BELLAS ARTES

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.

Largely self-taught as an artist, Francis Bacon (1909–1992) developed a unique ability to transform interior and unconscious impulses into figurative forms and intensely claustrophobic compositions. Emerging into notoriety in the period following World War II, Bacon took the human body as his nominal subject, but a subject ravaged, distorted, and dismembered so as to writhe with intense emotional content. With flailing limbs, hollow voids, and tumurous growths, his gripping, often grotesque, portraits are as much reflections on the trials and the traumas of the human condition as they are character studies. These haunting forms were also among the first in art history to depict overtly homosexual themes.

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.

Catorce años. En ese breve período entre dos guerras mundiales, la escuela de arte y diseño alemana Bauhaus sentó las bases de la modernidad. A partir de una visión utópica del futuro, la escuela desarrolló una práctica vanguardista que fusionaba las bellas artes, la artesanía y la tecnología con el objetivo de aplicarla en otros medios y actividades artísticas: del cine al teatro, de la escultura a la cerámica.Esta obra de referencia es posible gracias a la colaboración del Bauhaus-Archiv/ Museum für Gestaltung de Berlín, que alberga la colección más importante hoy sobre esta famosa escuela artística. Con documentos, estudios, más de 250 nuevas fotografías, bocetos, planos y maquetas sobre las obras realizadas, nos acerca a los principios rectores y las personalidades de esta comunidad creativa idealista a través de sus tres sedes sucesivas en Weimar, Dessau y Berlín. Desde retratos informales de gimnasia en grupo hasta los dibujos de una clase impartida por Paul Klee; desde extensos planos arquitectónicos hasta un cenicero infinitamente elegante de Marianne Brandt, la colección late con los colores, los materiales y las geometrías que conforman la visión Bauhaus de la obra de arte total.Cerca ya de la celebración del centenario de la Bauhaus, este libro es la prueba definitiva de su energía y su rigor; no sólo como un movimiento creativo pionero, sino también como paradigma de la educación artística. Allí donde la expresión y las ideas vanguardistas produjeron obras al mismo tiempo funcionales y hermosas. Este práctico volumen presenta a artistas destacados como Josef Albers, Marianne Brandt, Walter Gropius, Gertrud Grunow, Paul Klee, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe y Lilly Reich.

Explore the allure and magic of coastal living with this beautiful book from Lauren Liess, the bestselling author of Habitat, Down to Earth, and Feels Like Home. Thoughtful, nostalgic, inspiring, and laid-back, Beach Life delves into life by the sea and why we are drawn to it. From the homes to the food to the relaxed mindset and the therapeutic benefits of being near the ocean, life is different at the beach. Complete with interior design inspiration and advice, explorations into mindfulness and wellness, radiant photography, memorable stories, and easy seasonal recipes, Beach Life takes readers on an escape into sunshine, surf, and sandy coastlines. From large oceanfront vacation homes to charming beach cottages down sandy streets, with a chapter dedicated to ocean-inspired rooms, Beach Life is the perfect guide for capturing the spirit of the sea and bringing it home with you.