Paul Wood

This work discusses the art of the middle third of the twentieth century. It consists of a short general introduction and four parts, each concentrating on a key aspect of the art of the period.

Varieties of Modernism

Exploring the rich diversity of London through a series of urban forest trails, this new, expanded edition of London is a Forest uncovers the fascinating stories and secrets the city holds. Through seven carefully devised paths, author Paul Wood explores the urban forest's geography, its past and future, and looks at the remarkable variety of life supported in this unique metropolitan ecosystem. For curious Londoners and anyone who’s fascinated by nature, a wealth of arboreal details, history, myth and anecdotes are revealed along the way. Complementing the trails, Wood looks in more detail at the fascinating stories of some of the iconic, and some of the less obvious species that define the urban forest. In London, 9 million people are crammed into just 600 square miles alongside 8.5 million trees. According to one UN definition, this makes the city a forest. The Forestry Commission agree, describing London as the world’s largest urban forest. And a particularly diverse and historic urban forest at that.

London is a Forest

Edited by Paul Wood, author of London is a Forest and London's Street Trees, this is the first in Blue Crow Media's new series about urban flora and wildlife. The map reveals highlights from London's uniquely diverse urban forest, featuring rare species, magnificent English oaks, an ancient 2,000-year old yew and the finest flowering cherries. Following our established format, the publication includes a map of London with featured trees plotted, and photography, details and texts on the reverse. The map is protected by a slip cover.

Guide to the Magnificent Trees of London

Great Trees of London

Jason Gaiger

An Anthology of Changing Ideas

Art in Theory, 1815-1900

Francis Haskell

David Batchelor

Briony Fer

This book begins by considering responses by French artists to the First World War, showing how Purism, Dada, and early Surrealism are related to the ethos of post-war reconstruction. The authors then discuss the language of construction in places as dissimilar as France, Germany, and the Soviet Union; the contrasting demands of the utility and decoration of objects and paintings; and the relationship of surrealism to questions of sexuality and gender and to Freudian theory. The book concludes by addressing the widespread debate over realism in art: whether it represents an alternative to the elitism of the avant-garde or whether avant-garde art should play a role in the development of a modern realism.

Art Between the Wars

Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism

John Harris

Charles Harrison

Francis Frascina

Jonathan Harris

This volume is part of a four-volume series about art and its interpretation in the 19th and 20th centuries. The books provide an introduction to modern European and American art and criticism that should be valuable both to students and to the general reader.

Art Since the Forties

Modernism in Dispute

The Challenge of the Avant-Garde is the fourth of six books in the series Art and its Histories, which form the main texts of an Open University course. The course has been designed for students who are new to the discipline but will also appeal to those who have undertaken some study in this area. This volume traces the challenge posed to the academic canon by the emergent avant-garde of the early and mid-nineteenth century.It looks at significant shifts in the development of the concept, both in moves away from the sense of social leadership to a desire for artistic autonomy in the later nineteenth century and then a reverse movement to bridge the gap between art and life in the revolutionary avant-gardes of the early twentieth century. The book closes with an examination of the eventual incorporation of the avant-garde as a form of modern canon by the eve of World War II. Throughout, it seeks to relate the discourse of artistic avant-gardism in all its forms to contemporary social and political histories.

The Challenge of the Avant-garde

Pam Meecham

Mary Masterton

Liz Dawtrey

Elizabeth Dawtrey

Toby Jackson

Modern art sometimes seems difficult - or even impossible - to understand. In this appealing book, modern art becomes accessible through clear and informative discussions about modern artists, art movements, and art works. Charting the development of modern art from the nineteenth century through the present day, each chapter focuses on particular artists and works of art, placing them in their artistic contexts and discussing them from a variety of viewpoints. Issues of gender and ethnicity, criticisms of the accepted canon of modern art, and important social and political influences on the institutions of art are woven into the discussion of key artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, and Warhol and movements such as Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Impressionism, and Minimal Art.

Investigating Modern Art

Ruth Sherlock

Zoe Lafferty

As thousands have been tortured, jailed, maimed or killed by the Syrian regime, The Fear of Breathing is not only a new play based entirely on verbatim reports from inside Syria itself, but is also a hard-hitting evocation of a life or death fight for freedom, experienced from the inside. To uncover these personal stories from the uprising, award-winning journalists Paul Wood and Ruth Sherlock, together with theatre director Zoe Lafferty, travelled into Syria covertly, circumventing the ban on journalists and restrictions on movement for all non-Syrians. They spoke to protesters as well as citizens who love President Bashar al-Assad and are terrified of a future without him. Featuring verbatim scenes, interviews, stories and film footage, The Fear of Breathing is a powerful and profoundly disturbing portrait of a revolution struggling to survive.

Stories from the Syrian Revolution

The Fear of Breathing

Western Art and the Wider World explores the evolving relationship between the Western canon of art, as it has developed since the Renaissance, and the art and culture of the Islamic world, the Far East, Australasia, Africa and the Americas. Explores the origins, influences, and evolving relationship between the Western canon of art as it has developed since the Renaissance and the art and culture of the Islamic world, the Far East, Australasia, Africa and the Americas Makes the case for ‘world art’ long before the fashion of globalization Charts connections between areas of study in art that long were considered in isolation, such as the Renaissance encounter with the Ottoman Empire, the influence of Japanese art on the 19th-century French avant-garde and of African art on early modernism, as well as debates about the relation of ‘contemporary art’ to the past. Written by a well-known art historian and co-editor of the landmark Art in Theory volumes

Western Art and the Wider World

Dave Rushton

Politics of Art Education

As an 18-year-old, Dr Paul Wood was completely off the rails. He wasn't coping with the impending death of his mother, he was dependent on drugs, and was an unemployed high-school dropout committing crimes to feed his habit. Two days after his mother died he lost control when his then drug dealer attempted to assault him. He then spent 11 years in some of New Zealand's toughest prisons. But after a series of remarkable events, including a enlightening encounter with a criminal safe-cracker, Paul became the first person in New Zealand to progress through undergraduate studies to attain a bachelor's and master's degree in prison, and was the first person to begin a doctorate while still incarcerated. In this awe-inspiring book, Dr Paul Wood shares his life of crime, his time behind bars and his pathway to freedom.

How to Escape from Prison

Thomas Reid was an intellectual polymath interested in all aspects of Enlightenment thought. Paul Wood reconstructs Reid's career as a mathematician and natural philosopher and shows how he grappled with Sir Isaac Newton's scientific legacy.

Thomas Reid on Mathematics and Natural Philosophy

Leon Wainwright

A ground-breaking new anthology in the Art in Theory series, offering an examination of the changing relationships between the West and the wider world in the field of art and material culture Art in Theory: The West in the World is a ground-breaking anthology that comprehensively examines the relationship of Western art to the art and material culture of the wider world. Editors Paul Wood and Leon Wainwright have included 370 texts, some of which appear in English for the first time. The anthologized texts are presented in eight chronological parts, which are then subdivided into key themes appropriate to each historical era. The majority of the texts are representations of changing ideas about the cultures of the world by European artists and intellectuals, but increasingly, as the modern period develops, and especially as colonialism is challenged, a variety of dissenting voices begin to claim their space, and a counter narrative to western hegemony develops. Over half the book is devoted to 20th and 21st century materials, though the book’s unique selling point is the way it relates the modern globalization of art to much longer cultural histories. As well as the anthologized material, Art in Theory: The West in the World contains: A general introduction discussing the scope of the collection Introductory essays to each of the eight parts, outlining the main themes in their historical contexts Individual introductions to each text, explaining how they relate to the wider theoretical and political currents of their time Intended for a wide audience, the book is essential reading for students on courses in art and art history. It will also be useful to specialists in the field of art history and readers with a general interest in the culture and politics of the modern world.

The West in the World - An Anthology of Changing Ideas

Art in Theory

Thomas Reid

Best known as a moralist and one of the founders of the Scottish Common Sense school of philosophy, Thomas Reid was also an influential scientific thinker. Here, his work on the life sciences is studied in detail, bringing together unpublished transcripts of his most important papers on natural history, physiology and materialist metaphysics. The volume falls into two main parts, the first of which contains a detailed introduction. This provided the first published account of Reid's reflections on the highly contraversial theories surrounding muscular motion and the reproduction of plants and animals, and relates them to the broader Enlightenment debates on these issues. It also contains the first systematic reconstruction of Reid's opposition to materialism, and views his polemics against the noted Dissenter Joseph Priestley in terms of their differing interpretations of the Newtonian legacy, their conflicting philosophical assumptions, and the cultural politics of Common Sense philosophy in the 1770s. The second part reproduces a selection of Reid's most significant papers on the life sciences, including his Glasgow Literary Society discourses on muscular motion and on Priestley's materialism, as well as other manuscripts which document the development of his scientific ideas.

Papers Relating to the Life Sciences

Thomas Reid on the Animate Creation

Despite the recent surge of scholarship on the Scottish Enlightenment, no single volume has attempted to take stock of the field since the 1980s. The Scottish Enlightenment: Essays in Reinterpretation brings together essays by an international group of experts who are all well known for their publications on eighteenth-century Scotland. Individually, the essays cover a wide range of topics, from medicine to moral philosophy, and each chapter expands our knowledge of the Enlightenment in Scotland by providing new information or a fresh look at significant questions which have aroused controversy in the past. Readers will find the latest research on the culture of print in the Scottish Enlightenment; the medical world of eighteenth-century Scotland; the relations between the Scottish literati and Enlightened savants in England and Europe; geography and the rise of public science in Scotland; the philosophical systemes of Francis Hutcheson, George Campbell, and Thomas Reid; the manuscripts of David Hume; and the historical works of Dugald Stewart. In their different ways, the essays additionally explore some of the most important historiographical issues associated with the study of the Scottish Enlightenment. Readers are introduced to debates over the very definition of the term 'the Scottish Enlightenment'; the coherence of the 'school' of Scottish philosophy; the Scottish Enlightenment and the making of Scottish identity; the roles of science, medicine, moral philosophy, and political economy in enlightened culture; and the cosmopolitan character of the Enlightenment. This volume thus enriches our picture not only of the Scottish Enlightenment, but of the Enlightenment in general.

Essays in Reinterpretation

The Scottish Enlightenment

Third Level Tithing

A ground-breaking new anthology in the Art in Theory series, offering an examination of the changing relationships between the West and the wider world in the field of art and material culture Art in Theory: The West in the World is a ground-breaking anthology that comprehensively examines the relationship of Western art to the art and material culture of the wider world. Editors Paul Wood and Leon Wainwright have included over 350 texts, some of which appear in English for the first time. The anthologized texts are presented in eight chronological parts, which are then subdivided into key themes appropriate to each historical era. The majority of the texts are representations of changing ideas about the cultures of the world by European artists and intellectuals, but increasingly, as the modern period develops, and especially as colonialism is challenged, a variety of dissenting voices begin to claim their space, and a counter narrative to western hegemony develops. Over half the book is devoted to 20th and 21st century materials, though the book’s unique selling point is the way it relates the modern globalization of art to much longer cultural histories. As well as the anthologized material, Art in Theory: The West in the World contains: A general introduction discussing the scope of the collection Introductory essays to each of the eight parts, outlining the main themes in their historical contexts Individual introductions to each text, explaining how they relate to the wider theoretical and political currents of their time Intended for a wide audience, the book is essential reading for students on courses in art and art history. It will also be useful to specialists in the field of art history and readers with a general interest in the culture and politics of the modern world.

Western Art and the Wider World explores the evolvingrelationship between the Western canon of art, as it has developedsince the Renaissance, and the art and culture of the Islamicworld, the Far East, Australasia, Africa and the Americas. Explores the origins, influences, and evolving relationshipbetween the Western canon of art as it has developed since theRenaissance and the art and culture of the Islamic world, the FarEast, Australasia, Africa and the Americas Makes the case for ‘world art’ long before thefashion of globalization Charts connections between areas of study in art that long wereconsidered in isolation, such as the Renaissance encounter with theOttoman Empire, the influence of Japanese art on the19th-century French avant-garde and of African art on earlymodernism, as well as debates about the relation of‘contemporary art’ to the past. Written by a well-known art historian and co-editor of thelandmark Art in Theory volumes

The bestselling author of How to Escape from Prison, prisoner-turned-psychologist Paul Wood on developing the mental strength and fitness to take on all of life's challenges Getting and staying mentally fit, just like getting and maintaining a high level of physical fitness, involves hard work, effort, and consistency. Our level of mental fitness determines how effectively we can flourish through adversity, realise our potential, and be happier with our lives - regardless of what the universe has in store. We all know about mental stress (or we think we do). We've definitely all experienced it, and none of us like it. Yet this is not a threat to be avoided. Mental stress is perfectly analogous to physical stress: it is the mind's way of telling us that what we are attempting to perform is challenging our resource. This is a catalyst for growth, and a sign we are pursuing our potential. When we experience stress, we have a choice: we can heed that signal and give up - after all, we're meant to stay in our psychic comfort zone all the time, right? Or we can recognise the discomfort we are feeling is simply nature's way of enabling us to rise to the occasion. In Mental Fitness you will learn how to: Increase your mental fitness, just as you would increase your physical fitness Get closer to your potential by working proactively to maintain your mental fitness Experience the right level of stress (this is what makes us get fitter) Cope effectively for longer before you get fatigued or exhausted (it doesn't mean you don't feel the struggle) Pay attention to the indicators of fatigue to avoid burnout and unnecessary misery

Paul Wood

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