Impressive monograph of the most important Belgian Impressionist: Emile Claus

Eric Ravilious was a designer, painter, printmaker, and illustrator best known for his war work and depictions of the English landscape, particularly the South Downs in Sussex. Often described as a particularly “English” artist, key to his style was an ability to convey in watercolor the nuances of the British climate. Eric Ravilious: Landscapes & Nature explores his appreciation of the natural world and the techniques he used in a variety of media to convey its various elements.

Drawing on the V&A’s collections, more than one hundred beautiful images capture Ravilious’s deep enjoyment of everything in nature, from grassy hills, owls, greenhouse geraniums, and snow, to rainy seas, airport-runway puddles, and tideswept beaches. This book reveals common themes running through his work, such as weather, plants, animals, and birds, as well as Ravilious’s love of depicting signs of human presence in the landscape, including rusting machinery, ships and aircraft, and his famous illustrations of hillside chalk figures.

Although best known for his watercolors, Ravilious was also inspired to learn wood engraving by seeing the V&A’s Samuel Palmer exhibition of 1926. Due to encouragement by his tutor Paul Nash and later to financial pressures, Ravilious turned his hand to a wide variety of creative work, from designs for ceramics, glass, furniture, murals, and textiles, to illustrating books, pamphlets, and posters.

Imagine hurrying down the corridors of prerevolutionary Versailles in the company of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, the most sought-after portraitist of her day. Who will you meet as you drop in at her studio? The Duchess of Polignac, one of the great beauties of the Ancien Régime, or the ill-fated queen herself, Marie Antoinette? Or fast forward to the nineteenth century, to the sun-soaked landscapes of the Provence of Cézanne and Van Gogh, before speeding on to the French Riviera, where for six months Picasso made his home. Then dive into Jazz Age Paris, where Lois Mailou Jones and Archibald John Motley, Jr. are setting the city alight.

With twelve chapters, each devoted to an artist or group of artists, and accompanying itineraries, readers can immerse themselves in their world, wandering in and out of palaces, grand residences, and artist's studios to admire their work "in situ"—all from the comfort of an armchair. A bespoke illustrated map with hand-drawn vignettes brings to vivid life episodes from the artists' often turbulent lives, as well as key landmarks and local color. Wherever you roam, the Art of Travel series takes you into the heart of France's great cities, in the company of the artists who lived and worked there.

Set off on your own Grand Tour for the twenty-first century. The journey continues.

Een jaar na Vermeer presenteert het Rijksmuseum de grote retrospectieve over Frans Hals

Frans Hals (1582/4−1666) behoort tot de grootste schilders van de Nederlandse 17de eeuw. Hij introduceerde een totaal nieuwe stijl van portretteren en zijn virtuoze toets betekende een revolutie in de schilderkunst.