BELLAS ARTES

The American painter Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) sparked an artistic renewal in his country when he burst onto the scene dominated by Abstract Expressionism in New York in the late 1950s, defining a new creative language for a new era. With his innovative use of industrial production techniques and mundane, everyday imagery, such as cartoons, comic strips, and advertising, Lichtenstein joined contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist in portraying and satirizing American media and consumer culture.

In November 1936, publisher Henry R. Luce launched Life as a photo-led weekly news magazine with a clear purpose: “To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events.” Before readers’ attention was consumed by television, Life served as their window to the world, and by the late 1940s, it was being viewed by 1 in 3 Americans. Jean Harlow was the first movie star to appear on a Life cover in 1937, and from then until 1972 over 200 covers featured Hollywood-related subjects, illustrating the strength of the bond between Life and the film industry.

Zen, soothing, mystical, meditative—words cannot do justice to Asia’s most beautiful interiors. Whether it’s a gilded Tibetan monastery, a plantation in Sri Lanka, or a private villa in Thailand, each of the havens featured in this book are remarkable not only in aesthetic, but also in spirit. This showcase features about 40 exceptional locations across Tibet, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Highlights include traditional Burmese stilt houses; the breathtaking Shiv Niwas Palace in India, visited by James Bond in Octopussy; Cambodian temples; a rice barge-turned houseboat in Thailand; the “Blue Mansion”, an magnificient, indigo-painted courtyard house featured in the film Indochine; a breathtaking garden designed by Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa; and many, many more.

Though it lies just across the Mediterranean from Europe, barely a stone’s throw from Spain’s southernmost tip, Morocco couldn’t possibly be farther away.With its mountainous and desert landscapes, labyrinthine souks, delectable cuisine, exquisite rugs and textiles, vibrant mosaics, fragrant odors, mesmerizing music, and welcoming people, Morocco is a most alluring and tantalizingly exotic destination. Digging a little deeper into the myth of Morocco, Barbara and René Stoeltie bring us this eclectic selection of homes to demonstrate all that is most wonderful about the Moroccan style: from tiled, turquoise swimming pools and lavish gardens to carved wooden furniture and jade-colored marble fountains.With more than 500 pages featuring stunning, inspiring photographs, flipping through these fairy tale-like visions of exotic havens (ideally while sipping a steaming cup of sweet, fragrant mint tea) will instantly whisk you away.

Visite una tierra de plazas adoquinadas, cerámica rústica y campos de lavanda, y descubra el encanto rural que sedujo a artistas de la talla de van Gogh y Picasso con esta monografía dedicada a las casas e interiores de la Provenza, ya sean espléndidos castillos o retiros campestres, a través de textos reveladores y preciosas fotografías.