Christopher Masters Bücher

A window provides access to two of life’s essentials, light and air, but it is more than just a means to an end. Windows also have symbolic, expressive and architectural qualities that have for centuries inspired some of the world’s greatest artists. In this engaging new study, Christopher Masters celebrates the multiple roles of the window in art through five key themes, from the window as a status symbol to its use as a provider of physical and spiritual illumination; from its employment as a literal window on the world outside the confines of a room to its function as a mirror, reflecting the emotions of the artist or the individuals depicted; and finally to the immense architectural variety of windows that animate interior and exterior scenes throughout Western painting. With superb reproductions of 90 works by major artists from Giotto to Banksy, and spirited analysis of the paintings’ meanings, this is a remarkable exploration of an important but hitherto neglected subject in art history.

This new study explores the development of the window, showing how it both transformed human experience by increasing access to light and air and changed our perception of architectural space Christopher Masters celebrates the multiple roles of the window in architecture by providing engaging commentaries on over 80 exceptional buildings of all types, both ancient and modern. The unique selection ranges from the Pantheon in Rome, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto to Walter Gropius's Bauhaus in Dessau, Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in New York, Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Dorte Mandrup's Icefjord Centre in Greenland. Featuring more than 100 superb photographs, this is an intriguing and accessible survey of a formerly neglected subject in architectural history.

Salvador Dali (1904-89) is one of the most controversial and paradoxical artists of the twentieth century. A painter of considerable virtuosity, he used a traditional illusionistic style to create disturbing images filled with references to violence, death, cannibalism and bizarre sexual practices, from the extraordinary fluid watches in The Persistence of Memory to the gruesome monster in Soft Construction with Boiled Beans and the fetishistic lobster in the famous Lobster Telephone.

The Renaissance throughout Europe produced some of the West's most spectacular art, yet this most celebrated of periods is also one of the least understood, often regarded simply as a 'rebirth' of ancient Roman culture. While the art of the Renaissance frequently deals with Classical and Christian themes, it does not concern itself soley with tales of the gods or biblical stories. This new study of the Renaissance explores how fifteenth- and sixteenth-century paintings and sculptures absorbed influences from a wide range of cultures - not only Classical and medieval Europe, but also Byzantium and the Islamic world. With beautiful images by the great masters of the age, and a gazetteer section detailing important public art collections worldwide, Renaissance will appeal to the armchair reader, museum visitor, student of art and anyone interested in one of the greatest contributions to world culture.