BELLAS ARTES

“The Tower is also present to the entire world... a universal symbol of Paris... from the Midwest to Australia, there is no journey to France which isn’t made, somehow, in the Tower’s name.” ― Roland Barthes When Gustave Eiffel completed his wrought iron tower on Paris’s Champ de Mars for the World’s Fair in 1889, he laid claim to the tallest structure in the world. Though the Chrysler Building would, 41 years later, scrape an even higher sky, the Eiffel Tower lost none of its lofty wonder: originally granted just a 20-year permit, the Tower became a permanent and mesmerizing fixture on the Parisian skyline. Commanding by day, twinkling by night, it has mesmerized Francophiles and lovers, writers, artists, and dreamers from all over the world, welcoming around seven million visitors every single year. Based on an original, limited edition folio by Gustave Eiffel himself, this fresh TASCHEN edition explores the concept and construction of this remarkable building. Step by step, one latticework layer after another, Eiffel’s iconic design evolves over double-page plates, meticulous drawings, and on-site photographs, including new images and even more historical context. The result is at once a gem of vintage architecture and a unique insight into the idea behind an icon.

The world’s most important contemporary designers showcase their work within the historic setting of Chatsworth House to shine light and spark conversation on the intriguing juxtaposition of the old and the new, the past and the future, and the evolution of design histories and practices. Chatsworth is an extraordinary environment to experience design: a repository for great works of fine and decorative art commissioned by generations of the Cavendish family for over four centuries. Expanding on the eponymous 2023 exhibition at Chatsworth, Mirror Mirror features the works of sixteen contemporary artists through captivating in-situ photography with accompanying artist biographies and essays that unearth how historic artifacts and environments inform and inspire modern artists' practices today. This diverse group of artists includes Michael Anastassiades, Ini Archibong, Wendell Castle, Andile Dyalvane, Ndidi Ekubia, Najla El Zein, Formafantasma, Joris Laarman, Max Lamb, Fernando Laposse, Jae Sae Jung Oh, Samuel Ross, Chris Schanck, Ettore Sottsass, Faye Toogood, and Joseph Walsh. From lithe, LED lighting structures illuminating the halls of the Chatsworth library to a seating sculpture hand-carved in Iranian travertine in the grand estate’s formal Rose Garden, these modern works create unexpected and timeless connections with the house’s architecture, interiors, furniture, and ceramics.

Desde su primera edición en 1980, la Historia crítica de la arquitectura moderna de Kenneth Frampton se ha convertido en un clásico imprescindible dentro de la bibliografía académica sobre historia de la arquitectura moderna. En esta quinta edición ampliamente revisada y actualizada, el autor ha añadido una nueva y extensa sección que explora al detalle la evolución del Movimiento Moderno en la arquitectura en todo el mundo a finales del siglo xx y principios del xxi. En ella, se examinan las diversas formas en que los arquitectos no solo responden a los contextos geográficos, climáticos, materiales y culturales, sino que siguen también distintas líneas de enfoque en relación a la topografía, la morfología, la sostenibilidad y la forma cívica.