art book

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was one of the most celebrated designers at the turn of the 20th century, known for his metal and glass work. But Tiffany was also a notable artist, who created beautiful drawings and paintings as well as three-dimensional works. This richly illustrated biographical account features the portraits and landscapes Tiffany painted as he traveled the world. It includes drawings and photographs relating to every aspect of his artistic career, from stained glass and jewelry to vases and textiles.

Ornamental Textile Fabrics of All Ages and Nations: A Practical Collection of Specimens features specimens from Auguste Dupont-Auberville's collection of ornamental textile designs. The samples, reproduced as simple chromolithographs, serve as a showcase of European, Eastern, and Egyptian design elements used in textile production throughout history.

Who doesn’t love a little sparkle? You’ll find plenty in this gorgeous book. Along with histories of important jewelers from the late-19th through the 20th centuries, it features photographs of masterworks created by these artists and craftspeople. The book also highlights a number of specific jewelry styles, such as Art Nouveau by Lalique and Egyptian revival by Cartier. Other jewelers presented in the book include Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Fabergé, and Bulgari—with illustrations of their dazzling pieces crafted from gold, silver, platinum, gems, pearls, and enamel.

Les Arts au Moyen Age et a l'Epoque de la Renaissance (The Arts in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance) features chromolithographic plates and over 400 woodcuts. What truly makes this edition stand out is its elaborate use of gilt stamping. The red book cover is dotted and outlined with gold script, matching the bow-like design on the spine. Instead of the typical marbled paper, the book's inside covers feature a zig-zag pattern of black and gold lines, with designs of flowers, tassels, and letters in contrasting colors.

Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie...Imagine those blackbirds popping out at you! The Pop-Up Mother Goose includes surprises on every page. Author Harold Lentz was a commercial artist who delved into the world of book publication in the 1930s, when he designed a series of colorful fairy tales, incorporating imaginative drawings and paper engineering. Lentz and his publisher were the first to coin the term "pop-up" to describe their surprising design. Produced and sold during the Great Depression, these imaginative books provided readers a joyful distraction.

Liza Lou, an American artist and winner of a 2002 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, is known for her large-scale sculptures and environments made from glass beads. Lou’s brightly colored sculptures create tension between the sparkling beauty of their surfaces and their frequently dark themes, suggesting that America’s polished, projected image belies the nation’s underlying turmoil.

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was an avid collector and supporter of Picasso. The two became friends after being introduced by photographer Edward Steichen. The Hirshorn Library’s copy of Picasso, by art critic Jean Cassou, is inscribed in ink by Picasso on the half-title, “Pour Joe Hirshhorn, son ami Picasso, le 25-7-69,” and includes a full-page original Picasso sketch of a bearded man with curly hair and a wavy hat.

This beautiful book, a wordless novel, tells a story of the African slave trade and one slave trader’s obsession and tragic downfall—all in 128 powerful woodcuts that combine Art Deco and Expressionist styles. Lynd Ward was one of America’s finest wood engravers, and the detailed, complicated plates in this book show him as a master craftsman and illustrator who could also reveal psychological anguish through his art. The plates in this second-edition copy are reproduced photographically; the front and back covers are bound in papers showing a woodcut-style design in black and white.

British printmaker Rupert Shephard (1902-1992) was inspired by the people and cultures of South Africa to create the eighteen prints in this limited-edition portfolio (200 copies). Ndebele women, known for their beadwork and colorful geometric murals, are portrayed here in a warm, lively setting in this lino-cut print from the portfolio. Shephard taught printmaking at Michaelis Art School in Cape Town, South Africa, from 1948 to 1962.