Maria Pergay


Book Description

At a recent auction, after two of Maria Pergay's 1970s steel chairs sold for seven times their high estimate, an observer told The New York Times that was "the most exciting bidding of the sale, because it was fashion." Over Pergay's 50-year-and-counting career, her sophisticated objects, furniture and decor have won her a following and an illustrious clientele that has included Salvador Dali, Pierre Cardin and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, but they have only recently gained recognition among design collectors, curators and aficionados. Maria Pergay: Between Ideas and Design is the first in-depth survey of the designer's remarkable life and work. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing to the present, it features over 200 photographs of interiors and furniture, archival illustrations from her personal collection--most of which have never before been published--and a candid interview. The end product is equal parts authoritative reference, source of rare insight and aesthetic journey into the lifestyle of the cultural and social elite of the late 60s and early 70s.




The Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Book Description

The authors, Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide and Jeffrey Munger, are curators in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. They oversaw the recent reinstallation of the Wrightsman Galleries --Book Jacket.




Art Deco and Other Figures


Book Description

This important book, now available in a revised edition, contains the most complete range of art deco figures ever published. It is based partly on the original importers catalogues and partly on the wide range of pieces handled by the author Bryan Catley - the leading specialist in the subject. Between the wars an entirely modern style of decorative sculpture emerged which was a complete break with the heavy romantic late nineteenth century schools, and was totally in sympathy with the vibrant young society of the 1920s. The use of bronze and ivory for a great number of these sensual figures in no way obscures the fact that many are of exceptionally high quality; add to this their sense of movement and rhythm and one realises that the large sums they now command is a reflection of a discriminative international collectors market.




Chiparus


Book Description

-One of the most important sculptors of the Art Deco era, Demétre Chiparus (1886-1947) was a Romanian sculptor who lived and worked in Paris. This book is a stunning monograph covering the most iconic of the Art Deco sculptors. It delves into his work both as a sculptor and a painter This new and updated edition adds new figures as well as historic documents. Of particular interest is the discovery of the long-lost marble figure Polar Bear last seen over 75 years ago in Paris, where it was exhibited for the first and last time at the 1943 Salon des Artistes Français. Accompanying images of this important discovery are presented in this edition for the very first time. Over 26 years ago the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo's rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life. The book dwells on the sources and inspiration of the Art Deco movement, with particular emphasis on sculptures created by Demétre Chiparus.




Dictionary of Building and Civil Engineering


Book Description

This dual-language dictionary lists over 20,000 specialist terms in both French and English, covering architecture, building, engineering and property terms. It meets the needs of all building professionals working on projects overseas. It has been comprehensively researched and compiled to provide an invaluable reference source in an increasingly European marketplace.




Uranie


Book Description

I WAS seventeen. She was called Uranie. Was Uranie, then, a young girl, fair, with blue eyes, innocent, but eager for knowledge? No, she was simply what she has always been, one of the nine muses; she who presided over astronomy, and whose celestial glance animated and directed the spheral choir; she was the heavenly idea hovering above earthly dullness; she had neither the palpitating flesh, nor the heart whose pulsations can be transmitted through space, nor the soft warmth of humanity; but she existed, nevertheless, in a sort of ideal world, superior to humanity, and always pure; and yet she was human enough in name and form to produce in the soul of a youth a vivid and profound impression; to awaken in that soul an undefined and undefinable sentiment of admiration: almost of love.




Intentions


Book Description




Bernard Picart and the First Global Vision of Religion


Book Description

In an era of intense religious conflict in Europe and ongoing exploration of the lands beyond Europe, Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde (1723-37) set a new agenda for thinking about faith and provided a lasting visual template for representing the world's religions. In the work's seven massive volumes, Jean Frederic Bernard and the renowned engraver Bernard Picart invited readers to view religions and their institutions as cultural practices. Bernard Picart and The First Global Vision of Religion approaches this much-cited but little-studied work from a variety of angles. Its fifteen scholarly essays examine Bernard and Picart's authorial and artistic strategies, the handling of religious difference in Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses, and the cultural context that fostered the creation of one of the most influential works of comparative religion ever published.