artwork

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.

Gold Rush: Contemporary Art Made From, With or About Gold is an exhibition catalogue published to accompany the exhibit of the same title, which was featured at Kunsthalle Nürnburg (October 18, 2012 to January 13, 2013) and at Villa Merkel, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen am Neckar (February 17 to April 14, 2013), in Germany. The show explored the appearance of gold in the recent works of 18 international artists, including Joseph Beuys, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Daniel Knorr, Kris Martin, Jonathan Monk, and Claudia Wieser.

One of the best-known artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet, and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Picasso is often remembered for his cubist paintings, but he continued to experiment with new styles and materials throughout his life. During the 1950s and 1960s, Picasso commissioned Francois Hugo, great-grandson of French writer Victor Hugo, to execute a series of plates, dishes, and medallions in gold and silver. The plates were modeled after Picasso’s original ceramics designs.

"The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. I tend to see it as a glorious intense victory over death," writes art historian Rudi Fuchs in this creative guide to the making of British artist Damien Hirst’s sculpture For the Love of God, a platinum cast of an 18th-century skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds and produced at a cost of £14 million. The catalog is a companion publication to the 2007 exhibition “Damien Hirst: Beyond Belief,” at London’s White Cube, where the skull made its debut.

Georges Braque was a major 20th-century French painter, sculptor, draughtsman, and printmaker. At the age of 79, Braque turned his attention to jewelry. He teamed up with master jeweler Baron Heger de Löwenfeld to turn 110 gouache maquettes into intricately textured gold sculptures inlaid with precious stones. The collection, inspired by Greek mythology, incorporates themes of flight and metamorphosis. The two artists worked so closely together that Braque referred to De Löwenfeld as the “continuation of my hand.”

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was an avid collector and supporter of Pablo Picasso. The two became friends after being introduced by photographer Edward Steichen.

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.