BELLAS ARTES

The mid-19th and early 20th centuries heralded new means of transport and equipment and, with them, new and original ways of exploring the world. Transatlantic liners, automobiles, long-haul airplanes, zeppelins, and express trains unfurled new horizons and changed travel itself into an adventure. Distant lands were no longer solely accessible to aristocrats, explorers, and adventurers. Instead, the world opened up to new groups of people eager to circumvent the globe. And for many of these new globetrotters, traveling was synonymous with Louis Vuitton, the French label whose iconic and functional luggage trunks could be found on nearly every boat, plane, car, and train around the world. In this beautiful book, author Francisca Mattéoli recounts 50 tales of thrilling travel undertaken in every possible mode of transit, from the hot air balloon to the space shuttle, each lavishly illustrated with more than 300 historical photographs and ephemera from Louis Vuitton’s official archives. Louis Vuitton: Extraordinary Voyages is a journey all its own—an evocative and transporting account of the most surprising and transformative trips taken since the 19th century.

Written with full access to the company’s archives, this incredible volume demonstrates Louis Vuitton’s passion for fine design with a stunning array of archival art, product designs, and cutting-edge advertising. The company is examined through the lives of its first three leaders—founder Louis (who invented the modern trunk), his son Georges, and his grandson Gaston. Now with fresh information on subjects such as designs for ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, jewelry, and even automobiles, this revised edition includes 20 additional pages and updated material throughout the book, covering the brand’s recent history, with new text and photographs. This book is a work of art, perfect for gifting.

Presentamos íntegras por primera vez las anotaciones del diario del gran cronista Victor Klemperer sobre sus experiencias cinematográficas en los inicios de la era del cine sonoro. Desde el principio, el cinefilo es testigo de cómo la innovación tecnica se abre paso en la Alemania de 1929, y aunque inicialmente fue crítico con las películas sonoras, pronto cayó rendido ante las posibilidades de este nuevo formato. No era raro que viera varios filmes por semana. Sin embargo, los nacionalsocialistas se fueron apoderando del medio, y Klemperer acabará por quedar excluido de las salas de cine cuando en 1938 se prohíbe la entrada a los 'no arios'. Afortunadamente, ni siquiera eso pudo mantenerlo alejado de su gran pasión. Obligado a una existencia en la sombra, Klemperer experimentó momentos de luz ante la gran pantalla: 'Tanta música, humor, arte interpretativo y todo.

Complicados patrones, elegantes formas geométricas e increíbles grafismos son los rasgos que convierten en fascinantes las creaciones de M.C. Escher. Este set pone en sus manos el mundo visual mágico del artista a través de 17 plantillas de papel listas para montar que le permitirán crear sus diseños multidimensionales y transformarlos, las veces que quiera, en objetos complejos, calidociclos entrelazados y mutantes. El cuadernillo incluye un análisis de los principios geométricos y la invención artística subyacente a estas maravillas ópticas.

From the mighty halls of ancient Alexandria to the coffered ceilings of the Morgan Library in New York, human beings have had a long, enraptured relationship with libraries. Like no other concept and like no other space, the collection of knowledge, learning, and imagination offers a sense of infinite possibility. It’s the unrivaled realm of discovery, where every faded manuscript or mighty clothbound tome might reveal a provocative new idea, a far-flung fantasy, an ancient belief, a religious conviction, or a whole new way of being in the world.In this new photographic journey, Massimo Listri travels to some of the oldest and finest libraries to reveal their architectural, historical, and imaginative wonder. Through great wooden doors, up spiraling staircases, and along exquisite, shelf-lined corridors, he leads us through outstanding private, public, educational, and monastic libraries, dating as far back as 766. Between them, these medieval, classical, baroque, rococo, and 19th-century institutions hold some of the most precious records of human thought and deed, inscribed and printed in manuscripts, volumes, papyrus scrolls, and incunabula. In each, Listri’s poised images capture the library’s unique atmosphere, as much as their most prized holdings and design details.Featured libraries include the papal collections of the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Trinity College Library, home to the Book of Kells and Book of Durrow. With meticulous descriptions accompanying each featured library, we learn not only of the libraries’ astonishing holdings—from which highlights are illustrated—but also of their often lively, turbulent, or controversial pasts. Like the Franciscan monastery in Lima, Peru, with its horde of archival Inquisition documents.At once a bibliophile beauty pageant, an ode to knowledge, and an evocation of the particular magic of print, Massimo Listri. The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries is above all a cultural-historical pilgrimage to the heart of our halls of learning, to the stories they tell, as much as those they gather in printed matter along polished shelves.