BELLAS ARTES

A fresh look at one of America’s best-known and beloved artists at a pivotal but little-known moment in his life that profoundly shaped both his art and career. Edward Hopper & Cape Ann tells the largely ignored but significant origin story of Edward Hopper’s years in and around Gloucester, Massachusetts—a period and place that imbued Hopper’s paintings with a clarity and purpose that had eluded his earlier work. This volume focuses on summers Hopper spent there in the 1920s, starting in 1923, when he first embraced watercolor during outdoor painting excursions on Cape Ann and discovered one of his favorite subjects: houses and vernacular architecture. The success of Hopper’s Gloucester watercolors transformed his work in all media and set the stage for his monumental career. Accompanying a major retrospective at the Cape Ann Museum, including an unprecedented loan of twenty-eight works from the Whitney Museum of American Art, this highly readable and beautifully illustrated volume reveals in great depth the lesser-known story about the influence of a young painter, Josephine Nivison, who became not only Hopper’s wife but also the most trusted force underlying his artistic confidence. Here she is recast as principal producer of Hopper’s distinctive style and his “brand” visionary from the time of their courtship until his death in 1967.

As an acclaimed interior designer and member of the AD100 and the Interior Design Hall of Fame, Victoria Hagan had achieved the highest pinnacle of success in her field. But when 2020 arrived, she found herself, like all of us, at home, seeing her life and her space with fresh eyes. The result is this book a creative manifesto and a life-affirming look at the nature of home, and how it connects and calms us, comforts and nourishes us. Beautifully designed with a luxurious oversize package that includes gatefolds, Live Now celebrates the quiet and extraordinary beauty of the everyday. Open windows beckon, through which we glimpse the ocean, its hues echoed in the interior palette. A chair for reading waits on a patio, overlooking an expanse of hills. Fresh corn and strawberries from the farmers market tumble over a kitchen table. The 12 dwellings featured in Live Now may range in style, but all share the soothing, light-filled palette, serenity of mood, and aesthetic rigor for which Hagan is renowned, as well as a deep connection to their surroundings, from Sonoma to Palm Beach, Manhattan to Martha s Vineyard.

Readers will respond to the warm and sophisticated work of Hugh and Simon Jacobsen, whose style of architecture and interiors might best be described as American modern vernacular—the place where traditional comfort and modern design meet. Hugh Newell Jacobsen, the legendary architect and late co-founder with his son, Simon, of Jacobsen Architecture, once said “the best house is polite to her neighbors and never shouts.” This statement is a key to the philosophy of the firm, whose houses are suffused with a kind of quiet sophistication that mingle elegant, subtle modernism, with respect for local vernacular traditions. Low-key on the outside, on the inside these houses offer dancing symphonies in white. Unmarked by moldings, walls and ceilings express simple volumetric forms composed of solid planes and voids, while, upon floors of burnished wood or travertine, furniture, much of it designed by the firm, allows for serene repose and practical, unfussy use. Featured here are exemplars of the firm, from Harbor Hill—a cluster of 12 small structures, appearing at first as a group of smallish shingled Nantucket cottages, that reveals itself as a single serene residence overlooking Nantucket Harbor—to Windsor, a Florida Colonial abstraction in Vero Beach. Featuring inviting interiors, exteriors, and gardens, the book is an expression of eloquent design.

A sumptuous monograph tracing the life and legacy of fashion luminary Oscar de la Renta. In October 2014 one of the fashion world’s champions, Oscar de la Renta, passed away, a great loss brightened by the innumerable successes of his half-century reign. The acclaimed fashion designer dressed first ladies from Kennedy to Obama, and celebrities from Beyoncé to Sarah Jessica Parker. Renowned for his unique charm, impeccable taste, and original lifestyle, he married the highest standards of French couture with the ultimate motivation that women must look and feel beautiful. In this intimate volume, longtime editor and friend André Leon Talley recounts de la Renta’s journey through nearly 70 iconic dresses, mainly made for private clients, accompanied by fascinating stories of the exquisite craftsmanship and the legendary friends that brought each gown to life. Born in the Dominican Republic in 1932, de la Renta left for Madrid at nineteen to study art, where he rose to prominence as a sketch artist for newspapers and fashion houses. From his apprenticeship under Cristóbal Balenciaga to his eponymous collections, the designer’s simple lines elevated with a flamenco dancer’s flourish reflect his deep connection to his roots and his commitment to transcendence through beautiful garments.

Founded in 2014 by the design ingenue Harry Nuriev, Crosby Studios is one of the buzziest furniture, interior design, lifestyle, and architecture brands of this day and age. With instantly recognizable viral pieces, Crosby Studios is behind some of today’s most original interiors that exude aspirational fantasy, conceptual artistry, and effortless cool—as well as being at the forefront of the metaverse revolution. Presenting Crosby Studios’ most popular interiors and newest metaverse spaces, this original volume is a must-have reference for the firm’s myriad fans. From private residences and commercial venues to daring creations specifically designed for the metaverse, the featured projects showcase all aspects of Nuriev’s signature style: monochromatic touches of bold colors that enliven interiors along with his original blend of Eastern European–inspired design and contemporary references to the digital world. A vibrant publication that celebrates one of the most enthralling names working in design today, this book is bound to appeal to interiors and digital enthusiasts everywhere.