BELLAS ARTES

This comprehensive monograph is an exclusive look inside the château that inspired the design of Versailles and today continues to enchant visitors and film directors alike. Vaux-le-Vicomte’s rich history began in 1641 when infamous French finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, the original owner, surrounded himself with the most skilled and talented artisans of the time: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André Le Nôtre, to create a perfect harmony between architecture and landscape. The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and its spectacular gardens fascinated Louis XIV and were the inspira­tion for Versailles. Classified as a historical monument since 1875 under the impetus of the owner at the time, the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte quickly became a model of the artistic genius of the seventeenth century. This volume traces the château’s history from the seventeenth century through the Belle Époque, World War I, and its public opening in 1968. Exclu­sive photography and archival documents offer unprecedented access to the château, furnishings, and gardens, and illuminate the extraordinary secrets of court life and centuries of celebrations that include the enchanting candlelit tours held today.

Renowned interior designer and tastemaker Charlotte Moss celebrates flowers and offers endless inspiration in their use as glorious additions to decorating, entertaining, and everyday living. Charlotte Moss encourages readers to bring the garden indoors--with ideas for arranging flowers, selecting containers, and placing blossoms around the house. An inviting cluster of blooms on a guest room's bedside table, lavish floral displays for parties and holidays, single stems adding life to any corner of a room--Moss has been photographing her flower arrangements for over a decade. This book is a celebration of her artistry and a testament to flowers as part of day-to-day life. From Moss's grander displays in the city to her more informal and breezy creations at her home in the country, as well as in the refined interiors of her clients, the visual result is a chronicle of the myriad ways flowers provide inspiration--indoors and out. Readers will be further motivated as Moss describes the contributions of past tastemakers: Gloria Vanderbilt for her ingenious use of floral patterns in her licensed products, Pauline de Rothschild for her fantastic tablescapes, Bunny Mellon for her profusive use of topiaries, Constance Spry for the use of inventive containers and for her groundbreaking artistry, and Lady Bird Johnson for her embrace of the simple, exquisite wildflower. With nature as her muse, Moss implores us to create the backdrop for a life well lived, imbuing every day with flair, beauty, and elegance.

This book will represent one of the most effective and extravagant visions of architecture, one that links the new generations and the old world. In the past few years, Mexico has brought to light a new generation of architects whose extraordinary vision and productivity has positioned the country among the most creative design cultures of the world. Under his own firm FR-EE, since 2000 Fernando Romero has designed and created a number of projects which represent a new vision of Mexican and world architecture. Romero's approach to architecture is innovative and an inspirational tool for empowering future generations. The volume will focus on three themes that intertwine throughout the content of the book. On-site photographs (mainly aerial views) highlight the different places where FR-EE works, from urban centers to the desert. The location is what drives FR-EE's creative work, while the practice strives to investigate the dynamic forces of each site and client. Inspirational photographs give the reader a vision of how Romero's perspective shifts between different focuses of references, and reimagines them in new symbolic visions of the world (from monuments to colors, from natural elements to animals). The images include renderings, photographs, diagrams, plans, and sections. The projects are presented in situ and through architectural drawings, so as to explain the projects' concepts and contents.

This visually striking compendium illustrates the architectural and historical evolution of over 60 iconic synagogues worldwide. Beginning with the foremost archaeological sites in the Holy Land, it extends to the Jewish sanctuaries of Europe, North Africa, Russia, the Caucasus, Israel, and the New World, from the most ancient to the most innovative creations around the globe. Masterpieces such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue in Pennsylvania, the Grand Synagogue in Paris, New York’s Temple Emanu-El, and Dresden’s Neue Synagogue are all featured in magnificent detail. In a series of compelling essays, prominent scholars Lidia Chakovskaya, Steven Fine, Max Fineblum, Mohammad Gharipour, Samuel D. Gruber, Sergey R. Kravtsov, Michael Levin, and Edward van Voolen explore the diverse architectural styles that reflect the synagogue’s rich, complex, and often tragic history. Noted Judaic studies authority Aaron Hughes provides the introduction, highlighting the synagogue’s history and liturgical furnishings from silver menorahs and textiles to carved wooden cabinets and lanterns of eternal light. This gorgeously illustrated volume will appeal to those with an appreciation for art and architecture as well as lovers of Jewish history.

Julia Morgan was truly a pioneer of her time—among other accomplishments, she was the first woman architect to be licensed in California, in 1904. Through her remarkable life and legacy, this book celebrates the Beaux-Arts architecture of California. Focusing on Morgan’s most famous project in the state, Hearst Castle, to which she devoted more than 30 years of her life, this volume also examines, for the first time, Morgan’s fabulous early buildings in the style. Morgan designed more than 700 buildings across California, many of which are designated landmarks today. Deepening the reader’s understanding of California archi-tecture, this book also places into context Morgan’s ambitions, her influences and inspirations, as well as her daily practice and challenges as a woman shaping an extraordinarily prolific and highly successful career in a man’s world. To better understand the Beaux-Arts training Morgan underwent in Paris, the reader is taken through the challenging, highly arduous Ecole des Beaux-Arts curriculum, which Morgan completed, a lone woman among men. Also explored, in detail, is the story of how the studio and kilns of California Faience, a Berkeley ceramic artisan’s shop, became the supplier of tens of thousands of tiles designed by Morgan and overseen by Hearst himself to decorate their architectural master-piece overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Interior decorator Summer Thornton believes in designing with the wildest abandon: her world is one of nickel tubs, marble fireplaces, whimsical textiles, surprising patterns, and secret gardens. Often described as maximalist with a modern, fresh sensibility, Thornton manages to achieve highly polished, sophisticated interiors that indulge in a lighthearted, almost irreverent sense of whimsy. In her first book, she will inspire readers to follow their creative impulses and make their own rules. Let yourself be transported with the dreamy, fantastical homes arranged by theme in Wonderland. “Fearless Romantic” features Thornton’s own gorgeous city house. “In Here Comes the Sun,” peek into an over-the-top tropical vacation home that’s centered on citrus. Look for her to misbehave a bit in “Good to be Bad.” If refinement is more your cup of tea, the polished settings in “The New Formal” are fit for a queen. Plus take a deep dive into the most colorful technicolor homes she’s ever designed in “Super Saturated.” With outstanding photography from A-list photog-raphers including Thomas Loof, Bjorn Wallander, Annie Schlechter, and Melanie Acevedo, and styling by AD contributor Mieke ten Have, Wonderlandis a celebration of personal expression and fearless escapism.