Изобразительное искусство, фотография - скачать книги или читать онлайн. Страница 76

Léon Bakst (1866-1924) was a painter, illustrator, stage and costume designer. He is universally acknowledged for representing a synthesis of creative energy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bakst travelled widely throughout Europe and in 1890 joined the World of Art journal circle which numbered many artists among its members, the most famous being Benois and Diaghilev. This book illustrates the wealth of Bakst's contribution to the world of theatre and dance. His best known work includes sets for Stravinsky's Firebird, and Weber's Spectre de la Rose.

Ever since its triumph at the Paris Universal Exposition, Art Nouveau has continued to inspire artists. The movement offered an artistic response to the industrial revolution and the creative vacuum left in its wake, exerting a huge impact on the decorative arts. Art Nouveau spans all forms of expression – including design, painting and architecture – and covers artists such as Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Antoni Gaudí, Jan Toorop, and William Morris.

Even today, the splendid appearance of angels remains undiminished. Images of these heavenly and powerful messengers convey protection, innocence and calm, and have been an inspiration to religious artists throughout the history of art. This book illustrates the most impressive representations of angels, from delicate, whimsical cupids to majestic depictions of the archangel Michael, and from medieval to modern times.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian painter credited as being among the first to truly venture into abstract art. He persisted in expressing his internal world of abstraction despite negative criticism from his peers. He veered away from painting that could be viewed as representational in order to express his emotions, leading to his unique use of colour and form. Although his works received heavy censure at the time, in later years they would become greatly influential.

Through his elegant brush paintings and masterful woodblocks, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) became one of Japan’s most internationally-renowned artists. A master of Ukiyo-e art, he single-handedly transformed the art form from a simple style focused on courtesans and famous actors into a grander style depicting the beauty of nature seen through landscapes and wildlife. His style of art and subject evolved as many times as he changed his name, but Hokusai’s talent as an artist remained constant and his influential role in later art movements such as Art Nouveau and Impressionism remains eternal.

Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943), the unconventional and controversial painter of Belorussian origin, combines influences of classic European painting with Post-Impressionism and Expressionism. As a member of the Artists from Belarus, a group within the Parisian School, he created an oeuvre mainly consisting of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. His individual style, characterised by displays of humour and despair and by use of luminous colours, makes him a modern master who is still little understood.

Without a doubt, Katsushika Hokusai is the most famous Japanese artist since the middle of the nineteenth century whose art is known to the Western world. Reflecting the artistic expression of an isolated civilisation, the works of Hokusai – one of the first Japanese artists to emerge in Europe – greatly influenced the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, such as Vincent van Gogh. Considered during his life as a living Ukiyo-e master, Hokusai fascinates us with the variety and the significance of his work, which spanned almost ninety years and is presented here in all its breadth and diversity.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) has long been considered one of the greatest artists in European history. His paintings have launched imitations and homages, including best-selling novels, a recent TV series, and even a handful of popular films. Now, for the first time, this lovely text by Émile Michel is paired with carefully curated selections from Rembrandt’s portfolio to illuminate the history and work of this celebrated master of light.

Universally celebrated for his rosy and concupiscent nudes, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) 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. In a lushly illustrated text, María Varshavskaya and Xenia Yegorova explore the master at work, bringing a unique focus to Ruben’s life and work.

Born in 1860 in a small Czech town, Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was an artist on the forefront of Art Nouveau, the modernist movement that swept Paris in the 1910s, marking a return to the simplicity of natural forms, and changing the world of art and design forever. In fact, Art Nouveau was known to insiders as the “Mucha style” for the legions of imitators who adapted the master’s celebrated tableaux. Today, his distinctive depictions of lithe young women in classical dress have become a pop cultural touchstone, inspiring album covers, comic books, and everything in between. Patrick Bade and Victoria Charles offer readers an inspiring survey of Mucha’s career, illustrated with over one hundred lustrous images, from early Parisian advertisements and posters for Sandra Bernhardt, to the famous historical murals painted just before his death, at the age of 78, in 1939.

Выдающийся художник и путешественник – это за Рерихом признают, пожалуй, все. А дальше начинаются споры и домыслы. В атеистическую эпоху Рериха порой обвиняли в том, что его духовным наставником, мол, был «реакционный мистик и монархист» Иоанн Кронштадтский. Сменился ветер эпохи, – и Рерих уже стал «масоном и оккультистом», а вдобавок и агентом НКВД… Так кем же он был? Патриотом Отечества, служившим ему независимо от того, кто был у власти в России, «многоступенчатым» агентом нескольких разведок или «странником Светлого Града», обретшим в сокровенных обителях Тибета тайну бытия и запечатлевшим ее в своих полотнах? Насколько верно понимаем мы его картины? Ведь Рерих нередко использовал прием «живописной цитаты»: вводил, скажем, в пейзаж какой-то мотив, которого нет на реалистичной фотографии этого места. И простой сюжет превращался в зашифрованное послание…

Содержит описание биографий и творчества ведущих художников XVII века. Рассмотрены также наиболее выдающиеся достижения в области архитектуры, скульптуры, а также интерьера и мебели данного периода. Включает обширный иллюстративный материал, отражающий стилевые особенности искусства эпохи барокко и классицизма.