Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano began his career with exceptional design work on fan-favorite anime such as Gatchaman/G-Force and Time Bokan and popular graphic novels Sandman: The Dream Hunters and Wolverine & Elektra: The Redeemer, but it wasn't until he turned his attention to the medium of printmaking that his artistic genius began to flower. Drawing from influences as diverse as Art Nouveau and Art Deco traditions, American comics, Japanese ukiyo-e, and traditional fantasy illustration, Amano's prints capture a breathtaking world -- sometimes whimsical, sometimes luxurious, and sometimes terrifying.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was the most typical and the most individual Impressionist painter. His long life he dedicated to a pictorial exploration of the sensations which reality, and in particular landscape, offer the human eye. But while Monet the painter was faithful and persevering in the pursuit of his motifs, his personal life followed a more restless course. Parisian by birth, he discovered plein-air painting as a youth in the provinces, where one of his homes, Argenteuil, has come to represent the artistic flowering and official establishment of Impressionism as a movement, with Monet as its creative leader. In his endeavor to capture the ever-changing face of reality, Monet went beyond Impressionism and thereby beyond the confines of self-contained panel painting: in Giverny he painted the Poplars, Grain Stacks and Rouen Cathedral series in which he addressed one motif in constantly new variations. Here, too, Monet laid out the famous garden with its water-lily pond which he was to paint on huge canv

A landmark in the history of opera, Die Walkiire is the most popular and most frequently performed opera among those that make up the Ring Cycle. It con-tains some of Wagner's best-known and most memorable music and stands alone as a complete work. This present edition reproduces the full orchestral and vocal score in a clear, modern engraving with large, legible notation for easy reading and study. Do not confuse this with a piano rendering; it is the full orchestral score--nothing has been left out. Perfect for study, this score is also indispensable for anyone listening to record sets or broadcasts. In no other manner can the listener keep full awareness of the orchestral richness of this opera.

This is a highly visual, compact-format sourcebook, packed with top international packaging designers’ contemporary work, accompanied by essays on the surrounding issues.

The ubiquitous chair in all its shapes and forms (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition) More than any other piece of furniture, the chair has been subjected to the wildest dreams of the designers. The particular curve of a back-rest, or the twist of a leg, the angle of a seat or the colour of the entire artefact all reflect the stylistic consciousness of each era. From Gerrit Rietveld and Alvar Aalto via Verner Panton to Eva Zeisel; from Art Nouveau to International Style, from Pop Art to Postmodernism, the phenomenon of the chair is so complex that it requires a reference work as comprehensive as this to do it full justice. They are all here: Thonet's bentwood chairs and Hoffmann's sitting-machines, Marcel Breuer's Wassily chair and Ron Arad's avant garde armchairs. The book, a slightly abbreviated version of our classic title 1000 Chairs, devotes one page to each chair, displayed on its own as pure form, with biographical and historical information about the chairs and their designers. A special treat

From its ancient status as the jewel of an empire to itsmodern incarnation as a troubled, yet culturally vibrant Europeancapital, Rome has compelled the imagination of artists for over twothousand years. Now, in "The History of Rome in Painting", that

Every year, creative design studios around the world design acalendar as a gift for clients and friends. Traditionally, oursociety use to hang calendars annually on the walls of our housesand even now have been replaced by digital calendars on our mobilephones and computers, some still harbor the ancestral spiritraising its profit to a mere object of design. 365 Days of Design is a collection of the best ideas and. designcalendar solutions by some of the best designers, illustrators andartists worldwide. We selected the most creative designs, originaland visually interesting, making this title an amazing book ofinspiration for designers and creatives of all kinds..

Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail--the Abduction from the Seraglio-- was one of Mozart's first operatic hits, and received performances all over Europe, even if the emperor did think it contained too many notes. Too many tenors is closer to the mark (the male roles include two tenors, one bass, and one character who only speaks), but this singspiel is a bright and bubbly work, endearing in its comic scenes and impressive in its serious moments. This score is one of Dover's reprints of other publishers. That means that it's not the most up-to-date edition available, that the words appear in German only, and that it's not as suitable for singers to use as a plain piano- vocal score would be. But this is a reasonably priced version that gives the student or enthusiast the opportunity to check out just how Mozart achieved that great "Turkish" instrumental color.

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.

Whether Gould's subject is Boulez, Stokowski, Streisand, orhis own highly individual thoughts on performance and creation ofmusic, the reader will be caught up in his intensity, intelligence,passion and devotion.

Pattern Magic is the cult pattern-cutting book from Japan. Taking inspiration from nature, from geometric shapes and from the street, this book harnesses the sheer joy of making and sculpting clothes. The book takes a creative approach to pattern cutting, with step-by-step projects for fashion designers and dressmakers to enjoy. All the basic information you need to start pattern cutting is included, from the basic block to measurements and scaling. Each project is beautifully illustrated with clear diagrams and photographs showing the stages of construction, the toiles and the finished garments. These simple illustrations and detailed instructions make it easy to create stunning, sculptural clothes with a couture look.

Pattern Magic Stretch Fabrics is the third in the series ofcult Japanese pattern making books, now translated into English.The new volume looks at working with stretch and jersey fabric.Material that stretches lengthways or sideways can be magical initself. This book takes the special qualities of jersey and stretchfabrics and uses them to create stunning, sculptural designs. Intwo parts, the book shows how to work with stretch fabrics and howto cut patterns that exploit their properties with truly originalresults. The book is accompanied by a basic paper patternblock.

Clara Wieck's sincerest wish was that her future husband, Robert Schumann, turn his extraordinary genius toward the larger and more challenging task of composing orchestral music. Confiding in her diary in 1839, just one year before her marriage, she explained that "it would be best if he composed for orchestra; his imagination cannot find sufficient scope in the piano " In the years that followed their marriage Robert continued to devote much of his attention to piano music, but he also found time to comply with his beloved Clara's wish by cre-ating a number of musical pieces composed specifically for piano and orchestra. Although Schumann's genius is most in evidence in his masterful solo piano compositions and superb lieder, his lively and provocative imagination manifests itself with equal aplomb in the works composed for piano and orchestra. The same compelling romantic and lyrical qualities that captivate lovers of Schumann's piano music are evident in these compositions. Three of his finest are pr

Situated in the heart of Paris, the Musee d'Orsay boasts thegreatest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art inthe world, a collection unparalleled in its diversity and quality.Since its spectacular opening in 1986 in a renovated train station,the museum has welcomed more than 50 million visitors to view worksby Bouguereau, Courbet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet,Redon, Whistler, Gauguin and other artists of the mid-19th centuryto the early 20th century. In this deluxe, large-format volume, theMusee d'Orsay's director, Serge Lemoine, and his team of curatorsand specialists examine the museum's holdings and the historysurrounding them, ranging from the primacy of academic paintingthrough the shock of Impressionism to the rise of modern art.Included are many seminal works of the period, including Whistler'sMother, Manet's The Balcony, Cezanne's Apples and Oranges, Monet'sBlue Water Lilies and Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles. With 830full-colour illustrations of masterpieces by some of

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.

In this compelling book, Robert Coles, the celebrated Harvardprofessor and Pulitzer Prize–winning author, turns his attention topopular music legend Bruce Springsteen, and to the powerful impactSpringsteen’s work has had both on the lives of his audience and onthis country’s literary tradition. Coles places Springsteen in thepantheon of American artists—Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams,Dorothea Lange, and Walker Percy, among others—who understood andwere inspired by their “traveling companions in time,” the ordinarypeople of their eras. With wisdom and a unique personal perspective, Coles exploresSpringsteen’s words as contemporary American poetry, and offersfirsthand accounts of how people interact with them: A truckerlistens to “Blinded by the Light” during long, lonely nights andreminisces about his mother; a schoolteacher is astonished when ausually silent student offers a comparison between “Nebraska” andConrad’s Heart of Darkness; a policeman responds to “Am

"New London Style" takes a fresh look into the private dwellingsof the most exciting young creative talents in the city, from themusic, fashion, design and art worlds. This exciting aesthetictakes many forms, but above all it expresses a creative sensibilityagainst the backdrop of the ever-changing environment of one of theworlds most exciting cities. The 28 houses in the book are looselyarranged by location, in the grooviest, on-the-edge neighbourhoodsfrom Whitechapel to Notting Hill, Camberwell to Clerkenwell andreflect the cosmopolitan melting pot that influences the city'sdesign trends. Whether in a mews house, derelict pub, or even achurch, this new wave of lively Londoners is injecting funkinessand bright ideas into a range of highly individualistic andinspirational interiors.

An illustrated, inside look at the rock group Nirvana offers acandid look the band's members, chronicling their rapid rise in themusic world and revealing the true story of the drug-abuse rumorssurrounding them.

An in-depth study of Koons's entire oeuvre to date. Unlimited popular edition. From kinky to kitsch to conceptual, Jeff Koons s art is anything but conformist. Since he stirred up the art world establishment in the 1980s with his unapologetic basketball sculptures and stainless steel toy blow-ups, Koons has been known as somewhat of a bad boy a reputation he confirmed in the early 90s via works depicting him having sex with then-wife Cicciolina, the Italian porn star-cum-politician. Following this torrid phase, he changed gears to produce the gargantuan Puppy, the 43-foot tall floral terrier that now resides at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Koons s exploitation of the banal, in the aggrandizement and/or embodiment of kitsch and pop imagery, has become his trademark; detractors may delight in their naysaying, but Koons s work commands millions at auction and his position at the forefront of contemporary art is indisputable. This exhaustive monograph begins with a biographical essay by In

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

This solo piano edition of Tchaikovsky's masterful Christmas ballet offers pianists a chance to enjoy favorites such as "The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" and "The Waltz of the Flowers." Entirely faithful to Tchaikovsky's brilliant orchestral score, this delightful arrangement by Sergey Taneyev and the com- poser himself renders the complete ballet in a style both idiomatic to the piano and specially designed to be relatively easy to play. Here are all the movements of the beloved Suite, along with the rest of this hol-iday favorite, in which a brave and loyal little girl's toy is transformed into aprince who accompanies her into a magical world. Suitable for performers,rehearsal pianists, and all admirers of Tchaikovsky's art, this inexpensive edi-tion of a perennial favorite will enchant players and listeners alike. Dover (2005) unabridged republication of the edition published byP. Jurgenson, Moscow, 1892. viii+168pp. 9×12. Paperbound.