BELLAS ARTES

Zaha Hadid was a revolutionary architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite winning critical acclaim. Some even said her audacious, futuristic designs were unbuildable. During the latter years of her life, Hadid’s daring visions became a reality, bringing a unique new architectural language to cities and structures as varied as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, hailed by The New York Times as “the most important new building in America since the Cold War”; the MAXXI Museum in Rome; the Guangzhou Opera House in China; and the London 2012 Olympics Aquatics Centre. At the time of her unexpected death in 2016, Hadid was firmly established among the elite of world architecture, recognized as the first woman to win both the Pritzker Prize for architecture and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, but above all as a giver of new forms, the first great architect of the noughties. From her early sharply angled buildings to later more fluid architecture that made floors, ceilings, walls, and furniture part of an overall design, this essential introduction presents key examples of Hadid’s pioneering practice. She was an artist, as much as an architect, who fought to break the old rules and crafted her own 21st-century universe.

One of the key figures in the New York art world of the 1980s, Keith Haring (1958–1990) created a signature style that blended street art, graffiti, a Pop sensibility, and cartoon elements to unique, memorable effect. With thick black outlines, bright colors, and kinetic figures, his public (and occasionally illegal) interventions, sculptures, and works on canvas and paper have become instantly recognizable icons of 20th-century visual culture. From his first chalk drawings in the New York City subway stations, to his renowned “Radiant Baby” symbol, and his commissions for Swatch Watch and Absolut Vodka, Haring’s work was both emblematic of the manic work ethic of 1980s New York, yet distinctive for its social awareness. Belying their bright, playful aesthetics, his pieces often tackled intensely controversial socio-political issues, including racism, capitalism, religious fundamentalism, and the increasing impact of AIDS on New York’s gay community, the latter foreshadowing his own death from the disease in 1990.

Un proyecto como este es algo excepcional, sin equivalentes antes ni despues: una pareja casada de fotógrafos publican autorretratos muy personales, incluso íntimos, y retratos mutuos tomados durante decadas, y complementa esas fotografías privadas con imágenes de personajes y celebridades de la jet-set. En 1998, Helmut y June Newton publicaron su legendario proyecto conjunto Us and Them en forma de libro y tambien en exposiciones complementarias. La primera parte de Us and Them, una historia incomparable de cincuenta y cinco años de convivencia y amor, nos ofrece una visión de la vida privada de los fotógrafos.Es una especie de diario fotográfico que documenta la vida que compartieron Helmut y June Newton por medio de las instantáneas que tomaron el uno del otro.

A stunning visual story of a place of wonder and mystique for every American, this book features what is legendary and beloved about Alaska, a land of magnificent wilderness and beauty, virtually untouched by human ambition. It also focuses on the key point of interest in the state today: endangered Bristol Bay, which faces potential mining of the world's greatest deposits of copper and gold. Its pristine waters are the worlds' biggest salmon spawning grounds. If the gold is mined, the ecosystem is destroyed -but the impoverished locals have work for the next half-century. After that, the salmon and the mines are gone. Melford, paired with noted environmental storyteller David Atcheson, addresses the dilemma by bowling us over with the beauty and importance of the place for all time. Underwritten by the Renewable Resources Coalition, the book will be distributed among its more than 5,000 members.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world,” ukiyo-e was a particular genre of art that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries and came to characterize the Western world’s visual idea of Japan. In many ways images of hedonism, ukiyo-e scenes often represented the bright lights and attractions of Edo (modern-day Tokyo): beautiful women, actors and wrestlers, city life, and spectacular landscapes. Though he captured a variety of subjects, Hiroshige was most famous for landscapes, with a final masterpiece series known as “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” (1856–1858), which depicted various scenes of the city through the seasons, from bustling shopping streets to splendid cherry orchards. This reprint is made from one of the finest complete original sets of woodblock prints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo. It pairs each of the 120 illustrations with a description, allowing readers to immerse themselves in these beautiful, vibrant vistas that became paradigms of Japonisme and inspired Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau artists alike, from Vincent van Gogh to James McNeill Whistler.