of its different facets is guided by the artist's own view of himself and his purpose. And, because his work is virtually inseparable from his personal life and political activity, a vivid portrait of the artist takes shape before the reader's eyes. Excerpts from conversations between the author and the artist lend a sense of immediacy and authenticity to the narration.

The dream of a world of peace

"A world full of color," says Friedensreich Hundertwasser, "is synonymous with paradise." With his demonstrations and actions, his manifestos for nature, for more human-oriented architecture and for the improvement of the quality of life and living conditions, Friedensreich Hundertwasser is one of the most fascinating artists of the 20th century. He became a symbolic figure, not only as a painter but also as an architect, ecologist and philosopher, in particular for all those who are searching for a life tuned to the natural and the human.

This anniversary edition consists of the first volume of TASCHEN’s limited edition Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1928–2000, and offers a complete presentation of Hundertwasser's work, personality and life, with detailed texts by Hundertwasser's longtime friend Wieland Schmied.

The author:
Wieland Schmied has been President of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 1995. He has organised over one hundred art exhibitions and is the author of many books on 19th- and 20th century art, including monographs on Caspar David Friedrich, Alfred Kubin, Giorgio de Chirico, Edward Hopper and Francis Bacon.

Although books on Hundertwasser's work abound, few are as satisfying as this luxuriously designed, one of a kind volume that was originally created as an exhibition catalog. Bound in black linen, foil-embossed, and printed in six colors with impeccable attention to detail, this gem of a book contains ninety-eight color illustrations featuring a selection of Hundertwasser's graphic works along with critical texts and commentary by the artist. A short introduction, an essay on the artist's graphic work and an up-to-date biography make this an indispensable book for fans of Hundertwasser and lovers of beauty.

Friedrich Stowasser (1928, Vienna – 2000, New Zealand), better known by the name of Friedrich Hundertwasser, was a painter, thinker, and architect, or rather a "doctor of architecture", as he declared in his manifesto of the 24th of January 1990.

His architectural creations, organic and full of imagination, may have been influenced by the works of Antoni Gaudí. Yet, Hundertwasser was more radical in his philosophy. As expressed in his remarkable eco-artistic manifestos, and other achievements (paintings, posters, stamps, houses, and architectural designs), his message remains profoundly and viscerally ecological.

His pictorial work is characterised by an organic abundance of forms and by the brilliance of its colours.
Hundertwasser is an artist who is difficult to classify. With his tremendous love of nature, he is one of the pioneers of humanist and environmentalist architecture, which attempted to reconcile creativity and ecology. This vision has been shared by many young artists all over the world and by the founders of eco-villages.

Examples of badge design from the 1950's to the present day covering political, cultural and commercial topics

This is a thought-provoking exploration of the masterpieces of sculpture, drawing and decoration of the last Ice Age. Produced between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, this is some of the oldest known figurative art in the world. Looking at these artworks provides a fascinating insight into the earliest modern minds and their capacity to express ideas symbolically through art.

Over 100 objects are featured, including small but exquisite sculptures made from mammoth ivory, engraved drawings, ceramic models, decorated objects and jewellery from the age of the great painted caves. Some are celebrated masterpieces such as the Swimming Reindeer (13,000 years old), the so-called Willendorf Venus (25,000 years old), the Vogelherd Horse (32,000 years old) and the Lion Man (32,000 years old); others are lesser- known treasures from the collections of European museums. The author examines them in a new light, as works of aesthetic – not solely archaeological – interest, and as such forming part of an unbroken continuum of human creativity.

The compelling narrative is also illustrated with a wealth of images, from classical sculpture to twentieth-century painting and even contemporary advertising campaigns, which demonstrate surprising aesthetic parallels between these ancient works and familiar modern pieces.

In this way, Ice Age art will bring home the point that the minds that created these objects in all their diversity and inventiveness were modern minds like our own, capable of highly sophisticated thought and expression.

This work analyzes the evolution of iconic art from its beginning in the Byzantine period, until the time of the Russian Empire. This work is for specialists and students as it is written by one of the world’s leading authorities on early Christian iconography.

Icons are a fundamental element in art history, it is, therefore, crucial to understand how this imagery started and how it evolved through the centuries. As there are very few books on the subject, Icons stands out and is bound to become a reference in the subject.

The Author:

Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov was an art historian specialised in Russian culture and history. His extensive research on Russian Orthodox culture lead him to become the eminent specialist of Christian iconography. A true man of science, he was often the first to interpret the origin of certain icons.

Sacred paintings of the Christian Orthodox

This historical survey covers some one-and-a-half millennia of Christian imagery and includes descriptions of selected masterpieces

The icons in this book come from the Icon Museum in Recklinghausen, which possesses the most extensive and highest-quality icon collection outside the Orthodox world. Icons do not depict “details” of the earthly world, but rather an unearthly reality. In accordance with their sacred function, the painters had to keep to venerable traditions. This historical survey covers some one-and-a-half millennia and includes descriptions of selected masterpieces, providing a graphic introduction to this fascinating world of images. While the book's historical introduction traces the history of icon painting back to late Antiquity and the early Byzantine period, the examples in the picture section start with a 14th century Russian example and extend from the exquisite 15th century Byzantine icon “St Luke Paints the Mother of God” across the centuries to one from Transylvania (Romania) dating from 1887.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series features:

* a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) that took place during the time period
* a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work and brief biography of the artist as well as additional information such as a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations