Looking back at key moments in Wedgwood’s design history, this book celebrates the manufacturer’s visual power and great design from its founding in 1759 to the present day.

The name Wedgwood has come to stand for something far beyond its illustrious and energetic founder: it has united art and industry; introduced design and artistic collaborations; and pioneered the development ofthe firm’s iconic blue-and-white jasperware. This book tells that story through design, reflecting the continuing role that Wedgwood and its designers, artists, and employees have played in setting trends—including collaborations with many British artists and designers such as Christopher Dresser, Eric Ravilious, and Keith Murray. Wedgwood continuously responds to the market and produces high-quality, desirable ceramicsfor a broad range of consumers, yet remains faithful to the traditions established by Josiah Wedgwood in the eighteenth century.

The book presents highlights from the internationally renowned V&A Wedgwood Collection, praised by the Art Fund—one of the UK’s leading art organizations—as “one of the most important industrial archives,” containing around 80,000 objects. This archive reflects the unique proposition of Wedgwood’s business: by operating in both the “ornamental” and “useful” markets, Wedgwood has been able to bring innovative ceramic design to a broad and increasingly international clientele. These ceramics and their stories demonstrate the artistic heritage, craft, and innovation that have become synonymous with the Wedgwood name for more than 250 years.

The first study of de Kooning’s works on paper and clay sculpture from his formative sojourns in Italy

The Dutch-American giant of abstraction Willem de Kooning (1904–97) enjoyed two long sojourns in Italy: in the fall of 1959 and in the summer of 1969. These trips profoundly impacted his work—the first generated a significant body of black-and-white works on paper, while the second inspired the artist to experiment with clay—yet they have yet to receive their due scholarly attention. Willem de Kooning and Italy is the first monograph to explore these two chapters in de Kooning’s life and career, as reflected in the development of his work from the end of the ’50s to his last works of the ’80s.
In addition to essays by the two curators and editors, this lavishly illustrated volume includes contributions from the art historians Jeremy Bleeke, Ester Coen, Anna Coliva and Patrick Elliott. A bibliography and a list of exhibitions further enrich the monograph.

Kentridge's early series of intaglio prints from scenes observed in Johannesburg's first skyscraper

Following the publication of his Domestic Scenes (2021) and Catalogue Raisonné Volume 1: Prints and Posters 1974–1990 (2022), South African artist William Kentridge (born 1955) offers a more intimate look at a series of prints, singular and influential in his oeuvre, titled Carlton Centre Games Arcade (1977).
The Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, owned by the mining company Anglo American, was the most expensive and prestigious hotel and shopping complex on the African continent at the time and was just a short walk from Kentridge’s father’s legal practice. This complex was where he decided to begin the process of observational drawing that would lead to his first prolonged engagement with intaglio printing. This book is an opportunity for Kentridge enthusiasts to catch a glimpse of this little-known early series of 14 etchings and also offers a further taste of the ongoing catalogue raisonné project.