The first in the series of essential introductions to art, Modern Art guides the reader through individual movements from Impressionism to Conceptual Art, situated within five broader chronological eras. Starting with Impressionism in 1860, art historian Amy Dempsey explains the essentials of Modernism, the postwar New Disorder, and beyond.

Carefully arranged material explores seventy essential topics of modern art in a practical and easy-to-navigate structure. Each boldly designed topic feature includes a clear definition; a list of key artists, attributes, media, and collections; and expertly curated illustrations with explanatory captions. A reference section includes a useful glossary of modern art terms.

Today, there are an estimated 3.6 million mosques around the world, which vary enormously in shape, size, and design. Told from an architect's perspective, this book offers an illuminating account of mosques—from the history and setting of significant structures to reflections on identity, modernity, and aesthetics. Elegant line drawings provide easy-to-digest information on the mosque's form, function, and features.

The mosque lies at the heart of any Islamic city—a place for group prayer, serenity, and spiritual connection. Its exterior serves as a symbol of faith, a landmark, and a point of gathering. Since the first mosque was built by the Prophet Muhammad in Medina in 622 CE, mosques have been spaces where worship and social life flourish side by side.

In this book, Syrian architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni shares her personal experiences and reflections to bring readers inside the mosque to understand its spiritual meaning, social significance, and enduring cultural value. The role of any religious building is essentially social: worship otherwise can be practiced at home, in solitude.

This is not simply a study of architectural form, but an exploration of the mosque's meaning and essence. The chapters examine the mosque through diverse lenses—from society to the environment, art to modernity—and conclude with a powerful reflection on how mosques might help rebuild Syria, scarred by decades of war but now entering a new period of hope, however fragile.

Known for her raw and irreverent artwork, Tracey Emin is one of the most widely admired artists working today. In a vivid and intimate portrait of her life and work, in her own words through conversation with author and art critic Martin Gayford, Tracey Emin reflects on painting—how she approaches it, why it matters to her, and how it connects to her life—and how everything has changed since her cancer diagnosis four years ago.

Richly illustrated with photographs of the artist and her work, this book is a beautifully captured record of Tracey Emin about her inspirations, her working environment, and her relationship with other artists from the past and present.

"Drawing is an extension of the soul. You have a vision in your mind, then it comes through your hand, out onto the paper, and back into your mind again. It’s a very good therapeutic exercise. It’s quite cleansing. There’s alchemy involved."

Offering a uniquely personal insight into the artist’s extraordinary life and career, Emin expresses herself in her characteristically frank confessional style that is so familiar to anyone who has seen her paintings. This is Tracey Emin on her own terms: on learning to paint, how to live her life after cancer, and relearning why painting matters above everything else.

• 4 sections exploring how these images from above speak to us through color, shape, texture, and scale.
• In-depth interviews with prestigious photographers showing how the artists climbed, flew, dug, or rocketed into space to capture their most impressive shots.
• Dedicated sidebars revealing how we have always experimented with top-down perspective, from ancient earthworks to modern drones.

Seventeenth-century Europe swirled with conjectures and debates over what was real and what constituted “nature,” currents that would soon gather force to form modern science.

Natural Light deliberates on the era’s uncertainties, as distilled in the work of long underappreciated artist Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610), a native of Frankfurt who settled in Rome and whose diminutive and mysterious narrative compositions related figures to landscape in new ways, projecting unfamiliar visions of space at a time when Caravaggio was polarizing audiences with his radical altarpieces and early modern scientists were starting to turn to the new “world system” of Galileo. His visual inventions influenced many famous artists—including Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Lorrain, and Nicolas Poussin.

Julian Bell guides the reader through key Elsheimer artworks, examining the contexts behind them before exploring the new imaginative thoughts that opened up in their wake. He also explores the experiences of Elsheimer and other Northern artists in the literary, artistic, and scientific culture of 1600s Rome.

Although his life was tragically short, Elsheimer’s legacy endured and prints of his work were widely spread throughout Europe, with his influence extending as far as the Indian subcontinent.

New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting by Robert Zeller offers a sweeping exposition of both historical Surrealism and its legacy in the world of contemporary art