Crafts

At the age of seventeen Georg Forster embark ed on a voyage around the world with the famous Captain James Cook. Shortly after his return in 1775 the explorer met the open-minded Prince Franz of Dessau and his consort Louise in London.They returned home with a rich collection of objects, as the unique Wörlitz South Seas Collection proves to this day.

Members of the Daimyō Hosokawa family served the shogun from the Muromachi Period (1333–1568) as samurai. But the Hosokawa achieved fame not only for their success as warriors. As patrons of the arts and artists across the centuries, they enlarged and cared for an exclusive collection which this volume presents through exquisite pieces.  

Created in one piece and without cutting the surface, Peter Weber’s works position the phenomenon of folding in the field of vision of their viewers. The entire bandwidth of his oeuvre, extending back over 50 years, is now being compiled and acknowledged in a two-volume catalogue raisonné.

Arguably the most famous fashion designer of the 20th century, Christian Dior’s feminine fashions were desired, worn, and emulated by women around the world. This new publication by ROM Press explores the brilliance behind Dior’s dramatic creations that revived the entire Paris haute couture industry after the devastation of World War II. In 1947, the opening of the new couture house and the revolutionary “New Look” swept away the wartime masculine silhouette making ...

Monika Kopplin is leaving and going into retirement after almost thirty years as the Director of the Museum for Lacquer Art. She has contributed in no small measure to the international reputation of the institution. To mark the occasion, the special volume “Lacquer Friends of the World” presents 24 artists from eight nations who have accompanied her over the years.

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.  

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.

In her series of images “Monkey Business” the artist Beate Passow portrays a mysterious fairy-tale world of political dimensions. The black and white images, which upon closer observation turn out to be sophisticated tapestries, question the ruling systems, economic structures, and political movements of contemporary Europe

The catalogue presents for the first time the rich Tibetan artistic heritage through the collection of Michael and Justyna Buddeberg: carpet manufacture, craftwork in metal and the manufacture of furniture. Previously neglected aspects of everyday Tibetan culture are explored and make the catalogue an essential starting point for further research.