BELLAS ARTES

The earliest forms of human creativity – in carvings, markings, and cave paintings – bear witness to humanity’s engagement with color. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to assign structure, order, and meaning to this universal yet elusive concept, and it is this fascination that unites the works compiled in this expansive edition. Gathering over 65 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the most distinguished color collections worldwide, The Book of Colour Concepts takes the reader on a chromatic odyssey across four centuries and over 1,000 images of luscious wheels and globes, painstakingly collated charts, and meticulous diagrams, many of them newly photographed exclusively for this edition. Some of these concepts provide exhaustive taxonomies of color, while others reflect upon the relationship of color and music, or the affinities between color and human emotions.

In the far east of France, close to the German and Swiss borders, lies the historic city of Mulhouse. During the early 19th century, it became one of the leading centres of textile manufacture in the country. Today it is home to the Musée de l’Impression sur Étoffes, a museum dedicated entirely to the history of fabric printing from the 17th century right up to the present day. Few are the serious fashion designers who have not come to visit this astonishing temple to textiles. This book, however, gives you the key to those vaults, presenting on its broad pages perfectly captured images of its collections that span four different continents – recounting a fascinating artistic and technological adventure across the world, from its origins in India to the most contemporary creations.

When Benedikt Taschen asked the most important portrait photographer working today, Annie Leibovitz, to collect her pictures in a SUMO-sized book, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to develop and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed in at 26 kg (57 pounds).This incredible collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format. Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work, starting with the photojournalism she did for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s through the conceptual portraits she made for Vanity Fair and Vogue.

Sky-high, ornate, and the pinnacle of glamour, both restrictive and liberating, art object and deeply ordinary, shoes tell the story of shifting attitudes toward desire, power, and wealth throughout history. Lace up for a journey through the most enviable shoe closet from the permanent collection at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology— and four centuries of fashion’s hardest working accessory.Featuring designs from the likes of Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahník, and Roger Vivier, Shoes A–Z. The Collection of The Museum at FIT celebrates fashion’s most revolutionary and coveted labels with more than 400 styles selected from the Museum’s pristinely preserved collection. Texts from Daphne Guinness, Valerie Steele, Colleen Hill, and The Museum’s expert team of curators explore the unique legacy of each of the featured designers and the lasting cultural impact of the shoe. Also featured are custom illustrations by Robert Nippoldt. Exclusive access to original sketches, advertisements, and photographs from the designers’ private archives further illuminate the genius behind the functional, sculptural delights we cannot live without. Also available as Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies, including three prints by Manolo Blahník created exclusively for this edition with a hallmark stamp.

An exhaustive compendium of marble, Afbeelding der Marmor Soorten (A Representation of Marble Types) depicted 570 samples across 100 colour plates, accompanied by texts in five languages. Published in 1776 at the peak of the Enlightenment, it is regarded, rightly, as one of the finest illustrated scientific books of the era.Over the course of the 18th century, beautiful books that categorised, annotated, and illuminated the Enlightenment pursuit of learning across Europe had become increasingly popular. Knowledge was everything and everywhere, and these books provided it for those not wealthy enough to build their own personal collections of rare and exotic objects.

At the dawn of the Victorian era in her open-air laboratory in Halstead, Kent, Anna Atkins embarked on a radical experiment to document botanical species using a completely new artistic medium. The inimitable cyanotype photograms of algae and ferns she created were made into the first books to feature photographic images. Striking yet ethereal, these albums are a perfect synthesis of art and science.Although the cyanotype technique was discovered by her friend John Herschel, Atkins was the first to realize both its practical purpose for own her interests in botany and taxonomy, and its intriguing artistic potential.