Michael Bird

From the earliest cave paintings through to the internet and street art, this inspiring book chronicles the 100 most influential ideas that have shaped the world of art. Arranged in broadly chronological order, it provides a source of inspiration and a fascinating resource for the general reader to dip into. Lavishly illustrated with historical masterpieces and packed with fascinating contemporary examples, this is an inspirational and wholly original guide to understanding the forces that have shaped world art.

100 Ideas that Changed Art

de leonardo da Vinci a David Hockney

Cartas de los artistas

Künstlerbriefe von Michelangelo bis Frida Kahlo

Letters of Art

Gwiaździsta noc Vincenta i inne opowieści. Historia sztuki dla dzieci

Artists’ Letters is a treasure trove of carefully selected letters written by great artists, providing the reader with a unique insight into their characters and a glimpse into their lives. Arranged thematically, it includes writings and musings on love, work, daily life, money, travel and the creative process. On the theme of friendship, for example, letters provide evidence of a creative community between peers, with support and mutual appreciation that helps to dispel the myth of the artist as solitary genius. Letters between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin show an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas. We see mutual admiration between Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot, and Picasso’s quick notes to Jean Cocteau illustrate their closeness. Correspondence, some of which includes sketches and drawings, is reproduced with the transcript and some background and contextual information alongside. The book brings together a collection of treasures found in letters, which in our digital age are an increasingly lost art.

Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney

Artists' Letters

John R. May

Michael S. Bird

This multiauthor book concentrates on themes and images of religion in film. It features analysis of some of the most important directors in the twentieth century, includiing Coppola, Chaplin, Hitchcock, and Truffaut, among others.

Religion in Film

In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the long twentieth century, from the closing years of Queen Victorias reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain. Bird examines how the rhythms of change and adaptation in art became embedded in the collective consciousness of the nation and vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story, looking beyond individual careers and historical moments to weave together interconnecting currents of change that flowed through London, Glasgow, Leeds, Cornwall, the Caribbean, New York, Moscow and Berlin. From the American James McNeill Whistlers defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliassons melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times. At the heart of this original book are the successive waves of displacement caused by global wars and persecution that conversely brought fresh ideas and new points of view to the British Isles; educational reforms opened new routes for young people from working-class backgrounds; movements of social change enabled the emergence of female artists and artists of colour; and the emergence of the mass media shaped modern modes of communication and culture. These are the ebbs and flows that Michael Bird teases out in this panoramic account of Britain and its artists in across the twentieth century.

Twentieth-century Britain and its Artists

This is Tomorrow

Includes the text of 1 Esdras in English translation.

1 Esdras

Orlando Bird

Writer’s Letters is a collection of fascinating letters written by great writers, from Dickens to De Beauvoir

Jane Austen to Chinua Achebe

Writers' Letters

Sculpture and Survival

George Fullard:

St Ives is unique in British art history. Between the Second World War and the 1970s, many progressive artists chose to work and often settle around this small port in the far west of Cornwall.Drawing on fresh research, Michael Bird has created a fascinating and highly readable account of St Ives and its artists.

A Biography of Place and Time

The St Ives Artists

A lively and authoritative introduction to the history of art in Cornwall, from Turner to the present day. Themes include: Cornwall in the Romantic vision of landscape; the Victorian development of 'mythical' Cornwall as a tourist destination; the search for rustic authenticity and the early art colonies in Newlyn and St Ives; Cornwall's ......

Art in Cornwall

An enthralling journey through the story of world art, from early cave paintings right up to the present day. Discover artists and their art around the world, in 70 exciting and imaginative tales about artists and the way they created their work. Written by educator and art historian Michael Bird, and beautifully illustrated by Kate Evans, the book also features reproductions of the famous artworks discussed, a comprehensive timeline of events, and extra feature spreads on places connected with art. This is a beautiful and engaging introduction to art for any home or school library.

Michael Bird

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