Series:

Masterpieces of Art

7 total works

Cover of First World War Posters

First World War Posters

by Rosalind Ormiston

Published 15 October 2013
2014 will mark 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. First World War Posters is a striking and insightful foray into what this conflict meant to people all over the world and how their governments used poster art as a powerful appeal to everyone in society. Featuring fantastic posters from the UK, US, Canada, Australia and Europe, the human angle really comes through. With a fresh and thoughtful introduction to the war and its posters, the book goes on to showcase the key works in all their glory.

Cover of Hieronymus Bosch Masterpieces of Art

Bosch lived and worked over 500 years ago in the Netherlands’ town of ’s Hertogenbosch, from which he takes his name. He is best known for his fantastical, wondrous art full of strange creatures both grotesque and heavenly. The work he has left behind still defies the imagination. Taking account of the latest research, Hieronymus Bosch: Masterpieces of Art gives an overview of what is known of this elusive painter and draughtsman, and reproduces his (and some of his followers’) impressive work, from traditional Biblical stories with a Boschian twist, such as the Adoration of the Magi, to his apocalyptic Four Visions of the Hereafter. His diptychs and triptychs, such as the famously complex Garden of Earthly Delights are covered as well as his stunning line drawings, such as The Wood Has Ears, The Field Has Eyes.

Cover of Egon Schiele Masterpieces of Art
Austrian painter Egon Schiele was a gifted artist, mentored by the great Gustav Klimt. Inspired by the human form, he is best-known for his figurative works, particularly of women, with their defiantly confrontational air and their bold contortions. Schiele’s nudes are shockingly direct in the way they face us: frank, unabashed and defiant in their gaze. To be as resolutely transgressive as Schiele is an artistic achievement in itself. Egon Schiele Masterpieces of Art features a fascinating introduction to the life and art of this talented artist, as well as showcasing his key portraits, nudes, landscapes and still lifes in all their glory.

Cover of Edward Hopper Masterpieces of Art
This glorious book allows the reader to revel in Hopper’s most well-known and masterful works, reproduced one after the other, often at full page, in full colour; but it also enables you to rediscover the artist, to delve further than the obvious paintings in order to fully understand his motivations, and then to reassess his works in a fresh light. Before the ‘Masterpieces’ section, some thoughtful text discusses Hopper from a number of angles, laying the groundwork with Life & Times, travelling through the Places that inspired him, examining his key Subjects & Themes, and explaining the Styles & Techniques by which he was influenced or to which he subscribed, not forgetting his lasting legacy. All the while his works are cross-referenced, so you get the most out of the paintings. Whether the treatment of light and sense of place of Lighthouse at Two Lights appeals to your senses, or you are captivated by the untold story of the pensive woman in Automat, Edward Hopper Masterpieces will be a book to treasure and revisit.

Cover of J.M.W. Turner Masterpieces of Art
The English Romantic painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775–19 December 1851) was a brilliant landscape artist, a watercolourist and printmaker. His style, powerful and fierce, melding the elements with humankind are thought by many to have prepared the way for Impressionism. In his time he was controversial, but his focus on land and seascapes widened the palette of artists and their audience, and his impressionistic brushwork prepared the way for the fragmentation of the modern era. This wonderful new book brings to life his greatest achievements, with such paintings as The Fighting 'Temeraire’, Inside Tintern Abbey and Rain, Steam and Speed (The Great Western Railway).

Cover of Paul Gauguin Masterpieces of Art
Gauguin began his artistic life as an Impressionist in Paris, but yearning for a wider world view he experimented with decorative art and bright colours to create what some have termed Symbolism. He painted briefly with Van Gogh but was strongly drawn by the “otherness” of the South Pacific to which he travelled frequently, and finally settled far away from his origins and early influences to create a unique and intensely personal body of work. This beautiful new book revels in the scenes of Tahiti, the sunlit bodies, the shapes and styles of the South Pacific each of which have secured him a unique place in the history of art.

Cover of Lichtenstein Masterpieces of Art
Lichtenstein adopted the styles and mannerisms of mass market comics, and turned them into a sophisticated commentary on identity and Western values, creating an accessible space for casual viewers of fine art. Along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg he created what became the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, a direct response to the sensory assault of the New York Abstract Expressionists in the previous decade. This powerful new book is packed with Lichtenstein's strident and powerful art.