Debra N. Mancoff

"One of nature's most commanding blooms, the sunflower has an enduring power and beauty that have been captured most famously by Vincent van Gogh. Indeed, for many the sunflower has become synonymous with van Gogh's art, but, as this delightful book so amply demonstrates, the flower's significance can be traced from pre-Columbian times to the present day." "The book's numerous full-color illustrations celebrate the image of the sunflower from its first appearance in sixteenth-century European botanical texts to twentieth-century representations. Brief essays and reproductions survey the multiple meanings of this species for science, religion, literature, and art, culminating in its importance for the British Aesthetic movement and for art in late-nineteenth century France. The flower's representation creates a context for van Gogh's work, and the penultimate section of the book develops the image of the sunflower as a lasting emblem of the artist. The final chapter surveys the relevance of the flower for artists into the late twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Sunflowers

Geoffrey Ashe

Norris J. Lacy

Examines Arthurian history and legend and its influence

The Arthurian Handbook

From images of Eve to Cindy Sherman's self-portraits, from Cleopatra to Madonna, from ancient goddesses to modern celebrities, this work offers an overview of the most revered icons of female beauty in world art from pre-history to the present. What gives beauty such fascinating power? Why is beauty so easy to recognize but so hard to define? Across cultures and continents and over the centuries the standards of beauty have changed but the desire to portray beauty, to praise beauty, and to possess beauty has never diminished. This set offers insight as to how we can use perceptions of beauty to learn about world cultures, both past and present. Each chapter looks at an individual work of art to pose a question about the power of beauty. What makes beauty modern? What is the influence of celebrities? How do women portray their own beauty in a different manner than men? In-depth profiles of the icons reveal how specific ideas about beauty were developed and expressed, offering a full analysis of their history, cultural significance, and lasting influence. In addition to renowned works of art, it also looks at icons in literature, film, politics, and contemporary entertainment. Interdisciplinary and multicultural in its approach, chapters inside this set also feature sidebars on provocative topics and issues, such as foot binding and body adornment; myths and practices; opinions and interpretations; and even related films, songs, and even comic book characters.

Art, Culture, and the Image of Women

Icons of Beauty

Few artistic movements capture classic notions of beauty as romantically as the Pre-Raphaelites--a group of 19th-century painters and poets who aimed to revive the purer art of the late medieval period. In this beautiful volume, Debra N. Mancoff, an expert on Pre-Raphaelite art and the floral lexicon, presents forty breathtaking examples, which illuminate the meaning of flowers in all aspects of Victorian culture. She offers brief commentaries on individual paintings as well as biographies of the period's leading artists and their models. A captivating introduction to an artistic movement, this exquisitely produced book is also a romantic keepsake of an artistic sensibility that speaks volumes.

The Pre-Raphaelite Language of Flowers

An exquisitely designed and engrossing thematic study of the representation of the face on objects and in works of art from across the globe and throughout history

Our Human Story

The Face

The conventional history of art is one of great men making great paintings, and displaying their works to a predominantly male audience in male-run institutions. Women, however, have had a role, often working behind the scenes, out of sight or in resistance to prevailing attitudes and practices. And it is in these exceptions to the rules of the masculine world of art-making that women artists have been perceived as groundbreaking, defiant and even subversive. A compelling selection of more than 60 artists from the early Renaissance to the present day, among them Judith Leyster, Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois, Danger! Women Artists at Work explores the most intriguing and provocative aspects of art by women who shook up the art world. Through a lively introduction and six thematic chapters dealing with such subjects as the ways in which women have challenged the boundaries of expression and how they have viewed the human body, Debra N. Mancoff presents an absorbing tale of those who have struggled and triumphed in their efforts to transform the visual arts.

Danger! Women Artists at Work

Even before the advent of haute couture, Paris was a great centre of fashion. During the second half of the nineteenth century, when the capital was transformed by an ambitious urban plan, its residents responded in kind, wearing styles as polished and modern as the city itself in order to participate in the exciting new social scene. Featuring famed paintings by such Impressionist masters as Degas, Cassatt, Manet, Monet and Morisot, this delightful book revisits the world of Parisian fashion through the eyes of first-hand observers. Thematic chapters present a gallery-like ensemble of paintings that follow in the footsteps of stylish Parisians as they stroll in the parks and boulevards, meet friends at cafés, take in the theatre, relax at home and go on holiday. In an extended narrative-style caption to accompany each image, fashion and art historian Debra N. Mancoff offers a detailed discussion of what men and women wore and how their dress defined them. To complete the picture, illustrated interludes, providing glimpses into dressmaking, corsetry and millinery, the origins of couture and the rise of the department store, reveal how Paris became the fashion capital of the world.

Fashion in Impressionist Paris

The long and stellar career of John Everett Millais (1829-1896) has been framed in terms of his rise to notoriety as an original member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood followed by a compromising descent into comfortable success as a popular painter and leading figure in the Royal Academy. But this dismissal of Millais’s post-Raphaelite work overlooks more than forty years of artistic endeavor and distinction. In this book, nine scholars reexamine Millais’s entire career from a variety of perspectives, arriving at a new vision of his place in the history of British art and finding that fame and recognition did not represent the end of this important Victorian artist’s development.

Beyond the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

John Everett Millais

D.J. Trela

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Essays on the Nineteenth-Century City and Its Contexts

Victorian Urban Settings

Lavishly illustrated and thematically arranged, Fashion Muse looks at the many iterations a muse can take: Greek goddess, fairy-tale princess, wife, lover, supermodel, celebrity, and artist. A prominent art historian with a profound knowledge of the culture of fashion, Debra N. Mancoff delves far and wide to present pairings both familiar and surprising, including the first couturier Charles Frederick Worth and his wife; Elsa Schiaparelli and the Surrealists; Yves Saint Laurent and the painter Mondrian; Oleg Cassini and Jacqueline Kennedy; and Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy. She reveals numerous designers whose muse was their own image, from Coco Chanel to Diane von Furstenberg to the Olsen twins. And she examines the influence of figures from the worlds of art, celebrity, and pop culture. Entertaining, inspiring, and surprising, this enthralling exploration places the muse where he or she belongs: at the highest peaks of the creative process.

The Inspiration Behind Iconic Design

Fashion Muse

The Arthurian legend closes with a promise: On a distant day, when his country calls, the king will return. His lost realm will be regained, and his shattered dream of an ideal world will, at last, be realized. This collection of original essays explores the issue of return in the modern Arthurian legend. With an Introduction by noted scholar Raymond H. Thompson and 13 essays by authors from the fields of literature, art history, film history, and folklore, this collection reveals the flexibility of the legend. Just as the modern legend takes the form current to its generation, the myth of return generates a new legend with each telling. As these authors show, return can come in the form of a noble king or a Caribbean immigrant, with the mystery of an art theft or a dying boy's dream.

King Arthur's Modern Return

Everything you ever wanted to know about King Arthur and his knights is covered in this fascinating volume: the origins of the Grail legend, the Tristan and Isolde love story in opera and literature, Spielberg's use of Arthurian motifs in Star Wars , the depiction of Arthur in paintings, the presentation of Camelot on the Broadway stage, the twitting of the legend in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and much more. This critical survey of Arthurian history and legend, archaeology, literature, and the arts from the fifth century to the present provides an introduction for the general reader and a useful summary for the specialist. It offers both historical facts and key discussions on Arthurian subjects, from post-Roman Britain to the most recent novels and films. There is a lengthy glossary of Arthurian characters, motifs, and places, a chronology of major historical and literary items, a guide to pronunciation, and a full bibliography. What's new in the Second Edition:All the material has been revised and updated to 1996 since the original 1988 edition; The chapter on modern literature has been thoroughly revised, with new material on writings from France, Germany, England, and America; The coverage of King Arthur in the arts has entirely rewritten by one of the premier authorities in Arthurian studies. Brand-new geneological charts of the ancestry of Arthur and his family and the Grail kings and knights.; A fully up-to-date chronology; Many new illustrations.

Second Edition

The Arthurian Handbook, Second Edition

Rich in symbolism and metaphor, and blessed with its own varied and dramatic palette, the garden has proved to be an extremely fertile source of artistic inspiration. In The Garden in Art, acclaimed art historian Debra N. Mancoff reveals the many different ways in which artists from all periods of history – from ancient Egypt to the present day – have employed the motif of the garden. Featuring more than 200 illustrations of both renowned and lesser-known works, the book approaches its subject thematically, exploring such topics as working gardens, the garden through the seasons and artists’ gardens. Complete with a detailed timeline and a suggested list of gardens to visit, The Garden in Art is an absorbing and highly rewarding examination of the meaning and significance of the depiction of the garden.

The Garden in Art

The Arthurian Revival in Victorian Art

THIRTEEN COLONIES & THE LOST COLONY(tm) Take a step back and discover the thirteen colonies of Colonial America. From European exploration through the American Revolution, witness the unique history and character of each colony. Trace the role of each colony in the American Revolution and that colony's impact on the formation of our Constitution. The story of how North Carolina attracted a growing influx of settlers, not only from several European countries, but also from other American colonies, provides a colorful look into the resulting troubled relations with the area's Native American tribes, Bluebeard's rampant piracy, and the fiercely independent colonists' growing spirit of rebellion against England."Good organization, well-written text which reads like a story, numerous quotes and historic incidents, attractive format and well-designed pages, drawings, maps...all make this title a recommended source for studies in the colonial period of American history." - ASSOCIATION OF REG. XI SCHOOL LIBRARIANS, TEXAS

The Pre-Raphaelite Model of Beauty

Jane Morris

Studies the influence the friendship between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin had on both the artists' work, profiling the paintings which were created by each artist during their friendship.

The Studio of the South

Highlights of the Exhibition, Van Gogh and Gauguin

Van Gogh was inspired by the beauty and colours of nature. He brought this passion to life in some of the most vibrant depictions of the natural world ever put to canvas. This book takes a look at this side of the artist's life and work. It offers insight into the artist's unique vision with the help of his most beautiful paintings and excerpts from his own writings. We see that flowers such as the iris and the sunflower served as emblems of self-identity and that the fields were a testament to the cycle of life and a warning of the inevitability of death. The book offers a portrait of the joy and pleasure that Van Gogh experienced in his life and expressed with his brush.

Van Gogh's Flowers

What makes a work of art a masterpiece? Discover the answers in the fascinating stories of how these artworks came to be and the circumstances of their long-lasting impact on the world. Beginning with Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, we travel through time and a range of styles and stories – including theft, scandal, artistic reputation, politics and power – to Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, challenging the idea of what a masterpiece can be, and arriving in the twenty-first century with Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama, a modern-day masterpiece still to be tested by time. Each artwork has a tale that reveals making a masterpiece often involves much more than just a demonstration of artistic skill: their path to fame is only fully disclosed by looking beyond what the eye can see. Rather than trying to describe the elements of greatness, Making a Masterpiece takes account of the circumstances outside the frame that contribute to the perception of greatness and reveals that the journey from the easel to popular acclaim can be as compelling as the masterpiece itself. Featuring: Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci Judith Beheading Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi Girl with a Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai Fifteen Sunflowers, Vincent van Gogh Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (Woman in Gold, Gustav Klimt American Gothic, Grant Wood Guernica, Pablo Picasso Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, Frida Kahlo Campbell’s Soup Cans, Andy Warhol Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, Amy Sherald Discover the stories of how, why and what makes a masterpiece in this compelling and comprehensive title.

Debra N. Mancoff

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