Get the Summary of Hettie Judah's Lapidarium in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Lapidarium" by Hettie Judah explores the multifaceted relationship between humans and stones, delving into historical, cultural, and scientific aspects. The book examines how precious stones and marble have symbolized wealth, power, and divine authority throughout history, with figures like Catherine the Great and Queen Elizabeth I using jewels to reflect their nations' affluence. It discusses the role of geology in empire-building through resource extraction and the symbolic meanings of stone structures, such as London's use of Portland limestone and the impermanence of stone ruins...
Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, this book is a beautifully designed collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared history The earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone that would prolong human life. Michelangelo climbed mountains in Tuscany searching for the sugar-white marble that would yield his sculptures. Catherine the Great wore the wealth of Russia stitched in gemstones onto the front of her bodices. Through the realms of art, myth, geology, philosophy and power, the story of humanity can be told through the minerals and materials that have allowed us to evolve and create. From the Taiwanese national treasure known as the Meat-Shaped Stone to Malta’s prehistoric “fat lady” temples carved in globigerina limestone to the amethyst crystals still believed to have healing powers, Lapidarium is a jewel box of sixty far-flung stones and the stories that accompany them. Together, they explore how human culture has formed stone, and the roles stone has played in forming human culture.
* An engaging and accessible guide to the galleries, art museums and artists of London, past and present* Authored by Hettie Judah, contributor on art for The Guardian, The New York Times and Vogue* Exclusive photography includes portraits of Tracey Emin, Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Chantal Joffe, Rasheed Araeen, Jeremy Deller, Yinka Shonibare and many more, in their own studios* Part of a new series exploring London culture, joined by Vinyl London, Rock 'n' Roll London, Writers' London and London PeculiarsProdigies, revolutionaries, defiers of the patriarchy; drunks, rebels and impassioned immigrants; queer pioneers, paint-spattered punks and proto-feminists: there have always been artists in London. Some were celebrated in their lifetime, others were out-of-step with the spirit of their age: too radical, too subversive, too modest, too female, too foreign. Art London is more than a guidebook. It will accompany you on a journey through this great city, telling stories, uncovering histories, sharing insights into those who have made, collected and influenced art past and present. Moving neighbourhood by neighbourhood, Art London travels the streets with you, revealing art in museums, galleries and beyond, from palace to pub to studio. Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Mona Hatoum, John Akomfra, Rasheed Araeen, Sunil Gupta, Tracey Emin and Yinka Shonibare were among the artists who agreed to have their portraits taken for this book, while at work in their studios. Alex Schneiderman's exclusive photographs reveal the human element behind contemporary art, while pictures of streetside galleries place London's art scene within an ever-expanding cosmopolitan world. Fascinating, entertaining, full of anecdote and insights, Art London reflects the city itself: energetic, diverse, resilient, occasionally outrageous, and never short of fresh ideas.
Celebrated for her paintings of women in diverse contexts, from Los Angeles hotels to temporary social housing, Caroline Walker navigates subjects including the pay gap, the beauty industry, gender stereotypes, and ageism. Here she presents a body of work depicting the daily life of the artist's mother at the family home in Fife, Scotland.
A groundbreaking, witty, and eloquent exploration of slime that will leave you appreciating the nebulous and neglected sticky stuff that covers our world, inside and out. Slime. The very word seems to ooze oily menace, conjuring up a variety of unpleasant associations: mucous, toxins, reptiles, pollutants, and other unsavory viscous semi-liquid substances. Yet without slime, the natural world would be completely unrecognizable; in fact, life itself as we know it would be impossible In this deft and fascinating book, journalist Susanne Wedlich takes us on a tour of all things slimy, from the most unctuous of science fiction monsters to the biochemical compounds that are the very building blocks of life. Along the way she shows us what slime really means, and why slime is not something to fear, but rather something to ... embrace.
A lovely small-trim edition of the award-winning Atlas of Remote Islands The Atlas of Remote Islands, Judith Schalansky’s beautiful and deeply personal account of the islands that have held a place in her heart throughout her lifelong love of cartography, has captured the imaginations of readers everywhere. Using historic events and scientific reports as a springboard, she creates a story around each island: fantastical, inscrutable stories, mixtures of fact and imagination that produce worlds for the reader to explore. Gorgeously illustrated and with new, vibrant colors for the Pocket edition, the atlas shows all fifty islands on the same scale, in order of the oceans they are found. Schalansky lures us to fifty remote destinations—from Tristan da Cunha to Clipperton Atoll, from Christmas Island to Easter Island—and proves that the most adventurous journeys still take place in the mind, with one finger pointing at a map.
- Impressive history of one of the oldest gemstone traders of Idar-Oberstein, the German center of lapidary art - Overview about the variety of colorful gemstones, their origins, the trade and the highly professional cutting - For gemstone and high end jewelry lovers Founded in Idar-Oberstein in 1847, the company Constantin Wild has left its mark on the world of gemstones like barely any other enterprise. For its 175th anniversary, Constantin Wild, great-grandson of the company's founder, has been out on the trail of history. He now takes us back to the beginnings of the Wild family, which looks back on a tradition of 400 years of artistic stonecutting and also in the trading of one-of-a-kind gemstones. Travel with him around the globe on the quest for the most beautiful and rarest stones. Discover sublime items of jewelry -- a selection of the very best, the zenith of international haute joaillerie. Their beauty begins with the stone, and often enough this begins chez Constantin Wild: without that fine cut, by adept craftsmen and artists, the expressive color of the gemstone fails to come into its own. Only once it has been subjected to these processes can the gemstone unfold its true character, to reach its final fiery, vivacious brilliance. The opulently designed publication Gems, Colours & Wild Stories is an homage to and an affirmation of love for the irrepressible diversity of these extremely valuable gemstones.
This publication presents fascinating new findings on ancient Romano-Egyptian funerary portraits preserved in international collections. Once interred with mummified remains, nearly a thousand funerary portraits from Roman Egypt survive today in museums around the world, bringing viewers face-to-face with people who lived two thousand years ago. Until recently, few of these paintings had undergone in-depth study to determine by whom they were made and how. An international collaboration known as APPEAR (Ancient Panel Paintings: Examination, Analysis, and Research) was launched in 2013 to promote the study of these objects and to gather scientific and historical findings into a shared database. The first phase of the project was marked with a two-day conference at the Getty Villa. Conservators, scientists, and curators presented new research on topics such as provenance and collecting, comparisons of works across institutions, and scientific studies of pigments, binders, and supports. The papers and posters from the conference are collected in this publication, which offers the most up-to-date information available about these fascinating remnants of the ancient world. The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at www.getty.edu/publications/mummyportraits/ and includes zoomable illustrations and graphs. Also available are free PDF, EPUB, and Kindle/MOBI downloads of the book.
