Alchemy & Mysticism (Hermetic Museum)

“Girls, Gags & Giggles,” ran publisher Robert Harrison’s recipe for dishing up pin-up to the American male. Men loved his tasty dishes, a mixture of strippers and starlets dressed in outfits so fetishistic no one noticed they were never nude. While other magazines delivered the girl next door, Harrison’s publications banked on bad girls in satin and leather, fishnet stockings, and six-inch heels p...

The genius and the angst of an Expressionist master Vincent van Gogh's story is one of the most ironic in art history. Today, he is celebrated the world over as one of the most important painters of all time, recognized with sell-out shows, feted museums, and record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction. Yet as he was painting the canvases that would subsequently become these sel...

Take a journey through the makers and shapers of celluloid history. From horror to romance, noir to slapstick, adventure to tragedy, Western to new wave, this selection gathers the greats of 20th-century cinema into one indispensable guide to movie gold. The collection is arranged chronologically and in an extra-handy format. Film entries include a synopsis, cast/crew listings, technical inform...

Making stops in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, this edition rounds up some of today's most exceptional and inspiring interiors across six continents. From rustic minimalism to urbane eclecticism, the selection celebrates a global spectrum of styles, united by authenticity, a love of detail, and a zest for individual expression that will never go out of fashion. ...

We owe a great debt to Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery for his Atlas of Anatomy, which was not only a massive event in medical history, but also remains one of the most comprehensive and beautifully illustrated anatomical treatises ever published. Bourgery began work on his magnificent atlas in 1830 in cooperation with illustrator Nicolas Henri Jacob, a student of the French painter Jacques Louis D...

Founded in 1928 as a "living diary" by the great Milanese architect and designer Gio Ponti, domus has been hailed as the world's most influential architecture and design journal. With style and rigor, it has reported on the major themes and stylistic movements in industrial, interior, product, and structural design. This fresh reprint of domus' 1950s coverage brings together the most imp...

Clothes define people. A person's attire, whether it's a sari, kimono, or business suit, is an essential code to his or her culture, class, personality, even faith. The Kyoto Costume Institute recognizes the importance of understanding clothes from sociological, historical, and artistic perspectives. With one of the world's most extensive clothing collections, the KCI has amassed a ...

Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Raci net's Le Costume historique was the most wideranging and incisive stud) ot clothing ever attempted Cohering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through to the end of the 19th century, the six-volume work remains completely unique in its scope and detail. TASCH EN's reprint or the color plates pre...

It was a dappled and daubed harbor scene that gave Impressionism its name. When Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet was exhibited in April 1874, critics seized upon the work’s title and its loose stylistic rendering of light and motion upon water to deride this new, impressionistic tendency in art. As with many seminal art movements, the critics got their comeuppance. Today, Impressionism is close...

Spectacular, spectacular! The history and legacy of the circus In its heyday, the American circus was the largest showbiz industry the world had ever seen. The spectacle of death-defying daredevils, strapping superheroes, and scantily clad starlets, fearless animal trainers, and startling "freaks" gripped the American imagination, outshining theater, vaudeville, comedy, and minstrel shows. ...