On April 15th, 1874, in the Parisian studio of photographer Nadar, was the opening of the first group exhibition that was uninhibited by government interference and the dictates of an official selection committee. This date has gone down in the annals of art history because it marks the birth of the Impressionism. Impressionistic paintings now rank among the most popular works of art and are the pride of any museum or collection worldwide. However, in 1874 the public response to the exhibition, and to Impressionist painting, was not adoration but rather shock and even outrage. The Impressionists and the succeeding Neo-Impressionists were avant-gardist and revolutionary, paving the way for modern art. Present-day viewers, hardly realizing this revolutionary potential, can be content to enjoy the aesthetic of light and color.

Ingrid Bergman was more than the luminous image of healthy sensuality that intoxicated audiences worldwide during and immediately after World War II in movies like Casablanca, Gaslight, Spellbound and Notorious. In later life she found continued film success with Anastasia, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Indiscreet, and Autumn Sonata. She was also a ferociously ambitious actress who played Strindberg, O’Neill, Cocteau, and Maugham on the stage to great acclaim, as well as a woman who found the most lasting sensual experience to be found in the response of an audience rather than any individual husband or lover.

The cradle of civilisations and the meeting point of East and West, Israel - the Promised Land - has produced the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, through the writings of their leaders, which have become recognised as Holy Scripture. The Holy Land has become the common inheritance of humanity, where universal contradictions of human nature are expressed: the close relationship between man and God, and also the fratricidal struggles between the three Peoples of the Book. Here, the traveller is often a pilgrim in search of a spiritual ideal. In his pictures, Philippe Roy invites us to travel to the striking sites of the Old and New Testaments, the biblical landscapes which have been sources of inspiration for two millennia. He also enables us to discover a country where the inhabitants are continually fighting against the desert through the development of modern agriculture.

James Dean died at the age of 24, yet half a century later his mystique is unfaded. Had luck favored him that fatal evening, he might still be with us, an actor in the same generation as Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, and Sean Connery. His phenomenally charismatic performances in such classics as Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden have immortalized him as a cinematic great. Dean also had serious ambitions of becoming a writer-director, and it is haunting to imagine what he might have done if his life had not been cut short. He remains such icon of gifted youth: even 50 years after his death, we still look at James Dean in full suspense, wondering how he’s going to turn out.

 

The Japanese garden, like all gardens, is more than mere nature; it is nature crafted by man. It needs the hands of the designer to give it meaning. The Japanese garden belongs to the realm of architecture; at its best, it is nature as art. The phases of its history document the constant redefinition of man's position within and towards nature. Its changing forms respond both to socio-economic developments and to religious and philosophical trends, and thereby reflect the spiritual climate in which its architecture was conceived.

"I have been searching for time past all my life." -Jeanloup Sieff

Josep Maria Jujol (1879-1949) developed his unusual architectural style through many years of close, creative collaboration with Antoni Gaudi. Jujol’s work is characterized by a high degree of sensibility to the forms of nature, an emphatically anti-geometric aesthetic, attention to workmanship and detail, as well as the imaginative use of old and previously utilized material. It is an eloquent expression of his affection for the Catalonian landscape, his modesty, and deep religious faith.

TASCHEN's Modernism Rediscovered (2000) brought to light for the first time forgotten architectural masterpieces, drawn from photographer Julius Shulman's personal archives. Paying tribute to residential and commercial buildings that had slipped from public view, Shulman`s stunning photographs uncovered a rarely seen side of California Modernism. This extensive, three-volume follow-up to that remarkable volume brings over 400 more architectural gems into the spotlight. Not just restricted to the West Coast this time, the images were taken all across the United States as well as in Mexico, Israel, and Hong Kong.

From birth, Katharine Hepburn seemed destined to become a symbol of the modern woman on stage, on screen, and in the world. Fiercely competitive, private, and independent, Hepburn was one part Olympic athlete Babe Didrikson, one part Amelia Earhart, and two parts Greta Garbo. Although often paired with the greatest actors in Hollywood—Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen); Cary Grant (Bringing Up Baby), James Stewart (The Philadelphia Story), and Spencer Tracy (Adam's Rib, Woman of the Year)—Hepburn was able to carry her own films like Summertime, Little Women, and Sylvia Scarlett over a stage and screen career that spanned eight decades. Her home was never in Hollywood (where she won four Oscars) or New York but in Connecticut, where she died lamenting "I could have accomplished three times as much. I haven't realized my full potential."

The secrets of the unconscious and the labyrinths of the mind

The Vienna of the Belle Epoque - of Sigmund Freud, Otto Wagner, Mahler and Schönberg - has prompted the admiration of the whole world for the quality and diversity of its cultural and artistic life. And Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was without doubt its defining and most fascinating painter.

In the mid-60s, artists in the USA and Europe began planning works for sites outside the narrow boundaries of galleries and museums. It began with ephemeral enhancements or traces left in deserted landscapes, in the deserts of America, or in the moors of Scotland. Following this were spectacular earthen sculptures of gigantic proportions, some of which are still in the process of completion today. One distinguishing feature of Land Art is its critical preoccupation with the tradition of sculpture. Sculpture can now be an earthwork excavation, a field of metal poles, a buried hut, a trace in the grass, or even a book. Another of the movement's special characteristics is its emphasis on site-specific, outdoor works intended to lastingly alter our perception of places, and to set new parameters in art production and reception.

"LEGO. Секретная инструкция". Аллан Бедфорд. Аллан Бедфорд – бизнес-аналитик и "пожизненный" поклонник LEGO. Бедфорд активно участвует в Интернет-сообществе LEGO. Строит самые амбициозные модели. Гордость его коллекции - копия телебашни CN Tower (с 1976 по 2007 год - само

In the year 2000, world-renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting set out on a personal journey to photograph the evolution of life on earth. He made pilgrimages to true time capsules like a remote lagoon in Western Australia, spent time in research collections photographing forms of microscopic life, and even found ways to create visual parallels between the growth of organs in the human body and the patterns seen on the surface of the earth.

Under the burning Tuscan sun roll marvelous hills, vineyards, olive groves-all postcard-perfect landscapes nestling medieval towns, rural villas, and contadino farmhouses, endless niches of dreamy dwellings exuding all the charm for which the region is revered. We`ve tracked down the best examples of such havens-from the typical to the surprising-to paint a warm-hued picture of the look and feel of Tuscan living. Inspiration abounds from these pages of achingly beautiful homes; who knows-maybe you can bring the magic of Tuscany to your corner of the world.

London calling 

 

Such a big, hectic, and crazy city as London isn`t easy to navigate unaided, which is why anyone planning a trip there should grab this invaluable guide. A wide selection of hotels, from classic to designer, gives a perfect variety to choose from, whether it`s the Dorchester in Mayfair, the Soho Hotel, a Notting Hill's Lennox Hotel or Eleven Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea. Antique hunters and style mavens alike will find their personal happiness in our list of must-see boutiques, restaurants, bars, and cafes; Angelika Taschen tells you where to procure a classic English tailor-made suit and where to enjoy tea and scones while you`re wearing it. From Dickensian charm to modern cool, London has it all - and this guide will help you find it.

English food is much more varied than fish ‘n’ chips (though we can tell you where to get the best London has to offer). Indeed, England’s capital city is home to a dizzying array of culinary options and of course Angelika Taschen has selected the finest London eateries where you’ll delight in a meal, tea, or simply hobnobbing with the jet-set.

London is huge, sprawling, and chaotic, so before you set out on a shopping spree we recommend you arm yourself with this handy guide to make sure you never get lost and don’t miss out on anything—from the oldest traditional establishments to the most avant-garde boutiques. And because we want you and your purchases to stay nice and dry, we’ve kindly included the address of a legendary umbrella maker!

"Forget everything you think you know about this person," Elia Kazan cautioned, in his autobiography. The icon we cherish under the name Marilyn Monroe was in truth the inspired creation of a smart, voluptuous, star struck and self-motivated fantasist named Norma Jean Mortenson. A pure product of Hollywood, she abides across time as brightly as two other self-inventors, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant. Few things make an afterlife blaze more mythically than a sexual reputation—ask Cleopatra. Norma Jean paid a huge price to become Marilyn, yet here she is—still setting the bar high for all other would-be goddesses.

Marlene Dietrich once said, "I am not a myth." But by referencing the term, Dietrich only reinforces the fact more emphatically. For, using almost any common dictionary definition of that word, Dietrich is a myth. Her image was fashioned by director Josef von Sternberg in films like The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, and The Scarlet Empress, after which she maintained a Hollywood career that included Destry Rides Again, Rancho Notorious, and an accomplished performance in Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution. She has been an object of worship to millions throughout the decades, up to and including this jaded, post-modern 21st century. She is the "intellectual's pin up girl," as author Herman G. Weinberg called her, of filmmakers and film critics alike. She is the "Monstre Sacre" as one of her recent biographers has labeled her. She is her own "Superior Product," (her daughter's words) manufactured and refined in her fertile brain. In other words, Marlene Dietrich is an icon for all ages.

Had he not been an actor, Marlon Brando once wrote, he would have become a criminal—specifically, a con artist. Take him at his word. Too many complain that Brando, the greatest actor of his generation, wasted his life in futile rebellions and left far too few masterworks in his wake, especially measured against his potential; but considering his sincere confession of criminal potential, we can be grateful for the little we do have. The actor who starred so unforgettably in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One, On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Last Tango in Paris certainly owes no apologies to posterity.