Cultural History

Giambologna (1529–1606) is regarded as the most important European sculptor between Michelangelo and Bernini. How did he achieve this status? This volume investigates this question and examines above all Giambologna’s study of Michelangelo, his all-powerful role model, and how he successfully prevailed.   

The world-famous Buddhist monastery of Alchi lies at 3,500 metres in Ladakh (Northwest India) and is the best-preserved temple complex in the Himalayas. Inside it houses thousands of rare and incomparable paintings and sculptures dating back to 11th-century Western Tibet. For the first and only time in their history the Dalai Lama has authorised their comprehensive documentation.

What could the primarily Western collection of the Nationalgalerie look like today if a global understanding of art had informed its development? Looking at artworks from non-European centres of Modernism and their activities, untold stories and overlooked connections are picked up and developed.

The history and culture of Europe has been decisively shaped by the exploration and use of the seas surrounding Europe. This catalogue book reflects the significance of the sea as a space of rule and trade for Europeans, as bridge and border, as resource and a place of longing. The book also reviews the changing perception of the sea in the arts.  

The inimitable fashions of Stephan Hann are produced from everyday materials like pages of telephone directories, Tetra-Pak cartons and plastic carrier bags. These materials are transformed by the artist’s hand into clothes which fascinate us immediately. At the same time his poetic creations provide us with food for thought.

This book highlights two series of little known drawings from the 1950's, drawings where Andy Warhol first explored the controversial and for him deeply personal subject of drag. His oeuvre during the first decade of his career, before he became the godfather of Pop, has proven to be enormously influential on his life's work, yet so far has not received due attention.

Like many great artists, Heinz Mack also found inspiration in African art. His artistic expeditions into the African desert and his encounters with the special light, the people and the architecture have continued to influence his art to this day. His collection of African art is being published for the first time.  

This survey in 14 essays of Fatimid art between the 10th and 12th centuries showcases the pottery, rock crystal, metalwork, textile, architectural, wood, and calligraphic creations of one of the most artistically inventive periods in Islamic culture, with special attention paid to the art of Christian and Jewish communities under the Fatimids.

"A Princely Pursuit" highlights more than seventy pieces from the Meissen porcelain collection of Malcolm D. Gutter. Promised to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the collection’s roughly 170 works focus on exemplary early examples from the German manufactory and trace the evolution and experimentation of Meissen wares.

The German architect Rudolf Schwarz (1897–1961) numbers among the leading masters of church architecture in the 20th century. Inspired by the Catholic Youth Movement, he has designed over 40 religious buildings since 1924. His oeuvre includes numerous new buildings as well as alterations and renovations. In addition, he has made a name for himself as the author of fundamental texts on sacred architecture.