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Matisse: The Books

by | Nov 6, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Art Lover

Matisse: The Books
Louise Rogers Lalaurie
$75.00

The livre d’artiste, or “artist’s book,” is among the most prized in rare book collections. Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was one of the greatest artists to work in this genre, and he created his most important during a period of intense personal and physical suffering. Brimming with powerful themes and imagery, these works are crucial to understanding Matisse’s oeuvre.

With deftness and sensitivity, Louise Rogers Lalaurie reintroduces us to Matisse by considering how in each volume, Matisse constructed an intriguing dialogue between word and image. Examining this page-by-page interplay, translating key sequences, and discussing the books’ distinct themes and production histories, Lalaurie offers the thoughtful analysis these works deserve. Together Matisse’s artist books reveal his deep engagement with questions of beauty and truth; his faith; his perspectives on aging, loss, and inspiration; and his relationship to his critics, the French art establishment, and the women in his life. In addition, Lalaurie illuminates Matisse’s often misunderstood political affinities—though Matisse was vilified in his time for choosing to live in the collaborationist Vichy zone, his wartime books reveal a body of work that stands as a deeply personal statement of resistance.

Lavishly illustrated, Matisse: The Books showcases a rich group of underappreciated works and brings unprecedented clarity to a controversial period in the artist’s life.

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

by | Nov 6, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Green Thumb

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer
$35.00

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgmentand celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

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The Goldfinger Files: The Making of the Iconic Alpine Sequence in the James Bond Movie Goldfinger

by | Nov 6, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Movie/TV Buff

The Goldfinger Files: The Making of the Iconic Alpine Sequence in the James Bond Movie Goldfinger
Steffen Appel
$45.00

Perhaps the classic James Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) undoubtedly marked the beginning of 1960s Bondmania. Incorporating much unpublished material, including photographs and the original typed screenplay, The Goldfinger Files is an illustrated history of the film’s iconic scenes shot in Switzerland’s Urseren Valley, crowned by the car chase with Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martin.

To maximize publicity for the film, its makers took the unorthodox step of inviting journalists and photographers onto the set, resulting in a wealth of photos, including those by Hans Gerber, Josef Ritler and Erich Kocian. These give us an insider’s view of the famous sequence—Goldfinger’s Rolls-Royce on the dusty mountain road, Tilly Masterson’s failed assassination attempt on him, the chase between her Mustang and Bond’s Aston Martin and finally Goldfinger’s smelting factory. Dozens of private pictures revealing candid, behind-the-scenes moments complete this documentary flipbook of golden-age James Bond culture.

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Yukari Chikura: Zaido

by | Nov 6, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Shutterbug

Yukari Chikura: Zaido
Yukari Chikura
$83.00

Following a series of tragedies, including her father’s sudden death, her own critical accident and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Chikura recalls how her father came to her in a dream with the words: “Go to the village hidden deep in the snow where I lived a long time ago.” With camera in hand she set off on a pilgrimage to northeast Japan.

There, Chikura discovered Zaido, where inhabitants from different villages gather on the second day of each new year and conduct a ritual dance to induce good fortune. The performers dedicate their dance to the gods and undergo severe purifications.

Combining snowscapes that border on abstraction with images of the intricate masks and costumes of Zaido, Chikura depicts the cultural diversity of the participants and their common bond in creating collective memory and ensuring the survival of this ritual.

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Arthur Elgort: Ballet

by | Nov 6, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Shutterbug

Arthur Elgort: Ballet
Arthur Elgort
$50.00

Following his career-spanning monograph The Big Picture, Arthur Elgort pays homage to his first love and eternal muse in this new collection of photographs. Through Elgort’s lens we encounter ballet not onstage but behind the scenes where the hard work is done. On this journey through the hallways and rehearsal spaces of some of the world’s most distinguished ballet schools, including the New York City Ballet and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, we see previously unpublished images of legends such as Balanchine, Baryshnikov and Lopatkina. The perfection of the prima ballerina disappears in these quiet photographs where the viewer is able to witness the individual dancers’ natural glamor as they work to perfect their craft.
“From the first day I worked with Arthur,” writes the hairstylist Christiaan Houtenbos, “I realized his prism is dance. He took its languid, exuberant perfection as his inspiration when he found himself a young Turk in fashion photography. It has to this day served as his anchor.” Elgort’s snapshot style allows the pain and pleasure of one of the world’s most beloved forms of expressive dance to be seen with beauty.
Arthur Elgort, born in 1940 in New York City, has photographed the world’s most beautiful and talented people for over 40 years. He has published seven books to date, including Personal Fashion (1983), The Swan Prince (1987), Models Manual (1993) and Camera Ready (1997). In addition to Ballet, Edition 7L has published Camera Crazy (2004) and The Big Picture (2014).

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