ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

Desde construcciones antiguas hasta modernos rascacielos de alta tecnología, descubre todo lo que hay que saber sobre la historia de la arquitectura en todo el mundo. ¿Por qué las antiguas construcciones romanas han resistido el paso del tiempo? ¿Cómo se sostienen los altos techos de las catedrales góticas? ¿Cómo pueden ayudar las innovaciones arquitectónicas a combatir el cambio climático? Explora en profundidad cada periodo y estilo arquitectónico a través de ejemplos icónicos. Este completo libro abarca más de 6000 años de historia, explica los avances más importantes en materiales de construcción, tecnología y diseño y muestra los cambios sociales que han dado forma al paisaje arquitectónico.

A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers. Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca.

Alaïa was not only a renowned couturier but also a passionate fashion historian and an insatiable collector, an interest he cultivated starting in the 1960s. He gathered over 20,000 garments in his lifetime, from the birth of haute couture to pieces by contemporaries he admired. This book showcases for the first time the priceless personal collection of Dior designs that Alaïa assembled over decades—pieces by Christian Dior as well as the artistic directors that followed him at the helm of the House. The collection is analyzed through chapters dedicated to the elements that awakened the curiosity of Alaïa’s collector genius: the construction of the dresses—their “architecture”; the enchanting multitude of the color tones and textures of the fabrics and materials; and the poetry of the names of Dior’s creations revealing the diversity of his sources of inspiration, such as Accacias, Astarté, Caracas, Chérie, Jardin anglais, Madrid, Marcel Pagnol, Rose des vents, or Tourbillon.. Illustrated by beautiful photographs of the dresses, historical archival images, drawings by Christian Dior, and collection charts detailing fabric samples and sketches, this book offers a fresh view of Alaïa’s influences and Dior’s history and will appeal to fashion lovers everywhere.

In a fleeting fourteen year period, sandwiched between two world wars, Germany’s Bauhaus school of art and design changed the face of modernity. With utopian ideals for the future, the school developed a pioneering fusion of fine art, craftsmanship, and technology to be applied across painting, sculpture, design, architecture, film, photography, textiles, ceramics, theatre, and installation. As much an intense personal community as a publicly minded collective, the Bauhaus was first founded by Walter Gropius (1883–1969), and counted Josef and Anni Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer, Gunta Stölzl, Marianne Brandt and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe among its members. Between its three successive locations in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, the school fostered charismatic and creative exchange between teachers and students, all varied in their artistic styles and preferences, but united in their idealism and their interest in a “total” work of art across different practices and media.

George W. Vanderbilt created one of the greatest self-sustaining American country estates of the late nineteenth century—at its center, Richard Morris Hunt’s splendid 250-room French Renaissance château. Beyond the acres of gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and the imposing castle exterior lies one of the most notable private collections of fine and decorative art in the nation. Discover the wealth of treasures assembled in the historic rooms: paintings by Monet, Renoir, Sargent, and Whistler; Renaissance tapestries; rare books; and exquisite French and English furniture.

This book is meticulously designed as a large-format visual portfolio of the world’s most distinctive birds, whose nesting behavior and natural beauty are celebrated in beautifully detailed graphite and watercolor illustrations—all based on actual field studies. The exquisitely detailed bird, nest, and egg portraits are framed by details that include building techniques, materials, egg characteristics (shapes, colors, and number in a clutch), hatchlings and chicks, and parenting behaviors.