Book of the Day Posted Dec 08, 2019

Erin's Holiday Gift Picks!

Bauhaus Ballet." Watch the dancers as they leap, spin and kick their way through this beautiful pop–up book. Inspired by the eccentric and innovative Bauhaus Triadic Ballet, this gorgeous book explores colours, shapes, patterns and movements in a visually stunning and enthralling way. With interactive elements let the reader meet the characters, make them move, and bring their performance to life. With bold artwork rendered in Lesley Barnes' striking style and playful text by Gabby Dawnay, this special pop–up book is a beautiful, unique gift book that will delight children and adults alike. For fans of Bauhaus Ballet by German Modernist painter Oskar Schlemmer and perfect for children!" Published by Lund Humphries. $ 24.99
 
 
 
World Receivers Georgiana Houghton, Hilma Af Klint, Emma Kunz. "Wassily Kandinsky is often recognized as the first artist to paint shapes and colors without regard to visual references in the world. However, abstract paintings were being produced even before Kandinsky’s experiments with the form. In the middle of the nineteenth century, in England, Sweden, and Switzerland, respectively, Georgiana Houghton, Hilma af Klint, and Emma Kunz each developed their own abstract pictorial language. Though working completely independently from one another, these three artists shared a desire to make visible the laws of nature, the intellect, and the supernatural. Working within the context of the spiritual movements of their times—Houghton in Spiritism, af Klint in theosophy, and Kunz in naturopathy—they each produced abstract paintings that bore witness to a “mediumistic” praxis. Presenting their works side by side for the first time, World Receivers explores a fascinating and understudied episode of modernism, offering a long-overdue tribute to three expressive women artists.' Published by Hirmer. $49.95.
 
 
 
Le Corbuffet: Edible Art & Design Classics. "Home-cooking meets highbrow art in this one-of-a-kind cookbook that uses food to create edible interpretations of modern and contemporary sculptures, paintings, architecture, and design. It started as a series of dinner parties that Esther Choi--artist, architectural historian, and self-taught cook--hosted for friends after she stumbled across an elaborate menu crafted for Walter Gropius in 1937. Combining a curiosity about art and design with a deeply felt love of cooking, Choi has assembled a playful collection of recipes that are sure to spark conversation over the dinner table. Featuring Choi's own spectacular photography, these sixty recipes riff off famous artists or architects and the works they are known for. Try Quiche Haring with the Frida Kale-o Salad, or the Robert Rauschenburger followed by Flan Flavin. This cookbook is strikingly beautiful and provocative as it blurs the boundaries between art and everyday life and celebrates food in an engaging and imaginative way." Published by Prestel. $40.00.
 
 
 
Dennis Stock: California Trip. " In 1968, Magnum photographer Dennis Stock took a 5-week road trip along the California highways, documenting the height of the counterculture hippie scene. These black and white photos were compiled to create California Trip, originally published in 1970, and became an emblem of the free love movement that continued to inspire throughout the decades. In print for the first time since its 1970 publication, California Trip is a faithful reproduction of Stock’s timeless work." Published by  Anthology Editions. $35.00
 
Autonomic Tarot. "Autonomic Tarot is the product of a collaboration between writer, David Keenan and artist, Sophy Hollington. The pair have combined forces to create a 30 card linocut tarot deck, and instruction booklet, that retains an umbilical to the card’s archaic roots, yet future-visions it as a glam-punk portal deep into the Now. The deck accompanies (and was born from) Keenan’s experimental novella To Run Wild In It published by ROUGH TRADE BOOKS (Edition No. 7)." Published by Rough Trade Books. $31.00 CURRENTLY OUT STOCK
 
 
 
Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy, The Arts and the American West. ”When the occult came to the American West: individualism and magic in the art of California, from Agnes Pelton to Jess. “It is in America that the transformation will take place, and has already silently commenced.” With these words, written in The Secret Doctrine in 1888, occultist philosopher Helena Blavatsky drew a direct connection between the Theosophical Society and the dynamic energy of 19th-century Americanism. Blavatsky and her successors identified the American West as the perfect site for a rebirth and re-enchantment of humanity, drawing those seeking spiritual fulfilment outside of organized religion to the dramatic landscapes of California, Arizona, Utah  and New Mexico—places which have long beckoned searchers of all kinds. The syncretic nature of Theosophy allowed for and even encouraged individualism in belief, making Theosophy a good fit for the notions of freedom and personal agency that characterized the American West in the popular imaginary. Through a series of color plates, contextual essays, interviews and interpretations of individual works by artists such as the Dynaton group (Wolfgang Paalen, Gordon Onslow Ford, Lee Mullican), Oskar Fischinger, Emil Bisttram, Lawren Harris, Raymond Jonson, Agnes Pelton, Wolfgang Paalen, Beatrice Wood, Dane Rudhyar and Jess, Enchanted Modernities explores the role of Theosophical thought in redefining the relationship between enchantment and modernism, and fostering lively cultural networks in a region that that has long captured the world’s imagination." Published by Fulgur Press. $55.00
 
 
 

Ken Price: Drawings. " Though Los Angeles artist Ken Price (1935–2012) is best known as a sculptor in ceramic, drawing was always a central component of his art: “For me drawing is really flexible,” he once stated, “and I use it in different ways. It’s my way of developing ideas.” Ken Price: Drawings brings out this facet of Price’s work fully for the first time. Featuring 78 of Price’s works on paper―all reproduced for the first time, many at actual size―this book is the most comprehensive ever published on the subject. Technical innovations like five-color printing capture Price’s drawings in all their wayward vitality. From preparatory works, like Price’s early 1960s drawings exploring forms and colors for his abstract sculptures, to his 2000s landscapes featuring wild scenes of erupting volcanoes, cyclonic skies and turbulent seas, Ken Price: Drawings offers a long-overdue survey of Price’s work on paper." Published by Matthew Marks. $60.00