With a good book, you’re never, ever alone.
A good book is a great thing. A marvellous glimpse into the lives of others, their work and their thoughts: an amazing shared experience. It stays open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can dip in, dip out or stay as long as you like.
Pablo Picasso’s artistic output is astonishing in its ambition and variety. This handsome new publication examines a particular aspect of his legendary capacity for invention: his imaginative and original use of paper.
A Buyer’s Guide to Prints (Paperback)
Helen Rosslyn (author)
For the prospective buyer, the world of printmaking can be overwhelming. Intaglio, lithography, aquatint, sugarlift… even the language of printmaking has the potential to confuse. Helen Rosslyn, a print specialist and Director of the London Original Print Fair, provides her expert insider advice in this straight-talking guide.
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Picasso and Paper (Hardback)
Ann Dumas (author)
He used it as a support for autonomous works, including etchings, prints and drawings, as well as for his papier-colle experiments of the 1910s and his revolutionary three-dimensional ‘constructions’, made of cardboard, paper and string.
‘Pablo Picasso rewrote the rules of painting, but he also tore up the rulebook for paper.’
Sometimes, his use of paper was simply determined by circumstance: in occupied Paris, where art supplies were hard to come by, he ripped up paper tablecloths to make works of art. And, of course, his works on paper comprise the preparatory stages of some of his very greatest paintings, among them Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937).
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Michael Armitage, Kampala Suburb, Oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 196 x 150 cm, Private Collection, London
Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium (Paperback)
Lydia Yee (editor)
This timely publication, accompanying a brand new survey exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, presents key works by some of the most exciting practitioners in current figurative painting.
Radical Figures highlights the renewed interest in radical modes of figuration during the past two decades, and considers the vast range of imagery, subjects and stories that have informed this transition: from the re-evaluation of early pioneers such as James Ensor and Max Beckman, and postwar painters such as Maria Lassnig and Philip Guston; to raunchy comics; to the ubiquity of photography on social media.
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Takashi Murakami (Hardback)
Madeleine Grynsztejn (author)
Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), one of contemporary art s most widely recognised exponents, receives a long-awaited critical consideration in this important volume. Accompanying the first retrospective exhibition devoted solely to Murakami s paintings, this book traces Murakami s career from his earliest training to his current studio practice.
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David Hockney: Drawing from Life (Hardback)
Sarah Howgate (author), Isabel Seligman (author)
This book, which accompanies the first major exhibition devoted to David Hockney’s drawings in over 20 years,will explore Hockney as a draughtsman from the 1950s to now, with a focus on himself, his family and friends. From Ingres to the iPad -this book demonstrates the artist’s ingenuity in portrait drawing with reference to both tradition and technology.
Alongside an in-depth essay from the curator, this book will feature an exclusive interview between author and curator, Sarah Howgate, and artist, David Hockney. In addition, an ‘In Focus’ essay by British Museum curator Isabel Seligman, will explore the relationship between Hockney, Ingres and Picasso drawings.
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Warhol: A Life as Art (Hardback)
Blake Gopnik (author)
The definitive biography of one of the most famous and influential artists the world has ever seen.
‘Art and art history jumped the tracks with Andy Warhol. Blake Gopnik’s lucid account of the artist and the wild times puts all that back on track again. An eye-opening biography that reads like a potboiler’ – Jerry Saltz, Senior Art Critic, New York Magazine
When critics attacked Andy Warhol’s Marilyn paintings as shallow, the Pop artist was happy to present himself as shallower still: He claimed that he silkscreened to avoid the hard work of painting, although he was actually a meticulous workaholic; in interviews he presented himself as a silly naif when in private he was the canniest of sophisticates. Blake Gopnik’s definitive biography digs deep into the contradictions and radical genius that led Andy Warhol to revolutionise our cultural world.
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Art: The Definitive Visual Guide (Hardback)
Andrew Graham-Dixon (author)
Discover the history of art movements from classical Greek art to the Italian Renaissance, the Pre-Raphaelites, and the masters of Impressionism with a brand new edition of this classic bestseller.
Truly comprehensive in scope, Art shows you masterpieces from over 700 artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, and Van Gogh. An invaluable reference book for any art lover, it showcases the works; everything from Italian baroque painting and African art to contemporary art history.
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A story for young explorers
Join Alex Alligator & Friends as they travel across continents learning about different countries, animals, habitats, hobbies, families and friendship.
In each story Alex Alligator uses his magic map to travel on adventures with his classmates. Alex always finds himself in a tricky situation but with the help of his friends they save the day.
Perfect for 3 to 6 years learning phonics and how to read. Filled with creativity and STEAM subjects in each story.
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