The art of the past can seem very far away, obscured both by time and by knotty academic theory. Foregrounding the experience of the contemporary viewer, Look Again shows how this need not be the c...
Surveying the last forty years since the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, this book redefines contemporary Chinese art by placing it in the context of unprecedented cultural, political and...
John Haywood presents a grand sweep of global history in an immediately accessible format via concise, insightful and engaging text summaries alongside timelines, maps and illustrations. There are ...
In the century since Gerrit Rietveld’s iconic application of primary colours to a wooden chair, the use of colour in home furnishings has developed its own rich history. Departing from the hu...
Atlantis, the island continent that vanished under the sea, is one of the most haunting themes of legend. It has preoccupied thinkers for more than two thousand years, from Plato to Rudolf Steiner....
How do writers and citizens in the different countries of the world view their own past? What key events and influences shaped those perspectives? And how accurate are the views of foreign commenta...
Ian Jeffrey is a superb guide in this profusely illustrated introduction to the appreciation of photography as an art form. Novices and experts alike will gain a deeper understanding of great photo...
Visual art is enlightening, challenging, informative and arresting; but it can also be therapeutic, reducing anxiety and stress levels, and offering perspective on the challenges that we all face i...
This engrossing and often witty account tells the life stories of nearly 70 individuals who made the Middle Ages. There are kings and queens, popes and politicians, soldiers and merchants, scholars...
Manipulation of the photograph is as old as photography itself. It has embodied and enlivened political propaganda, satire, and commercial art and helped visualize the “brave new world”...
Ancient myths and legends permeate daily life in modern China. Across the vast country, people gather to celebrate festivals in accordance with the ancient lunar calendar: from Yuanxiao in the firs...
The idea of the temple the holy precinct, the dwelling place of the gods is central to all religions. The site of ritual and initiation, the mountain, the waters of generation, the pillar joining h...
What makes great art great? Why do some works pulse in the imagination generation after generation, century after century? From Botticelli’s Birth of Venus to Picasso’s Guer...
K-pop, K-fashion, K-drama, K-beauty: over the last decade, K-style has exploded onto the global scene. What is behind this phenomenon? Where does K-Style go from here? Make, Break, Remix: The Rise ...
Numerology has fascinated people since ancient times, from Egypt to the Roman Empire, India and Scandinavia. Numbers are a universal language that can help make sense of the seemingly chaotic world...
Our belief in some form of magic runs throughout human history. In fact, in an increasingly rational and scientific world, the idea that occult or arcane knowledge can give us access to another, hi...
A Chronology of Film presents a fresh perspective on the medium by taking a purely chronological approach to its history, tracing the complex links between technical innovations, social changes and...
The course of history rarely changes so swiftly and decisively as on the battlefield. In this masterly overview, an international team of historians reconstructs and analyses seventy key clashes fr...
Did you know that the Egyptians created the first synthetic colour; or that the noblest purple comes from a predatory sea snail? Throughout history, artist pigments have been made from deadly metal...
Sneakers: The Complete Collectors' Guide was a phenomenal success and a key influence in the transformation of sneaker collecting from an underground subculture into a mainstream, multi-billion dol...