Arts Crafts Masterpieces Of Art

Arts & Crafts: Masterpieces of Art is a celebration of the design movement that spread rapidly around the world at the end of the nineteenth century. Depicting both well-known and unusual artworks, textile patterns and decorations from this most fascinating of eras, this book provides a wealth of information about the lives and times of the designers, architects and artists who created them, from Voysey and Morris to Lindsay Butterfield.

"These structures are all wrought by hands of architects who were well trained and fully cognizant of the relationships between art, architecture, sculpture and craft." - Introduction.

Arts & Crafts is a celebration of the design movement that started in Britain and spread around the world at the end of the nineteenth century. Depicting both well-known and unusual art and artifacts from this most fascinating of eras, this book provides a wealth of information about the lives and times of the designers, architects and artists who created them.

William Morris was an outstanding character of many talents, being an architect, writer, social campaigner, artist and, with his Kelmscott Press, an important figure of the Arts and Crafts movement. Many of us probably know him best, however, from his superb furnishings and textile designs, intricately weaving together natural motifs in a highly stylized two-dimensional fashion influenced by medieval conventions. William Morris Masterpieces of Art offers a survey of his life and work alongside some of his finest decorative work.

From ancient Sumerian pottery to Tiffany stained glass, decorative art has been a fundamental part of the human experience for generations. While fine art is confined to galleries and museums, decorative art is the art of the every day, combining beauty with functionality in objects ranging from the prosaic to the fantastical. In this work, Albert Jacquemart celebrates the beauty and artistic potential behind even the most quotidian object. Readers will walk away from this text with a newfound appreciation for the subtle artistry of the manufactured world.

How Art Is Made looks at renowned works of art from across the centuries and around the globe and asks the intriguingly simple question – how were these works actually made? Divided into two sections – materials and methods – each chapter showcases a single work of art which demonstrates the mastery and innovative use of a single material or method, from oil paint, pastel and pencil, to woodcut, litho and impasto. Each work is presented as the centerpiece of a capsule history, while comparative works are also included to help amplify our understanding. How, for example, did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel fresco, or Turner become such a master of watercolor? How did Warhol turn so effectively to screen printing, and how does Yayoi Kusama create such beguiling 'infinity rooms'? The book enhances the experience of looking at great works of art and guides us to a deeper understanding of how they were created and why we regard them as so important.

An introduction to the wonderful world of Heath Robinson, with carefully selected drawings from throughout his illustrious career, and a lively and informative commentary.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was highly skilled in jewellery design, ceramics, enamels, and metalwork but he is best known for his beautiful stained-glass designs. Using opalescent glass in a variety of colours and textures, he created a stunning range of jewel-like Art Nouveau works that influenced much of American modern art. This sumptuous new book features page after page of astounding work, showing Tiffany's skill as a colourist and a craftsman, with works that still inspire artists and audiences today.

Illustrator and cartoonist W. Heath Robinson is renowned for his ingenious and haphazard contraptions. His witty drawings of complicated machines, are ironically designed to simplify everyday life, but always manage to make everything appear more complicated! His work is steeped in the humour of calamity and his name soon became synonymous for absurd and makeshift devices. This delightful new book is packed with his madcap designs and the delicate watercolour illustrations which continue to delight us all today.