Design
A master of the mysterious, Edward Gorey's artworks and writings abound with misadventures, oddities, and oblique humor. His forays into experimental theater follow suit, and to much delight, he designed pin-back buttons to accompany them. Now coveted by collectors, these bespoke buttons--created as souvenirs for the plays, puppet shows, revues, and other "entertainments" that Gorey wrote, designed, or directed--possess a curiosity factor disproportionate to their small size. With each button Gorey fashioned, he put the wearer at the center of a memory, a recollection of a particular place and time. Always One Button Short showcases a selection of Gorey's compact creations, researched and photographed by noted Gorey collector Jonas Ploeger. Kevin McDermott, longtime Gorey collaborator and author of Elephant House; or, The Home of Edward Gorey (Pomegranate), introduces the collection with a personal essay, recalling the history and meaning of his own Gorey button.
This is the tale of a medieval masterpiece. York Minster boasts one of the great artistic achievements of the Middle Ages - a stunning expanse of stained glass of unparalleled size and beauty in Britain. The Great East Window, created by the 15th-century glass painter John Thornton, contains over 300 glazed panels, including a remarkable sequence depicting that most inspiring and controversial Biblical text, the Revelation of St John. The four horsemen, the Archangel Michael and the dragon, the whore of Babylon, the coming of the new Jerusalem - all of the famous phantasmagorical images of John's vision are here in searing colour and detail. Specially commissioned as the Minster received a generous grant to clean and preserve this masterwork, Apocalypse reproduces the entire cycle in colour for the first time. Expert commentary by medieval stained glass expert Sarah Brown is supplemented by a chapter on the interpretation of the Apocalypse by theologian Paula Gooder and an introduction by the Dean of York.
A history of the renowned 20th century millinery shop, with over 500 illustrations. This publication showcases the career of Chicago milliner Benjamin B. Green-Field, who viewed fashion with a sense of humor, creating extraordinary confections designed to amuse the viewer and express an aspect of the wearer’s personality.
Author Elizabeth Jachimowicz has mined a variety of sources including photographic and newspaper archives, along with extensive Bes-Ben business records housed at the Chicago History Museum, to put together this narrative. Illustrated with images from both private and public collections, the book contains a substantial catalogue of the milliner’s oeuvre. It is designed to both entertain the casual reader and to provide detailed information for scholars seeking to identify specific hats. It will also serve as an inspirational resource for students and designers.
From the campaign trail to the rock tour, Button Power collects a people's history of American culture told through the pin-back button. Lively commentary from two of America's foremost button experts shows how the small but powerful button reveals the events and movements that outraged, amused, and inspired us over time, from the solo flight of Charles Lindbergh to the Black Power movement. Artists, athletes, actors, politicians, punk and pop musicians, and mascots of the past 125 years make cameos, including Rube Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, the Ramones, Shirley Chisholm, Maratona the Snake Handler, and Ray Stevens, singer of The Streak. The first book of its kind, Button Power is a rich visual feast. Each colorful spread chronicles defining moments in history through colorful photographs and artifacts. This collection will be an essential pick for fans of pop culture, visual culture, and design.
A Guide Book of Collectible Postcards "takes you on a unique trip into the past. Inside this book, you'll find cards of high society and lowbrow humor, natural disasters, social, political, and religious movements, popular artists' illustrations, newspaper comics, circus animals, early movie stars, athletes, planes, trains, automobiles, and the corner general store--and much more! Authors Q. David Bowers and Mary L. Martin share decades of experience in buying, selling, and collecting. They guide you from the earliest postcards of the 1870s to the Golden Age of the 1890s through the Great War, and to the modern chrome postcards found on store racks today."--Publishers website.
The idea of the book was central throughout the western European and the eastern Mediterranean world in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From the beginning, the word for 'book'--sefer in Hebrew, biblia in Greek, and liber in Latin--was identified with sacred writings--the Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians, who were known as 'people of the book'. The centrality of the book to medieval thought is reflected materially in the countless images of books that appear in the manuscripts of the era, be they in the most treasured, highly decorated, sacred texts or in devotional and secular works as well. In Penned & Painted, Lucy Freeman Sandler, one of one of the world's most respected authorities on medieval art, takes us on a personal but highly insightful exploration of some of the British Library's most precious manuscript holdings and describes the many uses and meanings of these 'books in books'. Through the fascinating face-to-face discovery of 60 manuscripts, she investigates the various types and forms of books as depicted in the era. Penned & Painted is presented in full-color throughout and includes a high number of images specially photographed for this volume.
The face is not only central to identity, but is also the primary vehicle for human expression, emotion, and character. It signifies intellect and power, is often regarded as a window into the soul, and is the focus of attention when individuals meet. How have different cultures depicted faces--whether a likeness or idealized; whether masked or revealed; whether newborn, in the prime of life, dying, or even deceased? Why has the depiction of the human face been so central to artistic expression in all world cultures?
Art historian Debra Mancoff explores the depiction of the human face through the full range of objects and works of art in the collection of the British Museum, and she discovers how the face subtly conveys the full spectrum of human emotion across continents and through the centuries. Arranged thematically (Birth and Childhood; Love and Beauty; Faith, Ritual, and Mythology; Rulers and Warfare; Identity and Disguise; Everyday Life; Death and the Afterlife), each of the book's chapters begins with a brief introduction before depicting faces in various pairings and groupings, offering insights into experiences that we all share as human beings.
This collection of 5,000+ designs from Thomas Wilson's drawing notebooks harvests the creative output of four decades of ironwork design. Wilson--ironwork designer, master blacksmith, artist, sculptor, illustrator, author, and restorer--is at the forefront of design in metal. The designs here demonstrate the core role that drafting and drawing play in artistic work. Rendered on everything from notebook pages to paper napkins, they range from traditional to wildly creative. This volume incorporates the best of all that Wilson's eyes and mind have absorbed, and offers inspirational creative reference for anyone interested in design. Some of the drawings are spontaneous, simple idea sketches; others are fully evolved renderings of works of art. From chairs to hinges, chandeliers to fences, benches to belt buckles, the images will inspire design professionals, architects, interior designers, art students, blacksmiths, ironwork enthusiasts, jewelers, and artists of all kinds.
