Artist Architect

Controverso, rivoluzionario, emozionante, sorprendente... È impossibile elencare tutti gli aggettivi che potrebbero descrivere la figura di Michelangelo Merisi detto il Caravaggio. Non basterebbe lo spazio. Eppure, in poco meno di vent'anni anni di carriera artistica, Caravaggio ha lasciato un segno indelebile nella storia dell'arte mondiale. Ha emozionato i suoi contemporanei del XVI secolo, così come ogni suo quadro lascia a bocca aperta ancora oggi tutti noi.

Arthur Fellig’s ability to arrive at a crime scene just as the cops did was so uncanny that he renamed himself “Weegee”, claiming that he functioned as a human Ouija board. Weegee documented better than any other photographer the crime, grit, and complex humanity of midcentury New York City. In Flash, we get a portrait not only of the man (both flawed and deeply talented, with generous appetites for publicity, women, and hot pastrami) but also of the fascinating time and place that he occupied....

Today's high-flying, high-rolling conglomarateurs and corporate raiders are a tame lot compared to their immediate predecessors. The most notorious of these is Robert Vesco, the Kingfish himself, who in 1973 fled the United States accused of looting $250 million from Investors Overseas Services. Now, in this riveting account, noted author Arthur Herzog tells the astounding story of this high school dropout from Detroit, who parlayed cunning, ambition, a brilliant mind, and above all, other people's gullibility and money into a vast financial empire.

Although he is one of the world's most popular authors who continues to thrill and chill readers and listeners of all ages, Edgar Allan Poe's life is as enigmatic as his sudden, unexplained death. In a quest for solutions to the mysteries surrounding the poet's life and work, a group of Poe devotees founded the Poe Shrine in 1922. This body included the world's most prolific Poe collector, a psychiatrist who believed Poe was clairvoyant, and the grandson of Poe's worst enemy.

To get a sense of the kind of prestige that Claude Monet's reputation has within the art world, one need only learn that his Le Bassin Aux Nympheás (1919) - from his series of paintings featuring water lilies - sold for the equivalent of more than $70 million. This is an incredibly staggering price, especially considering that early in his life, Monet had been so poor and debt-ridden that some of his paintings were taken from him by creditors.

When 8-year-old Lou Del Bianco finds out that his Grandpa Luigi was the Chief Carver on Mount Rushmore, his young life is instantly changed. Follow Lou's journey as he and his Uncle Caesar make the painful discovery that Luigi is not even mentioned in the most definitive book on Rushmore. Cheer them on as you hear the historic documents they unearth from the Library of Congress that not only tell Luigi's story but also prove his great importance. Finally, ride the roller-coaster of the 25 year journey to get Luigi the recognition he deserves. Out of Rushmore's Shadow is the dramatic and touching story of Luigi's legacy and the immigrant's struggle.

While the majority of scholarship on early Washington focuses on its political and physical development, in Incidental Architect Gordon S. Brown describes the intellectual and social scene of the late 1700s through the lives of a prominent couple whose cultural aspirations served as both model and mirror for the city’s own.

In this stunning volume, noted art historians Jean-Pierre Isbouts and Christopher Heath Brown discuss the historical, social, and political conditions that shaped Dali's work, identify the impact of Modern as well as Old Master art, and present an unflinching view of the master's personal relationships and motivations.

In the Hide is Gordon's emotionally honest and raw account of a brutal childhood in Glasgow and Mull, and the escape and solace he found – and continues to find – in the natural world around him. An intimate and inspiring account of resilience in the face of hardship, In the Hide marks the arrival of a bold new voice in nature writing.

Jackson Pollock was without a doubt one of the twentieth century’s most controversial painters. He started out painting abstracts in the style of Pablo Picasso but soon branched out, establishing the “drip” method, which entails dripping or flinging paint directly onto the canvas. For this, he was both praised and demonized; still, he persisted on his own chosen path.

A mediados del siglo XIX, la Cataluña española experimentó una profunda transformación cuando fue empujada no en una, sino en dos épocas doradas: la Renaixença y la Revolución Industrial. Fue durante este período explosivo de creatividad, prosperidad floreciente y patriotismo vigorizado que nació un icono inconformista y fascinantemente excéntrico, uno que estaba a punto de asaltar Cataluña con su brillante ojo para el arte no ortodoxo y sus ideas legendarias -o como algunos dirían, notoriamente- descabelladas.

Now celebrated as one of the great painters of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio fled Rome in 1606 to escape retribution for killing a man in a brawl. Three years later he was in Naples, where he painted The Seven Acts of Mercy. A year later he died at the age of thirty-eight under mysterious circumstances. Exploring Caravaggio's singular masterwork, in The Guardian of Mercy Terence Ward offers an incredible narrative journey into the heart of his artistry and his metamorphosis from fugitive to visionary.

In 2012, facing the death of his father and impending fatherhood, Toby Ferris set off on a seemingly quixotic mission to track down and look at - in situ - every painting still in existence by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the most influential and important artist of Northern Renaissance painting. The result of that pursuit is a remarkable journey through major European cities and across continents. As Ferris takes a keen analytical eye to the paintings, each piece brings new revelations about Bruegel’s art, and gives way to meditations on mortality, fatherhood, and life.

The paintings of Johannes Vermeer of Delft are some of the most beautiful, even sublime, in the history of art. Yet like the life of Vermeer himself, they are mysterious and have for centuries defied explanation. Following new leads, and drawing on a mass of historical evidence, some of it freshly uncovered in the archives of Delft and Rotterdam, Andrew Graham-Dixon paints a dramatically new picture of Vermeer, revealing many of the painter’s hitherto unknown friendships as well as his previously undetected allegiance to a radical movement driven underground by persecution.

“Famous People Who’ve Met Me” narrated by the author is an outrageous collection of true stories starring oddball characters, behind the scenes gurus, scoundrels, and brilliant superstars in the music business straight out of Minnesota. The unique memoir does more than just recount tales; it’s a true in-depth character study as told through the eyes of musician, agent, concert promoter, and manager Owen Husney.

Mary fought for a place as a professional artist without having to live as a tragic heroine. She married George Reid, Canadian muralist, and while their relationship was more equal than most, this was still the Edwardian age. How do you find time to paint when you need to get to the market to buy a chicken for dinner?

Andy Warhol claimed that he loved being outside a party—so that he could get in. But more often than not, the party was at his own studio, The Factory, where celebrities—from Edie Sedgwick and Allen Ginsberg to the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground—gathered in an ongoing bash.

Art dealer Stan Lauryssens made millions in modern art, but he sold only one name: Salvador Dalí. The surrealist painter's work was a hot commodity for the newly rich, investors, and businessmen looking to launder their black-market cash. Lauryssens didn't mind looking the other way; he just hoped the buyers would look the other way as well.

I've been watching my MC brothers drop like flies. One-by-one they've been finding their soulmates while I twiddle my thumbs waiting for the universe to take mercy on me. I thought I was destined to spend my life alone until the sassy little schoolteacher blasts into my life and gives me a run for my money. One look at her luscious curves and I know my single days are coming to an end. It won't be easy to convince Oakley Webb to take a wild ride with me, but I'll do whatever it takes to make her mine. Forever.

Nel 1940, Stefan Zweig lascia l'Europa in guerra per gli Stati Uniti e poi il Brasile. Qui, nel 1941, un anno prima di uccidersi, scrive "Il mondo di ieri", un'elegia dell’Europa che è scomparsa con la Prima guerra mondiale - il composito Impero asburgico, il fermento culturale di Vienna, Berlino e Parigi - e di quella cosmopolita e in pace che si pensava in costruzione negli anni '20 ma disintegrata dal fascismo e il nazismo.