Category Archives: Books

New Art Books: “Renoir” By Gilles Néret (Taschen)

Renoir (Bibliotheca Universalis) by Gilles Néret Taschen Books January 21 2020In an incisive text tracing the artist’s career and stylistic evolution, Gilles Néret shows how Renoir reinvented the painted female form, with his everyday goddesses and their plump forms, rounded hips and breasts. Renoir’s later phase, marked by his return to the simple pleasure of the female nude in his baigneuses series, was his most innovative and stylistically influential, and would inspire such masters as Matisse and Picasso.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s (1841–1919) timelessly charming paintings still reflect our ideals ofTaschen Publishing Logo happiness, love, and beauty. Derived from our large-format volume, the most comprehensive retrospective of his work published to date, this compact edition examines the personal history and motivation behind the legend. Though he began by painting landscapes in the Impressionist style, Renoir found his true affinity in portraits, after which he abandoned the Impressionists altogether. Though often misunderstood, Renoir remains one of history’s most well-loved painters—undoubtedly because his works exude such warmth, tenderness, and good spirit.

The author

Gilles Néret (1933–2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU Museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L’Œil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Élie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dalí: The PaintingsMatisse, and Erotica Universalis.

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New Architecture Books: “Gaudí – The Complete Works” By Rainer Zerbst

Gaudí. The Complete Works Rainer Zerbst Hardcover Book Taschen January 29 2020Through brand-new photography, plans and drawings by Gaudí himself, historical photos, as well as an appendix detailing all his works—from buildings to furniture, decor to unfinished projects—this book presents Gaudí’s universe like never before. Like a personal tour through Barcelona, we discover how the “Dante of architecture” was a builder in the truest sense of the word, crafting extraordinary constructions out of minute and mesmerizing details, and transforming fantastical visions into realities on the city streets.

The life of Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely to the construction of one single spectacular church, La Sagrada Familia. In his youth, he courted a glamorous social life and the demeanor of a dandy. By the time of his death in a tram accident on the streets of Barcelona his clothes were so shabby passersby assumed he was a beggar.

Gaudi Book Taschen

Taschen Publishing LogoGaudí’s incomparable architecture channels much of this multifaceted intricacy. From the shimmering textures and skeletal forms of Casa Batlló to the Hispano-Arabic matrix of Casa Vicens, his work merged the influences of Orientalism, natural forms, new materials, and religious faith into a unique Modernista aesthetic. Today, his unique aesthetic enjoys global popularity and acclaim. His magnum opus, the Sagrada Familia, is the most-visited monument in Spain, and seven of his works are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The author

Rainer Zerbst studied modern languages at the University of Tübingen and in Wales from 1969 to 1975. From 1976 to 1982 he worked as a research assistant in the Department of English at the University of Tübingen. Since completing his doctorate in 1982, Zerbst has been active as a critic in the fields of art, literature, and theater.

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Hotels: “Waldhaus Sils” In Sils Maria, Switzerland – In A Venue Called “Heroic And Idyllic” By Nietzsche

111 Years Hotel Waldhaus Sils – History and Stories for an Unreasonable Family Dream Book111 Years of Waldhaus Sils ranges across the hotel’s life and history. Founders Josef and Amalie Giger and their descendants, by now in the fifth generation, have guided the “house in the woods” with skill and fortitude through good times and bad through the twentieth century and into the present. The owners and their exceptionally diverse guests—lively families side-by-side with intellectuals and artists of world renown—have created a unique blend of luxury and modesty, historic grandeur and playful fun, smooth professionalism and unexpected idiosyncrasies.

Those in the know are aware that Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel has a real-life counterpart in the Swiss Alps: The Waldhaus Sils, which has pleased and puzzled visitors for 111 years and become an icon of Swiss hospitality. Located above the small village of Sils Maria near St. Moritz, it overlooks a striking landscape of forests, lakes and mountains and offers a combination of Belle Epoque flair and modern comfort. Its distinctive charm comes from the fact that the Waldhaus has been family-owned and operated since its grand opening on June 15, 1908.

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Interviews: Author Of “The First Cell” Azra Raza On Why Today’s Cancer Research Is Failing (Video)

Slash, poison, burn. That’s what a leading cancer doctor calls the protocol of The First Cell and the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the last Azra Raza booksurgery, chemotherapy and radiation. We spend $150 billion each year treating cancer, yet a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it today — with a few exceptions — as one was 50 years ago. Today we spend the hour with renowned cancer doctor, Dr. Azra Raza, author of the new book, “The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last.” She argues that experiments and the funding for eradicating cancer look at the disease when it is in its later stages, when the cancer has grown and spread. Instead, she says, the focus should be on the very first stages — the first cell, as her book is titled. She says this type of treatment would be more effective, cheaper and less toxic.

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Interviews: “Circe” Author Madeline Miller (Video)

Madeline Miller, author of our December pick for the NewsHour-New York Times book club, Now Read This, joins Jeffrey Brown to answer reader questions on “Circe,” and Jeff announces the January book selection.

About the book:

Circe by Madeline Miller April 2019 releaseIn the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child–not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power–the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man’s world.

New Literary Books: “Aging, Duration, And The English Novel” (CUP)

From a Cambridge University Press (CUP) listing:

Aging, Duration, and the English Novel Growing Old from Dickens to Woolf Cambridge University Press New Release January 2020Aging, Duration, and the English Novel argues that the formal disappearance of aging from the novel parallels the ideological pressure to identify as being young by repressing the process of growing old. The construction of aging as a shameful event that should be hidden – to improve one’s chances on the job market or secure a successful marriage – corresponds to the rise of the long novel, which draws upon the temporality of the body to map progress and decline onto the plots of nineteenth-century British modernity.

The rapid onset of dementia after an illness, the development of gray hair after a traumatic loss, the sudden appearance of a wrinkle in the brow of a spurned lover. The realist novel uses these conventions to accelerate the process of aging into a descriptive moment, writing the passage of years on the body all at once.

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Aging, Duration, and the English Novel Growing Old from Dickens to Woolf Cambridge University Press New Release January 2020

Top New Travel Books: “New York In Stride – An Insider’s Walking Guide”

New York In Stride An Insider's Walking Guide To Exploring the City by Jacob Lehman and Jessie Kanelos Weiner Rizzoli 2020The book features eleven curated neighborhood destination walks–guiding the reader through the energetic New York streets, passing restaurants and coffee shops, historical sights, museums and galleries, parks, and the kind of authentic and timeless sites that one hopes to find when imagining the city. Interwoven throughout are insider guides on how to eat like a New Yorker; explore the city’s most beautiful parks and gardens; navigate transit via ferry, subway, and bike; visit some of NYC’s most iconic TV and film locations.

“A locals’ treasure map to the secret spots favored by true New Yorkers.”

The “must-visit, must-see” travel list given to you by the New Yorker friend you wish you had. Vibrantly illustrated throughout, this practical guide transports readers to discover an insider’s view of the Big Apple. The vivid watercolors illustrate destinations of the architectural marvels, cultural hubs, food and drink spots, and music venues that make New York so exciting. Cultural musings, accessible histories, anecdotes, and informative details accompany the illustrations throughout, making this volume as practical as it is beautiful.

About The Author

Jessie Kanelos Weiner is an illustrator, food stylist, and author of Paris in Stride (Rizzoli) and Edible Paradise: A Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables (Universe). Jacob Lehman is the coauthor of several guidebooks to the city, including The Best Things to Do in New York: 1001 Ideas and In Love in New York.

To purchase or review (February 2020)

Photography & Art: “Surrealist Lee Miller” Was “Caustically Brilliant”

Surrealist Lee Miller by Antony Penrose Lee Miller Archives Farley House and Gallery Publisher 2020The Surrealist eye informed everything Miller did, and her work presents the world in a way that encourages us to view it in a different manner. Written and collected by her son Antony, Surrealist Lee Miller amasses more than one hundred full-page images from throughout the artist’s life as an attestation to her wonderful way of seeing.

A Surrealist before she even knew of the movement, Lee Miller was one of the most original photographic artists of the twentieth century. David E. Scherman, LIFE photographer and Miller’s close friend, described her as “caustically brilliant, yet totally loyal, unpretentious, human and intolerant of sham.

She was a consummate artist and a consummate clown; at once an upstate New York hick and cosmopolitan grande dame; a cold, soignée fashion model and a hoyden. . . . She was the nearest thing I knew to a mid-20th century renaissance woman.”

Publisher

Top New Art Books: “Wayne Thiebaud – Mountains 1965 – 2019” (Rizolli)

Wayne Thiebaud Mountains 1965 - 2019 Rizolli Book January 2020In the 2000s, California-based painter Wayne Thiebaud began focusing on a series of mountain paintings, a subject he had first addressed in the 1960s and 1970s. Rendered in his signature confectionary palette, these colorful works combine memories of mountains he had seen in childhood and observations of the summits of the Sierra Nevada Range in Yosemite. With their heroic, exaggerated proportions and unusual perspectives, these paintings seem to combine fiction and reality. Conveying a sense of the sublime and the vast magnitude of our surroundings, they draw upon the history of landscape painting of the American West.

About The Author

Michael M. Thomas is a former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and former investment partner of Lehman Brothers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Margaretta Lovell is professor of American Art at UC Berkeley.

Publisher website

New Neuroscience Books: “Physical Intelligence” By Scott Grafton (Jan 2020)