Клаус Х. Карл – лучшие книги

Представленная вашему вниманию галерея из 1000 великолепных произведений должна, нам кажется, развеять миф о том, что портрет будто бы не так интересен, как другие жанры искусства. Мастерски исполненный портрет открывает взгляду внимательного зрителя бесконечно увлекательный мир - внутренний мир человека. Здесь нет ни одного случайного портрета, каждый сыграл свою роль в непрерывной эволюции живописи и скульптуры, каждый так или иначе повлиял на становление художественного течения, школы, стиля. Хотелось бы, чтобы на страницах этой книги отдельные произведения вступали в безмолвный диалог друг с другом, помогая нам лучше понять пути развития портретного жанра и по достоинству оценить глубину и оригинальность его ярчайших представителей - от античных времен до наших дней.

Эта книга приглашает всех совершить увлекательное путешествие в историю ри сунка. Перелистывая страницы, вы увидите, как развивалось западноевропейское искусство рисунка, как оно менялось на протяжении веков, отделяющих позднее Средневековье от наших дней. Можно сказать, что книга представляет собой богато иллюстрированный рассказ о художественных тенденциях, которые (то мирно, то не очень) сосуществовали в тот или иной период времени. Небольшие вступительные тексты знакомят читателя с воззрениями видных мастеров, знатоков и художественных критиков (Вазари, Челлини, Рёскин, Бодлер и др.) и помогают понять, какие задачи стояли в каждую эпоху перед искусством вообще и искусством рисунка в частности.

The self-appointed “leader” of the artists’ group Die Brücke (Bridge), founded in Dresden in 1905, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a key figure in the early development of German Expressionism. His first works show the influence of Impressionism, Post-impressionism and Jugendstil, but by about 1909, Kirchner was painting in a distinctive, expressive manner with bold, loose brushwork, vibrant and non-naturalistic colours and heightened gestures. He worked in the studio from sketches made very rapidly from life, often from moving figures, from scenes of life out in the city or from the Die Brücke group’s trips to the countryside. A little later he began making roughly-hewn sculptures from single blocks of wood. Around the time of his move to Berlin, in 1912, Kirchner’s style in both painting and his prolific graphic works became more angular, characterized by jagged lines, slender, attenuated forms and often, a greater sense of nervousness. These features can be seen to most powerful effect in his Berlin street scenes. With the outbreak of the First World War, Kirchner became physically weak and prone to anxiety. Conscripted, he was deeply traumatised by his brief experience of military training during the First World War. From 1917 until his death by suicide in 1938, he lived a reclusive, though artistically productive life in the tranquillity of the Swiss Alps, near Davos.

Universally celebrated for his rosy and concupiscent nudes, Peter Paul Rubens was an artist whose first concern was sensuality in all its forms. This Baroque master devoted himself to a lifelong celebration of the joys and wonders of the physical realm. He felt that the human body was as lovely and natural as the many natural landscapes he painted as a young man.

From the thousand-year-old statues celebrating fertility to the odalisques of the modern painters, erotic art has always held a prominent place in society, whatever their morals or cultural references.This work has assembled one thousand images of erotic artworks, from all times and all continents, to illustrate how the representation of these pleasures of the flesh testifies to the evolution of different civilisations and their histories. While eroticism and sexuality are at the forefront of today’s advertising and media, this book offers an exceptional view into the archives of erotic imagery and emphasises the artistic value of these magnificently sinful illustrations.

During the Renaissance, Italian painters would traditionally depict the wives of their patrons as Madonnas, often rendering them more beautiful than they actually were. Over centuries in religious paintings, the Madonna has been presented as the clement and protective mother of God. However, with the passing of time, Mary gradually lost some of her spiritual characteristics and became more mortal and accessible to human sentiments. Virgin Portraits illuminates this evolution and contains impressive works by Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Fouquet, Dalí, and Kahlo.

Gothic art finds its roots in the powerful architecture of the cathedrals of northern France. It is a medieval art movement that developed all across Europe for more than 200 years. Leaving Roman roundish forms behind, the architects started using flying buttress and pointed arches to open cathedrals to the daylight. Period of great economic and social changes, the gothic period also saw the development of a new iconography celebrating the Holy Mary, at the opposite to the fearful iconography of dark Roman times. Full of rich changes in all the different arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, etc.), gothic gave way to the Italian…

Mega Square Shoes focuses on the history of the shoe and elevates the shoe to the rank of a work of art. The author is a leading expert on the subject and curator of France‘s Shoe Museum, which holds the greatest shoe collection in the world, with 12,000 specimens.

A symbol of modernity, the Viennese Secession was defined by the rebellion of twenty artists who were against the conservative Vienna Kunstlerhaus' oppressive influence over the city, the epoch, and the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Influenced by Art Nouveau, this movement (created in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll, and Josef Hoffmann) was not an anonymous artistic revolution. Defining itself as a "total art", without any political or commercial constraint, the Viennese Secession represented the ideological turmoil that affected craftsmen, architects, graphic artists, and designers from this period.
Turning away from an established art and immersing themselves in organic, voluptuous, and decorative shapes, these artists opened themselves to an evocative, erotic aesthetic that blatantly offended the bourgeoisie of the time.
Painting, sculpture, and architecture are addressed by the authors and highlight the diversity and richness of a movement whose motto proclaimed "for each time its art, for each art its liberty" - a declaration to the innovation and originality of this revolutionary art movement.

What do the thousands of images of bras and panties on perfectly sculpted bodies that we see spread across billboards and magazines say about our society?

The Baroque period lasted from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century. Rich in images encompassing the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, this work offers a complete and didactic insight into this passionate period in the history of art, and will thus appeal to a large audience.

In art history, the term Romanesque art distinguishes the period between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries. This era showed a great diversity of regional schools each with their own unique style. In architecture as well as in sculpture, Romanesque art is marked by its raw forms. Through its rich iconography and captivating text, this work reclaims the importance of this art which is today often overshadowed by the later Gothic style.

Diego Velazquez is one of the world’s most famous artists. Representative of 17th century European painting, he worked for the Spanish court and for the most important figures, completing numerous portraits. Yet, passionate about the human figure, his oeuvre also encompasses bodegones, representations of daily life in the taverns and kitchens of Spain. Considered the father of Spanish painting, Velazquez inspired entire generations of the artists who followed him, including Picasso, Dali, and Bacon. His mysterious painting Las Meninas, which contains the essence of his work, is still today an inexhaustible source for writing and research.

Many great writers like Manzoni, Chateaubriand or Rilke saw, in Michelangelo, an undisputed mastery of the renewal of Western art. His superhuman genius and creative energy qualify Michelangelo as the embodiment of the Italian Renaissance artist; his work unequalled, save only by Leonardo Vinci. His masterpieces the Pietaand David that adorn the Sistine Chapel are evidence of his skill.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir is one of the most famous French impressionist painters. Influenced in his early works by Raphael, and creator of more than 6,000 paintings, Renoir gave more importance to the human figure than to the landscape. His works, enriched by a palette that was exclusive and unique to the artist, show us life in Paris at the time. His greatest masterpiece remains the Bal du Moulin de la Galette

Francisco de Goya was a Spanish painter and engraver. He began his work in etching by copying the works of Velazquez, but was quickly recognized in his own right. His repertoire consists of portraits as well as representations of the warfare since his work reflects the turmoil of Spain during the Napoleonic war. Goya was famous for his technique and his freedom of expression. This book assembles all of the artist’s masterpieces, including his The Majanude

With Impression, Soleil Levant, exhibited in 1874, Claude Monet took part in the creation of the Impressionism movement that introduced the 19th century to modern art. All his life, he captured natural movements around him and translated them into visual sensations. Considered the leader of Impressionism, Monet is internationally famous for his poetic paintings of water lilies and beautiful landscapes. He leaves behind the most well-known masterpieces that still fascinate art lovers all over the world.

The incarnation of the myth of a cursed artist, Vincent van Gogh is a legend who became a reference for modern art. An Expressionist during the PostImpressionist movement, his art was misunderstood during his lifetime. In Holland, he partook in the Dutch realist painting movement by studying peasant characters. Anxious and depressed, Vincent van Gogh produced more than 2000 artworks, yet sold only one in his lifetime. A self-made artist, his work is known for its rough and emotional beauty and is amongst the most popular in the art market today