WORLD OF ART *Bundle of 6* MATISSE, Ideals of Beauty, POP ART and more!

Bundle includes:

Matisse (World of Art)

The work of Henri Matisse has been both a profound inspiration to his successors and a source of infinite enjoyment to all who love art. Yet the apparent spontaneity of his colour and ease of imagery were the fruit of a lifetime's arduous labour; the simplicity of his compositions the result of a formidable intelligence. In this richly illustrated study, Lawrence Gowing takes us through Matisse's career, assessing his influence on the art that has followed him and looking closely at Matisse's own achievements. The detailed discussion of individual works reveal the subtlety and complexity of one of the greatest masters of all time.

Ideals of Beauty: Asian and American Art in the Freer and Sackler Galleries (World of Art) 

New in theWorld of Art series is this guide to the treasures of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the national museums of Asian art at the Smithsonian Insitution inWashington DC. The museums house a spectacular array of Asian art, originally begun by the 19th-century collector Charles Lang Freer with aesthetic beauty as his sole guiding criterion, and now comprising one of the world’s most extensive collections outside Asia. The Freer Gallery also contains an important collection of 19th-century American art, featuring James McNeillWhistler’s fantastic blue-and-gold Peacock Room, perhaps one of the earliest art installations on record. The guide presents the curators’ selections of the most important and beautiful objects in the collections. An introduction by the chief curator, a timeline, maps and sections on the museums’ archives, library and conservation efforts celebrate Freer Sackler Galleries’ evolution into the 21st century.

The Russian Experiment in Art 1863-1922 (World of Art)

When the original edition of this book was published, John Russell hailed it as a `massive contribution to our knowledge of one of the most fascinating and mysterious episodes in the history of modern art.' It still remains the most compact, accurate and reasonably priced survey of sixty years of creative dynamic activity that profoundly influenced the progress of Western art and architecture.

Pop Art (Art Essentials)

With its bold colours, flashy imagery and ironic spirit, Pop Art trespasses the traditional boundaries separating high from low culture. Flavia Frigeri introduces us to a movement that focuses on everyday objects, from its beginnings in the post-war consumerism of America and Britain to its fascinating rise on a global scale in the 1960s. The work of well-known artists, such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake, is set in dialogue with that of Japanese Ushio Shinohara, Venezuelan Marisol and Argentinian Marta Minujín, among others

Dictionary of Design Since 1900

A marvelous handbook for professional designers, students, or anyone with a curiosity about design." Ballast Quarterly Review This comprehensive guide embraces all aspects of modern design: graphics, products, interiors, furniture, and industrial and architectural design.

Introducing Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George are artists of our time. Theirs is an art for everyone, a democratic art – in their own words, an `art for all’.

In their sculptures, photographic works, drawings and performance pieces, Gilbert & George address fundamental human issues and concerns: sex, death, religion, corruption, violence, fear, racial tension and alcoholism. Humorous and subversive, amusing and shocking, they are in the tradition of England’s finest socially engaged artists.

In this handy guide, the late Robert Rosenblum, eminent art historian, critic and close friend of the artists, looks back at their entire career since they met at St Martin’s School of Art in London in 1967 and first started working together. Some of their most important works, from the Singing Sculptures of the late 1960s to their very latest large, colourful, multipanel pictures, are here to illustrate Rosenblum’s lively and perceptive text, while quotes from the artists provide a fascinating insight into their lives, works and personalities. Introducing Gilbert & George is the perfect overview of two of the most important and popular living artists in the world today.