Of all building materials in the world, brick is one of the most enduring and ubiquitous. Traces of brickmaking date back to 7500 BC and fired brick first made its appearance in about 3500 BC. Since then, the trusty brick has shown amazing resilience and remains one of the mainstays of contemporary architecture. Rooted in tradition in countries as different as China and the Netherlands, it is inexpensive, flexible in use, and can also be ecologically fabricated.This comprehen...
French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolor paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s wife Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration. This elegant catalogue brings together all engravings fr...
On December 5, 1923, at just twenty-two years old, Manly Palmer Hall embarked on the defining pilgrimage of his early life, boarding the S.S. Franconia for a journey around the world. The voyage was conceived an ambitious spiritual and intellectual expedition, as Hall set out to encounter firsthand the religious traditions, sacred philosophies, symbols, and cultural systems that had long stirred his imagination through books. This journey became the inspiration for Hall’s mas...
Cinema has likely never been written off so often. In the decade of the 2010s, it is true, much has changed – both in how we watch movies, and in how we see ourselves. Social media and the internet have shaped a new understanding of the self and the world. As streaming services multiplied our viewing options and video games offered alluring realities of their own, the big screen faced serious competition. Even before the usual delays between theatrical release and furth...
This volume provides a connoisseurial roundup of the world’s ultimate watches, from early aviators’ timepieces by the likes of Longines to legendary vintage chronographs by, among others, Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Audemars Piguet to state-of-the-art contemporary pieces. Also included are horological masterworks by the legendary George Daniels and his prodigy, Roger W. Smith, as well as other celebrated independent watchmakers, including Philippe Dufour, François-Paul Journe,...
“Holds many surprises for the reader who has seen the Cuban reality . . . only through the distorting prism of propaganda.” — The New York Times Book Review, 1967On December 31, 1958, Lee Lockwood, then a young photojournalist, went to Cuba to cover what looked to be the end of Batista’s regime. He arrived the day before Fidel Castro took power and spent a week canvassing the island before finding the victorious leader. Castro immediately took to Lockwood and over the next de...
Supermodel, entrepreneur, activist, provocateur. Since her teenage rise to stardom, Naomi Campbell has dazzled the world with her looks, her strength, and her irrepressible spirit. The first black model to grace the cover of French Vogue and TIME magazine, she has been the face of hundreds of magazine covers, countless editorials and advertising campaigns, and a favorite subject for some of the best photographers of the ’80s, ’90s, and today.Originally published as a signed C...
Well before Andy Warhol’s rise to the pinnacle of Pop Art, he created and exhibited seductive drawings celebrating male beauty. Andy Warhol Love, Sex, & Desire: Drawings 1950–1962 features over three hundred drawings rendered primarily in ink on paper portraying young men, many of them nude, some sexually charged, and occasionally adorned with whimsical black hearts and delightful embellishments. They lounge or preen, proud of or even bored by their beauty, while the artist s...
Inside, the book traces the full arc of the Purple & Gold, from their scrappy origins in Minneapolis to icon status. From superstars to the fans in the stands, the Lakers story belongs to everyone who ever bled Purple & Gold. Starting with George Mikan and the league’s first dynasty; the hard-fought years against Boston, rich with rivalry lore, when Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain carried the fight; and 1979, when a new owner named Dr. Jerry Buss decided a grea...
At the turn of the 20th century, the American photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952) started on his 30-year project to produce a monumental study of North American Indians. Using an approach that was both artistically and scientifically ambitious, he recorded, in words and pictures, the traces of the traditional Indian way of life that was already beginning to die out. With tireless personal commitment Curtis visited 80 American Indian tribes from the Mexican border t...
Countless global brands, including Rolex, BMW, Louis Vuitton, and the New York Yankees, still use logos that were designed over 100 years ago. Yet there has never been a monograph devoted to the origins of logo design. In the second half of the 19th century, the trademark replaced traditional symbols such as the family coat of arms as a promotional and identifying symbol for companies. At first, the designs were often still figurative; only gradually did they develop into the...
Get ready to quake in fear with this revised and expanded edition of our history of horror cinema. This chilling volume packs 640 pages full with the finest slashers, ghosts, zombies, cannibals, and more, curating the very creepiest screen creations from the flickering spooks of the 1920s to the special-effect terrors of the 21st century.Across 10 illustrated chapters, the compendium gets under the skin of some of horror’s favorite figures and themes, whether the vampire, the...
The second Marvel character to spring from the legendary creative collaboration of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the early 1960s was a far cry from the Fantastic Four’s recognizable family dynamics and globe-trotting super heroics. The Hulk was a Monster! The alter ego of puny human scientist Bruce Banner unleashed when an experimental bomb douses the hapless scientist in Gamma radiation, and thereupon unleashed every time the mild-mannered Banner lost his temper, the Hulk explo...
Introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the fertile pages of The Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer quickly established himself as one of Marvel’s most far-out characters. Enslaved by Galactus to prowl the cosmos for the demi-god’s next planet-sized meal, the Surfer was as tragic a figure as any in comics—and he looked impossibly cool at the same time! A smash hit with fans and a regular supporting character in Fantastic Four, the character struck a creative nerve with Le...
By early 1963 the foundations of the Marvel Universe had been laid. Following the introduction of the Fantastic Four in 1961 came the amazing (Spider-Man), the astonishing (Ant-Man), the strange (Doctor, that is), the incredible (Hulk), the invincible (Iron Man) and the mighty (Thor). Still, Marvel editor in chief Stan Lee realized something was missing.“I was writing these characters and I thought it would fun to put them together in a team,” he recalled. So Lee and artist J...
Experience the making of JR’s La Caverne du Pont Neuf through behind-the-scenes shots and preparatory material. This book presents La Caverne from inception to installation, including earlier works featuring caves and trompe l’oeil as well as an in-depth interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist about the visual references for this monumental installation.
Soon available in a limited edition.
When the excavations at Pompeii were first placed on a scholarly archaeological footing in the 19th century, brothers Fausto and Felice Niccolini were close at hand and ready to respond. Making use of the newly introduced technique of color lithography, they documented the buildings, frescos, statues, as well as the most ordinary everyday objects, of the city buried in just 24 hours by the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius and preserved for over 1,600 years under a mantle of ...
When Flemish engraver and publisher Theodore de Bry issued the first volume of his America series in 1590, the New World was truly novel for most Europeans. Gleaned from the travel accounts of adventurers like Thomas Harriot, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Walter Raleigh, De Bry’s magnificent engravings brought the new continent and its inhabitants to an enraptured audience across the Atlantic.From “Virginia” (today’s North Carolina) and Florida to Central America and down into P...
Ai Weiwei is famous for much more than his art. As a champion for the right to free expression and against arbitrary state power, his actions reach far beyond the art world. His work is infused with a deep social and political commitment: when he brings 1,001 Chinese citizens from all classes and regions to Documenta 12, when he strews over 100 million hand-made porcelain sunflower seeds across the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, when he creates a frieze of school bags comme...
This hefty photographic portrait of Rome brings together hundreds of photographs from the 1840s through to today to explore the extraordinary history, beauty, and art of this incomparable cultural capital. From sepia and black and white to color, these outstanding images dating from the 1840s to the present day allow us — through the eyes of such photographers as Giacomo Caneva, Pompeo Molins, Giuseppe Primoli, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Carlo Bavagnoli, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pasqu...
The Kama Sutra gives detailed instructions on how to spank it. Contemporary Italians touch it for luck before placing a bet. Americans are having it cosmetically enhanced at rates approaching breast enlargement surgery. The female butt, tush, culo, or derrière has always inspired awe, fantasy, and slavish devotion.Curiously, its primary purpose is functional rather than aesthetic: butts balance our bodies while running, according to biologists. But ask any pygophiliac—as f...
After the bust out success of The Big Book of Breasts TASCHEN presents the perfect companion, The Big Penis Book. When it comes to pleasure, size doesn’t matter; as we all know it’s quality, not quantity, that counts. But let’s admit it: a big penis is undeniably compelling. Big shoulders, big lapels, and big hair may come and go, but the big penis never goes out of fashion. With those possessing more than 8 inches (20 cm) making up less than 2% of the world’s populat...
By early 1963 the foundations of the Marvel Universe had been laid. Following the introduction of the Fantastic Four in 1961 came the amazing (Spider-Man), the astonishing (Ant-Man), the strange (Doctor, that is), the incredible (Hulk), the invincible (Iron Man) and the mighty (Thor). Still, Marvel editor in chief Stan Lee realized something was missing. “I was writing these characters and I thought it would fun to put them together in a team,” he recalled. So Lee and artist ...
Some call it the American obsession, but men everywhere recognize the hypnotic allure of a large and shapely breast. In The Big Book of Breasts, Dian Hanson explores the origins of mammary madness through three decades of natural big-breasted nudes. Starting with the World War II Bosom-Mania that spawned Russ Meyer, Howard Hughes’s The Outlaw and Frederick’s of Hollywood, Dian guides you over, around, and in between the dangerous curves of infamous models including Michelle A...
Raphael (1483–1520) is considered the most important artist of the Italian High Renaissance alongside Michelangelo and Leonardo. In his short lifetime he created around one hundred paintings and numerous frescoes, including nine fresco cycles, on an unsurpassed variety of themes – from sensual female beauties, antique myths and portraits of wealthy Romans and church dignitaries to history cycles and biblical scenes. He produced altarpieces, as well as designing tapestries for...
With his smooth, warm, ruddy face which radiated light in all directions, Chairman Mao Zedong was a fixture in Chinese propaganda posters produced between the birth of the People’s Republic in 1949 and the early 1980s.Chairman Mao, portrayed as a stoic superhero (aka the Great Teacher, the Great Leader, the Great Helmsman, the Supreme Commander), appeared in all kinds of situations (inspecting factories, smoking a cigarette with peasant workers, standing by the Yangzi River i...
At the intersection of the visual, graphic, and cinematic arts, film posters are a unique and thrilling record of a particular cultural Zeitgeist. This book brings together 250 posters from the Soviet Union of the 1920s and early 1930s to explore the energy and invention of this period, before Soviet Realism became the official art doctrine.Drawn from the private collection of collector Susan Pack, the selection includes the work of 27 different artists. From bold figuration ...
Enter a world populated by private eyes, gangsters, psychopaths, and femmes fatales, where deception, lust, and betrayal run rampant. This film-by-film photography book on film noir and neo-noir begins with the early genre influencers of German and French silent film, journeys through such seminal works such as Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Vertigo, and arrives at the present day via Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, Heat, and the recent cult favorite Drive.Ent...
Frank Frazetta has reigned as the undisputed king of fantasy art for well over 50 years, the value of his paintings now climbing as high as his fans’ admiration. Each year his works break the previous year’s auction records, with the cover for Lancer books 1967 Conan bringing $13.5 million in September 2025.Born to a Sicilian immigrant family in Brooklyn, 1928, Frazetta was a minor league athlete, petty criminal and serial seducer with movie star looks and phenomenal talent. ...
A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers.Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing...
First impressions count, especially in Milano. In this unprecedented photographic journey, editor Karl Kolbitz opens the door to 144 of the city’s most sumptuous entrance halls, captivating in their diversity and splendor. These vibrant Milanese entryways, until now hidden away behind often restrained façades, are revealed as dazzling examples of Italian modernism, mediating public and private space with vivid configurations of color and form, from floors of juxtaposed s...
“Bond, James Bond.” Since Sean Connery uttered those immortal words in 1962, the most dashing secret agent in the history of cinema has been charming and thrilling audiences worldwide. This impeccably British character created by author Ian Fleming has starred in 25 EON-produced films played by six different actors over seven decades.Paul Duncan, who has compiled this volume covering every James Bond film ever made, beginning with Dr. No (1962) and ending with No Time To Die ...
The kind of fame and success The Rolling Stones have achieved in their 60-plus year career is without parallel; their most famous riffs and catchiest lyrics are indelibly engraved in our collective memory. With their mesmerizing on- and off-stage presence, the Stones set the standard for how a rock band should sound, pose, pout, and behave. They were the first to instinctively understand that what you looked like was as important as the music, and that photography had a vital...
Across small cottages and lavish villas, beach houses and forest refuges, discover the world’s finest crop of new homes. This cutting-edge global digest features such talents as Shigeru Ban and Marcio Kogan alongside up-and-coming names like Aires Mateus, Xu Fu-Min, Vo Trong Nghia, Desai Chia, and Shunri Nishizawa. Here, there are homes in Australia and New Zealand, from China and Vietnam, in the United States and Mexico, and on to less expected places like Ecuador and Costa ...
The history of nude photography is the history of people’s fascination with the topic. Indeed, the photographic depiction of the human body is the only subject that has enthralled photographers, theoreticians, and consumers over such a long period—more than 150 years. No other motif is as prevalent as this one during all the phases of development comprising the history of photography, no other is present, whatever the technique, and is a subject of discussion within the conte...
Step inside one of the world’s most enviable closets to celebrate the empowering, sensual, playful, and practical shoe. Hundreds of groundbreaking designs, ephemera, and sketches are featured in this volume, a follow-up to Fashion Designers A–Z, from the most coveted labels such as Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahník, Gucci, Roger Vivier, and more.
Mushrooms—psychoactive, medicinal, or delicious—have fascinated us for millennia. They have facilitated spiritual quests in ancient and modern times, and their whimsical forms have inspired artists from Bosch to Kusama. Join The Gourmand’s culinary experts on an in-depth mycological journey, with original recipes and texts by top chefs and critics.
At the dawn of the automobile age, Americans’ predilection for wanderlust prompted a new wave of inventive entrepreneurs to cater to this new mode of transportation. Starting in the 1920s, attention-grabbing buildings began to appear that would draw in passing drivers for snacks, provisions, souvenirs, or a quick meal. The architectural establishment of the day dismissed these roadside buildings as “monstrosities”. Yet, they flourished, especially along America’s Sunbelt, ...
Arranged alphabetically, this biographical encyclopedia features every major photographer of the 20th century alongside her or his most significant monographs. From the earliest representatives of classical Modernism right up to the present day, Photographers A–Z celebrates those photographers who have distinguished themselves with important publications or exhibitions, and who have made a significant contribution to the culture of the photographic image. The entries include ...
An encounter with Gerhard Richter, the German artist who widened horizons in the relationship between painting and reality. From early photographic paintings, along with his famous RAF cycle, to late abstract paintings, experiencing Richter’s work always offers us the unexpected and unseen. Where he once set out to liberate the medium from ideological ballast, today, faced with the overwhelming presence of digital images, he shows us the unsurpassed impact and intensity of pa...
The 20th century saw fashion evolve from an exclusive Parisian salon business catering for the wealthy elite into a global industry employing millions, with new trends whisked into stores before the last model has even left the catwalk. Along the way, the signature silhouettes of each era evolved beyond recognition. For women, House of Worth crinolines gave way to Vionnet’s bias-cut gowns, Dior’s New Look to Quant’s Chelsea Look, Halston’s white suit to Frankie B.’s low-rise ...
Paris is the City of Light in all its facets. In the 1920s La Ville des lumières gleams especially bright and becomes a magnet for creative people from around the world. This is the decade of Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker, Art Deco and Surrealism, café culture and cabaret.The most famous artists of the epoch, later called Classic Modernism, are in close contact and have lively exchanges with one another – including Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Réne Clair,...
Drawn from TASCHEN’s Illustration Now! series, this go-to catalog brings together 100 of the most successful and important illustrators around the globe. With featured artists including Istvan Banyai, Gary Baseman, Seymour Chwast, Paul Davis, Brad Holland, Mirko Ilić, Anita Kunz, and Christoph Niemann, the international overview provides an invigorating record of the dynamism and diversity of the illustration scene. Each illustrator is featured with a self-portrait, samples f...
To explore the Tarot is to explore ourselves, to be reminded of the universality of our longing for meaning, for purpose and for a connection to the divine. This 600-year-old tradition reflects not only a history of seekers, but our journey of artistic expression and the ways we communicate our collective human story.For many in the West, Tarot exists in the shadow place of our cultural consciousness, a metaphysical tradition assigned to the dusty glass cabinets of the arcane...
In Animals, we discover a different side to the famed photographer who skillfully explores animals’ complex relationship with humans and the environment.Tenderness abounds, particularly in scenes of unkempt street dogs sleeping contentedly next to a human. But there’s also a kind of essential solitude, with animals belonging to no one and simply wandering through life with only their survival instincts to guide them. We witness camels caught in the crossfire during the first ...
The creator of the ubiquitous Knoll “Tulip” chairs and tables, Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) was one of the 20th century’s most prominent space shapers, merging dynamic forms with a modernist sensibility across architecture and design. Among Saarinen’s greatest accomplishments are Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, the very sculptural and fluid TWA terminal at JFK Airport in New York, and the 630 ft. (192 m) high Gateway Arch of St. Louis, Missouri, each of them defi...
From the beginning of human history, individuals across cultures and belief systems have looked to the sky for meaning. The movement of celestial bodies and their relation to our human lives has been the central tenant of astrology for thousands of years. The practice has both inspired reverence and worship, and deepened our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.While modern-day horoscopes may be the most familiar form of astrological knowledge, their lineage rea...
This is a photographic love story tracing the fifty-five years of collaboration, partnership and history of Helmut and June Newton. First published in 1998, their legendary joint project Us and Them was presented in book form and accompanying exhibitions. The book‘s first part – Us – features personal portraits of each other and self-portraits taken over several decades, revealing affection and intimacy behind each image and bringing forth nostalgia of the time. It is a phot...
With his geometric structures perched upon the hillsides, beaches, and deserts of California, John Lautner (1911–1994) was behind some of the most striking and innovative architectural designs in mid-20th-century America. This introductory book brings together the most important of Lautner’s projects to explore his ingenious use of modern building materials and his bold stylistic repertoire of sweeping rooflines, glass-paneled walls, and steel beams. From commercial buildings...
As a boy, Tom’s first crush was a strapping young farmhand who worked the fields around his family home. Finland is a land of tough physical men, catching fish in the icy sea; cutting logs in the endless forests; threshing oats, rye, and barley on the farms. Tom, a more sensitive boy, admired these rough men and their distinctive clothing, designed for protection and utility.He later said, “When I was young, leather was worn by people who worked outside because it was warm. A...
“Through these travels and the photographs, I got to love the United States more than I could have in any other way.” — Jack Delano Amid the ravages of the Great Depression, the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) was first founded in 1935 to address the country’s rural poverty. Its efforts focused on improving the lives of sharecroppers, tenants, and very poor landowning farmers, with resettlement and collectivization programs, as well as modernized farming meth...
Simon “Woody” Wood, founder and editor-in-chief of Sneaker Freaker magazine, has spent the last two decades analyzing the global cult of footwear fanatics. That experience directly inspired World’s Greatest Sneaker Collectors, a stonking 752-page journey into the priceless stockpiles and obsessive minds of prominent aficionados.From Tokyo to New York, via London, Philadelphia, Melbourne, and Stjørdal, no crumbled midsole is left unturned as over 2,500 vintage classics, unique...
As sensitive to human suffering as to the simple pleasures of life, Robert Doisneau is one of the most celebrated exponents of the Photographie humaniste that swept through the 1950s. Cherished in particular for his soulful portraits of Paris, Doisneau demonstrated a unique ability to find – and perfectly frame – charismatic characters, entertaining episodes, and fleeting moments of humor and affection.A summation of a spectacular career, this extensive Doisneau collection in...
Wright on The star pieces of America’s greatest architect A building by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) is at once unmistakably individual and evocative of an entire era. Notable for their exceptional harmony with their environment, as well as for their use of steel and glass to revolutionize the interface of indoor and outdoor, Wright’s designs helped announce the age of modernity, as much as they secured his place in the annals of architectural genius. This meticulous com...
Back in 2002, Simon “Woody” Wood was dreaming up schemes to get free sneakers. Two weeks later, he was the proud owner of Sneaker Freaker and his life was never the same. From its early roots as a punk-style fanzine to today’s super-slick print and online operations, the fiercely independent publication has documented every collab, custom, limited edition, retro reissue, Quickstrike, Hyperstrike, and Tier Zero sneaker released over the last 15 years. Woody’s original premise ...
Have you ever thought of citrus fruits as celestial bodies, angelically suspended in the sky? Perhaps not, but J. C. Volkamer (1644–1720) did—commissioning an extravagant and breathtaking series of large-sized copperplates representing citrons, lemons, and bitter oranges in surreal scenes of majesty and wonder.Ordering plants by post mostly from Italy, Germany, North Africa, and even the Cape of Good Hope, the Nuremberg merchant Volkamer was a devotee of the fragrant and exot...
To travel through Italy is as close as one gets to being in paradise. For centuries, writers, artists, architects, and merchants have been drawn here, inspired by the beauty of Venice, Florence, Naples, and Rome. Countless books, paintings, poems, and sculptures are evidence of its undying appeal, and over the past 60 years, the country has become one of the world’s top travel and holiday destinations. The loveliness of Italy is, if not eternal, certainly enduring, and the ea...
This book documents a revolution. With photos, plans, and descriptions, it explores new approaches in building and presents resourceful and green private homes. Rejecting “stardom” but celebrating diversity, talents such as Suzuko Yamada, Gurjit Matharoo, and the collective Frankie Pappas truly build our future.
Through the turbulent events of the last century-and-a-half, graphic design—with its vivid, neat synthesis of image and idea—has distilled the spirit of each age. It surrounds us every minute of the day, from minimalist packaging to colorful adverts, environmental graphics to sleek interfaces: graphic design is as much about reflecting society’s aspirations and values as it is about transmitting information. Now published as part of our popular Basic Art series, this vibrant ...
Encompassing the entire NFT ecosystem from algorithmic art to avatars and AI, the first major art historical survey of this field is now available in an updated, budget-friendly edition and includes 11 additional artists. With 10 academic essays and 111 artists in total, the book offers an extensive insight into digital art on the blockchain today.
With more than 280 entries, this architectural A–Z, now part of our Bibliotheca Universalis series, offers an indispensable overview of the key players in the creation of modern space. From the period spanning the 19th to the 21st century, pioneering architects are featured with a portrait, concise biography, as well as a description of her or his important work. Like a bespoke global architecture tour, you’ll travel from Manhattan skyscrapers to a Japanese concert hall, from...
The Hermetic Museum takes readers on a magical mystery tour spanning an arc from the medieval cosmogram and images of Christian mysticism, through the fascinating world of alchemy to the art of the Romantic era. The enigmatic hieroglyphs of cabalists, Rosicrucians, and freemasons are shown to be closely linked with the early scientific illustrations in the fields of medicine, chemistry, optics, and color theory. Even for those with no knowledge of the fascinating history of a...
As his personal circumstances move in constant flux, Ai Weiwei remains a cultural magnet. Renowned for his political activism and social media activity almost as much as for his social interventions, contemporary approach to the readymade, and knowledge of Chinese traditional crafts, Ai’s fame extends throughout and beyond the art world. Drawn from TASCHEN’s limited Collector’s Edition, this monograph explores each of Ai’s career phases up until his release from Chin...
Photographs have a strange and powerful way of shaping the way we see the world. The most successful images enter our collective consciousness, defining eras, making history, or simply touching something so fundamentally human and universal that they have become resonant icons all over the globe. To explore this unique influence, Photo Icons puts some of the most important photographic landmarks under the microscope.From some of the earliest photography, such as Nicéphore Nié...
For the seasoned car collector or the awestruck newcomer, this volume is the consummate sports car anthology. Bringing together 50 of the most exquisite, desirable, and adrenaline-charging sports cars of all time, it recounts the enthralling endeavors in automotive design and engineering in pursuit of optimum dynamic performance for both road and track. This expertly curated roundup of glorious, high-speed two-seaters includes both all-out sports racers as well as their stree...
The arresting pictures of Frida Kahlo (1907–54) were in many ways expressions of trauma. Through a near-fatal road accident at the age of 18, failing health, a turbulent marriage, miscarriage and childlessness, she transformed the afflictions into revolutionary art. In literal or metaphorical self-portraiture, Kahlo looks out at the viewer with an audacious glare, rejecting her destiny as a passive victim and rather intertwining expressions of her experience into a hybrid rea...
The world appears to be divided into cat and dog lovers, but fortunately Walter Chandoha, the 20th century’s greatest pet photographer found himself happily in the middle. He loved these intriguing creatures equally for their unique beauty and individualism, and as subjects to photograph in a career spanning over 70 years. While working on his critically acclaimed TASCHEN book Cats, Chandoha handpicked his favorite dog photos for a potential follow-up title, putting into care...
From Edouard Manet’s portrait of naturalist writer Émile Zola sitting among his Japanese art finds to Van Gogh’s meticulous copies of the Hiroshige prints he devotedly collected, 19th-century pioneers of European modernism made no secret of their love of Japanese art. In all its sensuality, freedom, and effervescence, the woodblock print is single-handedly credited with the wave of japonaiserie that first enthralled France and, later, all of Europe—but often remains misunders...
Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was one of the century’s greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics—and was rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the first to apply the insights of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis to the art of painting, approaching the subconscious with extraordinary sensitivity and imagination. This publication presents the artist’s painted oeuvre.After many years of research, Robert Descharnes and ...
Take a journey through the makers and shapers of celluloid history. From horror to romance, noir to slapstick, adventure to tragedy, Western to new wave, this selection gathers the greats of 20th-century cinema into one indispensable guide to movie gold. The collection is arranged chronologically and in an extra-handy format.Film entries include a synopsis, cast/crew listings, technical information, actor/director bios, trivia, and lists of awards, as well as film stills, pro...