NOVEDADES

Magic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics and sorcerers, magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibilitywhether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games, and the Internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible. This book celebrates more than 500 years of the stunning visual culture of the worlds greatest magicians. Featuring more than 750 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel among others, The Magic Book traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with incisive text, the book explores the evolution of the magicians craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th centurys golden age of magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th centurys vaudevillians.

This book tracks the career of the artist over six decades, revealing his retained interest in lighthearted subjects while casting them in traditional modes of painting. It celebrates the artist’s regard for the delights of the quintessentially American summer experience, from its sweet ice creams and chilled soda pops to beach games and barbecues, melting a gray winter into a fading memory. The catalogue features paintings from the 1960s through the 2000s of beach scenes, hot dogs, ice creams, beach balls, and bathing suits.

The Wrigley represents the high-water mark of Beaux Arts Classicism in the city, a gleaming white palazzo at the head of Chicago’s grandest boulevard, Michigan Avenue. With lavish terra-cotta ornamentation, it was Chicago’s tallest building when it opened in 1921. The book focuses on the intertwined stories of William Wrigley Jr., the larger-than-life founder of the chewing gum empire, and Charles Gerhard Beersman, the relatively unknown architect who, mentored by architect Julia Morgan, brought the building to life.