BELLAS ARTES

A swirl of elegantly offbeat parties and lush tablescapes, where ceramic snails creep under flower petals and chandelier girls covered in Swarovski crystals beckon guests to the dance floor: Gardner’s infectious irreverence shines in her glamorous approach to entertaining, where even the mundane is made delicious. This book—like her parties—is a decadent feast for the eyes, with a foreword by Sofia Coppola and photography that captures the surprise and delight of Gardner’s hyperbolic entertaining style. From a brass band leading guests to dinner along the tracks of the Napa Valley Wine Train to a pink-poodle-themed holiday party with a bountiful buffet of retro desserts, the pages burst with entertainments, heavy pours, and flattering light as all the elements combine in a perfectly orchestrated yet seemingly effortless way that makes it impossible for guests not to have a screaming blast!

Spanning the extraordinary breadth of the studio’s most recent work—projects in townhouses, historic country manors, and seaside villas—the interiors in this book reflect the design philosophy of founder Emma Sims-Hilditch: Every house needs to work on a functional level before one even considers the decoration. Spaces, from sumptuous entrance halls and sitting rooms to hardworking kitchens and boot rooms, are organized for efficiency and practicality before the design team introduces an abundance of floral and damask textiles, striking colors, both refined and comfortable furnishings, and decorative trims. This book not only explores the fruits of complex and rewarding collaborations that artfully breathe new life into old buildings but also offers an insight into an exciting new chapter in the fascinating story of classic English country houses. New materials and technologies, paired with traditional decorative devices, reinvigorate a Victorian house in the city, an eighteenth-century country house, a Jacobean manor, an apartment in London’s Old War Office, and many other quintessentially British residences.

Studio Sofield Works is the landmark first book from the New York City firm. At 656 pages, this slipcased volume is a visual journey through scores of projects that underline the Studio’s distinctive approach, including thirteen featured chapters illustrated with 730 full-color photographs. The book opens with a chronology of highlights, tracing the culture and mood of past decades with beguiling candor and spotlighting the inspiration that William Sofield and Emma O’Neill have taken from the times. The Studio’s very first office, above a slaughterhouse in the Meatpacking District, gives rise to ideas for Ralph Lauren’s Japanese-inspired estate in Montauk. In Laurel Canyon, the Studio’s West Coast home conjures decorative experiments only a Hollywood dream factory could match. And Sofield’s endless commuting for fashion clients—among them Gucci, Tom Ford, Bottega Veneta, and Yves Saint Laurent—informs a client’s nose-to-tail private plane redesign.

Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright were neither competitors nor direct collaborators. Yet these romantic heroes of twentieth-century art and architecture largely operated in parallel. In this seminal book, Rovang weaves together their compelling life stories, examining newly discovered links between them and, in the process, offering a fresh perspective on their work, their intermittent yet poignant friendship, and their closeness to the desert.  Starting in 1933, O’Keeffe and Wright exchanged roughly two dozen letters in which they expressed admiration for one another but also their passion for the places that informed them—many of which they had in common. Both were born in rural Wisconsin and built their careers in Chicago and New York. However, both sought inspiration and fulfillment in places farther afield, including in Japan and the desert landscape of the American Southwest. Juxtaposing images highlighting shared aspects of their individual biographies and work, this unique take on American creative expression explores the nature of artistic friendship and the idea of “home.” Rovang’s text gives rich context to the allure and romance of her visual subject, offering readers new ways to appreciate O’Keeffe’s and Wright’s monumental contributions to American culture.

This panoramic collection showcases stadiums, venues, and pitches, from the quirky to the historic, covering both men’s and women’s leagues, professional to amateur, wherever the game is played with enthusiasm and great style. For those who love the sport, either from birthright or from newly kindled passion, there’s a distinct and beloved resonance and local character to each stadium. This is one of soccer’s great charms, and this book is a road map to a pilgrimage to 1000 arenas that anyone in love with the beautiful game would want to visit in person: some visionary and new, some ageing but iconic, some remote yet picturesque, some tumbledown, quirky yet historical and utterly lovable—but all with such genuine personality, the fans’ hearts beat a little faster to see a match there.

From the fabled towers of Babylon and Angkor Wat to the colossal stone heads of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and secret gardens of Beijing’s Forbidden City, each of the sixty sites featured in this lavishly illustrated book are must-visit destinations for every cultured traveler, representing the pinnacles of human achievement over millennia and across the globe. Yet despite their beauty, fame, and importance, these treasured places face existential challenges arising from climate change, war, financial pressures, and—increasingly—over-tourism. From its founding in 1965, World Monuments Fund (WMF) has focused the public’s attention on these dangers while developing solutions that will ensure these sites will be enjoyed for generations to come.