"Girl before a Mirror" (1932), one of severalstandouts in MoMA's vast collection of Pablo Picasso's work, takesthe traditional artistic theme of a woman before her mirror andreinvents it in radically modern terms. The girl's profile andblonde hair identify her as Marie-Thérèse Walter, the artist'slover, muse and a profoundly transformative presence in both hislife and art, but the painting is far from a conventional portrait.Its dazzling jewel-like colors, boldly contoured shapes and surfacepatterning transform the girl and her shadowy reflection into adeeply mysterious image that is both captivating and strange. Inher essay, MoMA's Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Curator of Paintingand Sculpture, Anne Umland, explores this work in depth anddescribes the circumstances of its creation: the artist's privatelife, his practice as a sculptor, his rivalry with other artistsboth living and dead and his concern, at the age of 51, about hiscontemporary relevance and artistic legacy.

Few music lovers realize that the arrangement of notes ontoday’s pianos was once regarded as a crime against God and nature,or that such legendary thinkers as Pythagoras, Plato, da Vinci,Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton and Rousseau played a role inthe controversy. Indeed, from the time of the Ancient Greeksthrough the eras of Renaissance scientists and Enlightenmentphilosophers, the relationship between the notes of the musicalscale was seen as a key to the very nature of the universe. In this engaging and accessible account, Stuart Isacoff leads usthrough the battles over that scale, placing them in the context ofquarrels in the worlds of art, philosophy, religion, politics andscience. The contentious adoption of the modern tuning system knownas equal temperament called into question beliefs that hadlasted nearly two millenia–and also made possible the music ofBeethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, and all who followed. Filledwith original insights, fascinating anecdotes, and portraits ofsome of th

Unique and comprehensive, this collection features a tremendous variety of slow movements for keyboard players. Highlights include selections from the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart, Chopin preludes, and classics such as the opening movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, Bach's Sinfonia in F Minor, and Debussy's Claire de Lune.

GET READY TO ROCK! In ten easy lessons, PLAY GREAT ROCK GUITAR will take you fromcloseted air guitarist to real-life rocker. Each lesson is linkedto audio files on the included CD, so you can hear exactly whatyou’re learning. Play along with the CD to get just what thosechords, riffs, and melodies are supposed to sound like. Soon you’llbe playing your favorite songs along with your favorite bands—or inyour own rock band! Including the basics of harmony and melody, riffs and solos, andthe fundamentals of blues, rock ‘n roll, classic rock, heavy metal,rhythm guitar, and alternative, PLAY GREAT ROCK GUITAR is foranyone who’s ever dreamed of playing popular music’s most supremelycool instrument—or who’s caught the “Guitar Hero” bug. With thehelpful CD, clear illustrations, and examples from the rock godsyou worship, PLAY GREAT ROCK GUITAR creates the world’s next mastershredder—you!

An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and afficionados,this volume contains act-by-act de*ions of operatic worksranging from the early seventeenth century masterworks ofMonteverdi and Purcell to the modern classics of Menotti andBritten. Written in a lively anecdotal style, entries includecharacter de*ions, historical background, and much more.

This unique anthology samples the vast repertoire available for the beginning and intermediate guitarist. A number of these pieces have never appeared in a modern edition, while others have found their place among the world's best-loved compositions. Many periods and musical styles are reflected-from guitar tran*ions of the earliest Italian lute tablatures to an arrangement of the American favorite "Dixie's Land." Here also are such staples of classical guitar as selected Studies of the great Fernando Sor, as well as period and modern arrangements of popular themes from such beloved classics as Bach's "Minuet in G,"Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," the theme from Brahms's Symphony No. 1, a selection from Rossini's opera "William Tell," and the famous "Goin' Home" theme from Dvorak's "New World" Symphony. Edited by concert guitarist and music scholar David Nadal, who has newly transcribed many of the pieces for solo guitar, this practical, sturdily bound, inexpensive treasury will be welcomed by students, afic

Asian Resorts is conceived to be the most comprehensivecollection on Asian resorts. Written and shot by the region'sbest known Asian architecture specialist, TanHock Beng, who has already put together five books on the designand aesthetics of tropical architecture, Asian Resorts promises toshow its readers the biggest variety of Asian resorts that no otherbook has ever shown. With its beautifully' shot images and relevantinformation, this book will certainly serve and entertain youbeyond just the coffee table. In fact, it is a must-have for everyarchitectural office and every home.

Preserved by Arabic mathematicians and canonized by Christianscholars, Aristotle’s works have shaped Western thought, science,and religion for nearly two thousand years. Richard McKeon’s TheBasic Works of Aristotle –constituted out of the definitiveOxford translation and in print as a Random House hardcover forsixty years–has long been considered the best available one-volumeAristotle. Appearing in paperback at long last, this editionincludes selections from the Organon, On the Heavens, The ShortPhysical Treatises, Rhetoric, among others, and On the Soul, OnGeneration and Corruption, Physics, Metaphysics, NicomacheanEthics, Politics, and Poetics in their entirety.

He was the founding father of modern art, the grand master who pointed painting forward on its way from Impressionism to the 20th century: Paul Cezanne (1839-1906). In Paris, but above all in Provence, he quested tirelessly for "a harmony parallel to nature" - discovering it in still lifes of apples, in bathers, or in the renowned landscapes of his beloved Montagne Sainte-Victoire. This book discusses this extraordinary artist's major works and his theories of painting and colour.

In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocativeguide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's mostwidely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise ofthe classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to theheyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrechtcompellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached itsend point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. Itis, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form,analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini,Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is thestory of how stars were made and broken by the record business; howa war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to createa record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars,public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musicalbackdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrineto classical recording: the author's critical selectio

Life is life, and art is art. ""It is my wish to come very close, strikinglyclose, to the times in which we live, without submitting toartistic dogma...I need the connection to the world of senses, thecourage to portray ugliness, life as it comes."" - Otto Dix In the 1920s, Otto Dix was the artist ofNeue Sachlichkeit, the New Objectivity, par excellence. Painting ina very realistic, almost photographic style, he chose as subjectsthe poverty, violence, death, and war that he experienced as asoldier in World War I. After this terrible experience, he paintedthe famous triptych "The War." Dix staged the world as a play, a grotesquefarce. But the form he chose to do so was based on the classicalcanon of beauty. Dix lived his life and served art, for he adheredto the age-old rule that the American painter Ad Reinhardt put in anutshell: "Life is life, and art is art."

These free-wheeling, often exhilarating dialogues—which grewout of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks—are an exchange betweentwo of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture: DanielBarenboim, internationally renowned conductor and pianist, andEdward W. Said, eminent literary critic and impassioned commentatoron the Middle East. Barenboim is an Argentinian-Israeli and Said aPalestinian-American; they are also close friends. As they range across music, literature, and society, they openup many fields of inquiry: the importance of a sense of place;music as a defiance of silence; the legacies of artists from Mozartand Beethoven to Dickens and Adorno; Wagner’s anti-Semitism; andthe need for “artistic solutions” to the predicament of the MiddleEast—something they both witnessed when they brought young Arab andIsraeli musicians together. Erudite, intimate, thoughtful andspontaneous, Parallels and Paradoxes is a virtuosiccollaboration.

The old certainties of the Cold War have been swept away by the new tide of detente that has washed over the superpowers. But even if international superpower relations have changed, human nature has not altered very much. The new powder keg is the Middle East where this adventure story is set. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Avant-garde graphics from around the globe Covering a vast range of cutting-edge graphic design, with politically charged anti-commercial work placed side by side with Nike’s latest ads, this book presents a sweeping look at today’s most progressive graphic trends-from signage and packaging to branding and web-design. 52 designers and firms listed alphabetically Entries include: - examples of recent work - biographical and contact information - the answer to the question "What is your vision for the future of graphic design?"

Tote bags are becoming more and more popular because they are reusable and eco-friendly. This affordable and stylish alternative to the ubiquitous plastic bag is now also a fashion statement. The use of tote bags has spread from the eco-savvy shopper to the style-conscious consumer. With this shift, totes have moved from being a purely utilitarian item to a medium for self-expression. The printed design on the tote bag sends a message about the owner's personality. The graphics, imagery and messages displayed on tote bags are becoming increasingly sophisticated, subtle and imaginative. This book showcases some of the most striking, inventive and subversive of current examples of the tote. The featured totes come from over 120 illustrators, graphic designers and design studios around the world, from the Netherlands to Nigeria. Designs include floral prints, typography, illustrations and characters.