Showing titles in History & Criticism

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-fiction 'Outstanding' - The Guardian 'Superb' - The Telegraph 'A must read' - Anne Sebba 'Lively' - The Times They seemed to be polar opposites . . . Augustus: vivid, volatile and promiscuous. He was a hero among romantics and bohemians, celebrated as one...

Postmodernism Explained: A Complete Guide to Understanding the Philosophy, Culture, and Impact of Postmodern Thought is the essential introduction to one of the most influential and controversial movements of the modern era. Postmodernism challenges everything we assume about truth, knowledge, art, and society. From its philosophical roots in Nietzsche and Heidegger to its development through the works of Lyotard, Derrida, and Foucault, this book takes you step by step through the key ideas that define postmodern thought. Whether you are a student of philosophy, a lover of art and ...

The second half of William Feaver's Baillie Gifford Prize-shortlisted work of biography: the definitive story of the epic life of one of the 20th century's most important artists. William Feaver, Lucian Freud’s collaborator, curator and close friend, knew the unknowable artist better than most. Over many years, Freud narrated to him the story of his life, ‘our novel’. Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant and dissatisfied pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor’s bills.

Reacting to the tumultuous crises of the twentieth century, especially the horrors of World War I, avant-garde artists and writers sought to destroy art by transforming it into the substance of everyday life. Following the evolution of these revolutionary groups, How to Be Avant-Garde charts its pioneers and radical ideas.

Georgio Vasari's original vision of the arts was to see the artist as divinely inspired. He describes the lives of 45 artists, including Giotto, Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian, with striking immediacy conveyed through character sketches, anecdotes, and detailed recording of conversations.

Over more than 25 years of teaching and research, Christine Desdemaines-Hugon has become an unrivaled expert in the cave art and artists of the Dordogne region. In Stepping-Stones she combines her expertise in both art and archaeology to convey an intimate understanding of the "cave experience." Her keen insights communicate not only the incomparable artistic value of these works but also the near-spiritual impact of viewing them for oneself.

Now a major motion film! At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy...

In this conversation with Audible Editor Katie, historian Dan Jones reveals that he dove into writing his first novel after a gentle shove from George R.R. Martin. Listen in to hear Dan’s story about the writing and recording of Essex Dogs.

The subject of this audiobook is humankind's extraordinary relationship with colour. It is composed of a series of voyages, ranging across the world and throughout history, which reveal the meanings that have been attached to the colours we see around us and the ways these have shaped our culture and imagination. It takes seven primary colours - black, red, yellow, blue, white, purple and green - and uncovers behind each a root idea, based on visual resemblances or properties so rudimentary as to be common to all societies.

Some of the twentieth century's most important artists and writers, from Jackson Pollock to Saul Steinberg, Fairfield Porter to Jean Stafford, lived and worked on the East End of Long Island. The home they made there would affect their creative work for years to come.

A sweeping and intellectually rigorous work of literary criticism that moves the field forward, from one of the preeminent public scholars “[Said’s] book is relaxed and discursive, original, immensely learned, fluently written.”―John Bayley, The New York Times Book Review Edward W. Said...

How to deal with the colonial history of art in museums and monuments in the public realm is a thorny issue that we are only just beginning to address. Alice Procter provides a guide for deconstructing everything you thought you knew about art history and tells the stories that have been left out of the canon. A much-needed provocation to look more critically at the accepted narratives about art and rethink and disrupt the way we interact with the museums and galleries that display it.

This combination of serious artistic engagement with warmth and clarity of prose revels in the experiences and pleasures of art and the body, identity, and community.

Perceiving the Arts presents the basic formal, technical, experiential, and contextual qualities of the arts in a brief, clear, and factual manner. Students will develop confidence in approaching the arts and will gain skills that encourage life-long artistic and cultural engagement. Intended to provide a basic overview of the major artistic disciplines—drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture, music, theatre, cinema, dance, and literature—the book teaches listeners what to look and listen for in the humanities.

Poor Artists follows aspiring artist Quest Talukdar as she embarks on a surreal journey into the creative industry, where she must decide whether she cares more about success or staying true to herself. Featuring dialogue from anonymous interviews with real people who have all had to ask themselves the same question – including a Turner Prize winner or two, a recluse, a Venice Biennale fraudster, a communist messiah, a ghost, and a literal knight – The White Pube tell the story of art like never before.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We see with everything that we are' On the morning of 12 October 1654, in the Dutch city of Delft, a sudden explosion was followed by a thunderclap that could be heard more than seventy miles away. Carel Fabritius - now known across the world for his exquisite...

The two most treasured documents of American freedom together on one audiobook. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… Drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 as an act of rebellion, The Declaration of Independence powerfully expresses the political principles of...

In this deeply personal book, the celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat reflects on art and exile. Inspired by Albert Camus and adapted from her own lectures for Princeton University’s Toni Morrison Lecture Series, here Danticat tells stories of artists who create despite (or because of) the horrors that drove them from their homelands. Combining memoir and essay, these moving and eloquent pieces examine what it means to be an artist from a country in crisis.

This program is narrated by Academy Award–winning actor, Tilda Swinton. Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism #1 Book of the Year from Brain Pickings Named a best book of the year by NPR, Newsweek, Slate, Pop Sugar, Marie Claire, Elle, Publishers Weekly, and Lit Hub...

Em um momento no qual conceitos como “Colonialidade”, “Descolonialidade”, “Decoloniedade” e “Contracolonialidade” estão na ordem do dia, Olivier Marboeuf, em Fugas Decoloniais, foge de explicações estereotipadas e lugares-comuns acadêmicos. Com uma análise arguta e inteligente, pautada em sólidas referências, o autor apresenta, através de “lições” e “conversas”, como as estratégias da cultura e da economia neoliberal se esforçam por manter as estruturas das esferas coloniais.