Искусство

A unique insight into the design of hand-made Soviet prison playing cards and their link to the Russian criminal underworld.

This book reveals the importance of playing cards in Russian criminal culture. The hand-made decks are beautiful works of art in their own right. Prohibited by the prison authorities, they are constructed from innocuous materials procured from the everyday routine of prison life. During construction, both the cards and their designs are adroitly manipulated so they can be ‘read’. Once complete the ‘virtuoso’ player prowls the prison, searching for a suitable victim. This complete process is described here for the first time. Extensive diagrams show how the cards are made, while decks of actual prison cards are reproduced in facsimile. 

The book also features a further 180 photographs from the Arkady Bronnikov collection. The texts and captions accompanying these images reveal the connection between the criminal hierarchy, tattoos and playing cards. The respect commanded by any criminal was directly related to his ability to play, and win, at cards. The game was viewed as a means to demonstrate cunning and bravado. Failure to pay a gambling debt could result in a forcibly applied pornographic tattoo, lowering their bearer’s status. The loser would also be made to pay the ‘pricker’ (tattooist). Fingers, ears, even eyes, might be lost – cut off in the presence of other prisoners as witnesses.

Strange as it may seem, however, there are almost no books devoted to this most famous of periods in Russian art. The most recent fundamental studies on the Russian Empire style appeared as long ago as 1935-1936. This means that "Russian Empire", which appears on the eve of the new millennium, can be regarded as the first attempt to assess the period in the perspective of modern art-historical studies. The new volume covers the full range of the Empire style's various manifestations in architecture and urban development, sculpture and decorative painting, integrated interior design and the creative arts and crafts - furniture, bronze-casting, light-fittings, fabrics and costume.

Russia is often viewed as the outsider of the art world, with creative genius frequently being hidden behind the representation of icons such as Rublov. However, with the succession of Pierre Le Grand, it was Europe which brought light to this otherwise ostensibly uncivilized empire.
Saint-Petersburg suddenly rose out of the darkness thanks to the brilliance of an Italian artist, and for more than a century afterwards, became a highly important cultural focus.
The all powerful Tsar, and later Catherine the Great allowed exchanges between Russian and European artists which eventually gave birth to a new Russian form of painting. Although this was greatly inspired by Italy and its vibrant colours, it stayed true to its foundations in Russian culture.
However, it was not until the 20th century that a true national style came into its own with the emergence of the Ambulants and the Blue Roses. This was then followed by the revolutionary period which led to the Russian Avant Garde and then modernism.
In this book, we come to understand the author’s viewpoint on Russian culture as a combination of western culture as well as eastern. These influences are demonstrated in the works and cover a vast pictorial scope. Artists such as Borovikovsky, Serov, Vrubel, Briullov, Fedotov, Repin, Shishkin and Levitan, among many others, bring their own fundamental contribution to the history of art.
Peter Leek puts the evolution of the history of Russian art after the fall of communism.

200 full-colour illustrations

Shapka, Catherine the Great, Caviar, Maria Sharapova, Faberge, Erte, Kalashnikov, Pravda, Alexander Rodchenko, Yuri Gagarin, Baboushka, Leon Bakst, Leo Tolstoy, Kazimir Malevich, Anastasia, Tovarisch, Peter the Great, Lolita, Natalie Paley, Kokoshnik, Olga Kurilenko, Bistro... With short, witty texts and an unexpected, fresh selection of photographs, Russian Style is a visual collection of historic and contemporary icons. In a captivating curation by L'Officiel Russia editor-in-chief Evelina Khromtchenko, Russian Style unravels the elements of influence that compose Russia's DNA. From the obvious to the obscure, this intellectual and photographic gallivant defines a country of global influence through the patina of Russian culture.

The Salsa cult phenomenon is booming. Salsa is the description for different dance rhythms from the Caribbean islands, however, no matter what style you are dancing: Salsa is emotion and pure joie de vivre. This illustrated book, which reflects the soul of Salsa in extraordinary motifs, allows you to dip into the world of the Caribbean lifestyle. No other than Dean Rudland, archivist at famous New York Salsa label Fania Records, has compiled the music. The four CDs “Roots of Salsa”, “Salsa for Dancers”, “Salsa Romantica” and “Salsa Greats” include songs from the Salsa scene's biggest stars: Tito Rodriguez, Lebron Brothers, Johnny and Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and many more.

No other than Dean Rudland, archivist at famous New York Salsa label Fania Records, has compiled the music. The four CDs “Roots of Salsa”, “Salsa for Dancers”, “Salsa Romantica” and “Salsa Greats” include songs from the Salsa scene's biggest stars: Tito Rodriguez, Lebron Brothers, Johnny and Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and many more.

Picasso called Dali "an outboard motor that's always running." Dali thought himself a genius with a right to indulge in whatever lunacy popped into his head. Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics - and was rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the first to apply the insights of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis to the art of painting, approaching the subconscious with extraordinary sensitivity and imagination. This lively monograph presents the infamous Surrealist in full color and in his own words. His provocative imagery is all here, from the soft watches to the notorious burning giraffe. A friend of the artist for over thirty years, privy to the reality behind Dali`s public image, author Robert Descharnes is uniquely qualified to analyze Dali - both the man and the myth.

Посмотреть русскоязычное издание книги Salvador Dali. The Paintings - Сальвадор Дали. Живопись

The seminal surrealist. Exploring Dalí's grandiose and grotesque oeuvre

Picasso called Dalí "an outboard motor that’s always running." Dalí thought himself a genius with a right to indulge in whatever lunacy popped into his head. Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was one of the century’s greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics — and was rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the first to apply the insights of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis to the art of painting, approaching the subconscious with extraordinary sensitivity and imagination.

This publication presents the entire painted oeuvre of Salvador Dalí. After many years of research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret finally located all the paintings of this highly prolific artist. Many of the works had been inaccessible for years— in fact so many that almost half the illustrations in this book had rarely been seen.

About the authors:

Robert Descharnes, a photographer and writer, has published studies of major artists, among them Antoni Gaudí and Auguste Rodin. Since 1950, he has been documenting and cataloguing Dalí's paintings and writings and is now considered the leading expert on the artist.

Gilles Néret (1933–2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'Œil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dalí: The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

The first extensive comparison of works by woodcut masters Kunisada and Kuniyoshi

In the early sixties, what was then the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf received a large gift of Japanese woodcuts (ukiyo-e), to which the donor generously added until 1988. Among them are 220 pieces by the illustrators Kunisada (1786–1865) and Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), which are distinguished by their finely tuned palettes and the expressive gestures of their figures. The prints take the viewer into a colorful, imaginative dream world, while some even seem like early examples of the Manga comics so popular today. This publication offers a rare opportunity to compare the two artists’ illustrations of the same themes. The essays provide an introduction to nineteenth-century Japanese popular culture, bridging the gap between the centuries by exploring aspects of the grotesque in Japanese art, explaining legends and plays, and presenting some of Kuniyoshi’s preliminary studies.

Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong is a biography in the form of an art book. It tells the story of Armstrong's life through his writings, scrapbooks, and artworks, many of which have never been published before. Armstrong was the single greatest creative artist in the history of jazz and the American popular song. A true American original, he was prolific in coining colorful expressions that entered the lexicon; he wrote long, colorful prose pieces about his experiences; and he made hundreds of collages using marvelous photographs that capture archetypal scenes in the life of a jazz musician. Everything he did was an extension of his artistry.
Satchmo is a vivid trip through American jazz at mid-century, to the beat of Armstrong's own jazzy words. The book also includes photographs of Armstrong and is framed by a text that describes his significance. It will be enjoyed not only by jazz fans but also by art lovers, who will welcome Armstrong into the pantheon of American visual artists

Best known for his barbed and brilliant art for the New Yorker, Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) did much more. He executed public murals, designed fabrics and stage sets, was an inventive collagist and printmaker, and turned his magic touch to the fields of painting, sculpture, advertising, and even wartime propaganda.

This is the first comprehensive look at Steinberg's extraordinary contribution to twentieth-century art, which was that of a modern-day illuminator, putting word and image in play to create art that spoke to the eyes, and minds, of readers. An introduction by poet Charles Simic tracks the origins of Steinberg's darkly comic sensibility in the 'Balkan bazaar' of his native Romania. Joel Smith shows how architectural training and an early rise to fame as a cartoonist in Fascist-era Milan honed the artist's gift for subtle graphic invention, and explores why one of the most visible, prolific, potent, and cosmopolitan careers in postwar American art has so thoroughly evaded serious study.

Tracing the evolving motives that underlie Steinberg's multi-layered activity, this handsome volume also raises fundamental questions about the historiography of modernism and the vexed status of 'the middlebrow avant-garde' in an age of museum-bound art.

Previously unseen sketches, documents, and printed matter from the artist's papers illustrate the essay, career chronology, and entries for 120 objects featured in this important book.

Пролистать книгу Saul Steinberg: Illuminations на Google books

With his graphic style, figural distortion, and defiance of conventional standards of beauty, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was a pioneer of Austrian Expressionism and one of the most startling portrait painters of the 20th century.

Mentored by Gustav Klimt, Schiele dabbled in a glittering Art Nouveau style before developing his own much more gritty and confrontational aesthetic of sharp lines, lurid shades, and mannered, elongated figures. His prolific portraits and self-portraits stunned the Viennese establishment with an unprecedented psychological and sexual intensity, favouring erotic, exposing, or unsettling poses in which he or his sitters cower on the floor, languish with legs akimbo, glower at the viewer, and thrust their genitalia into the foreground. His models are at times skeletal and sickly, at other times strong and sensual.

Many contemporaries found Schiele’s work to be not only ugly but morally objectionable; in 1912, the artist was briefly imprisoned for obscenity. Today, his oeuvre is celebrated for its revolutionary approach to the human figure and for its direct and particularly fervent, almost furious brand of craftsmanship. This book presents key Schiele works to introduce his short but urgent career and his profound contribution to the development of modern art, which reaches right through to such contemporary talents as Tracey Emin and Jenny Saville.

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 illustrations with explanatory captions

Adored by celebrity patrons and admired by his peers in the industry, Scott Campbell is known not only for his amazing technique and vision as a tattoo artist, but also as a respected fine artist on the contemporary scene. Both Campbell’s artwork and tattoo work are informed by timeless trends of “new antiquarian” style, nineteenth-century hand-lettering, kitsch, and classic tattoo “flash.”

Campbell is considered the tattoo artist of both the trendsetter and the daring celebrity. However, though Campbell has tattooed celebrities from the late Heath Ledger to visionaries like Marc Jacobs, it is through his distinctive aesthetic that he has become a celebrity in his own right.

Campbell renders fleeting trends into timeless masterpieces not only on canvas and in sculpture, but also on skin. This book captures both, exemplifying how his tattoo work informs his artwork and vice versa.

Scupture is not considered an ornament for architecture anymore but is one of the most important elements in the work of the architect or the urban planner and stands out as an object of aestheticism. This book is devoted to sculptures from around the world by world famous sculptors and great artists