Crafts

Founded in 1948, Hirmer Publishers soon established a name for art books produced to the highest standards. Over the past decade they have become equally well-known in English-speaking countries, with a reputation as one of the most prestigious publishers in this field. This survey of English titles from 2010 to 2020 encompasses a wealth of subjects across the centuries, from antiquity to the modern age.  

This first full biography confirms Florine Stettheimer as one of the 20th century’s most significant, progressive artists whose work remains highly relevant today. Stettheimer was a feminist and a multi-media artist who painted several sexually explicit, political works examining identity issues documenting New York City’s growth as the center of cultural life, finance, and entertainment between the World Wars..

Lying between deserts, mountain chains and seas, Iran developed a fascinating cultural landscape. 360 objects from the time of the first advanced civilisations during the 3rd millennium BC until the end of the Safavid Empire in the early 18th century illustrate the outstanding significance of Iran as the initiator and centre of intercultural exchange.

"Global Luxury in Renaissance Venice" offers an unprecedented exploration of maiolica in the Serenissima set in a vibrant context of hybridity and exchange. Versatile and receptive to all forms of decoration, the medium of maiolica offers a unique point of entry into Venice’s material world as it was shaped by Mediterranean trade and local luxury production.

"Art Along the Rivers" coincides with the Missouri state bicentennial. It presents extraordinary objects produced or collected within a 150-mile region around St. Louis. Beginning with the ancient Mississippian culture followed by the Osage, French, African American, German, British, and artists today, these communities developed rich artistic traditions that have vibrant legacies.

Kimbel and Cabus were among the most progressive design reformers of their time. This is the first publication to explore the timeless American immigrant success story of the trailblazing New York City design team who captured national attention with their imaginative furniture forms and defined a significant aesthetic in the United States.

"The Art of Orientation" explores the mosque through 125 artefacts from across the Islamic world. It employs an original and contemporary approach by incorporating essays by leading Arab and international authors, which provide a fresh interpretation of the cultural history behind the shown objects by interweaving concepts, histories and ideas.

The Dresden artist Max Uhlig (*1937) created one of the greatest window cycles of contemporary art for the Gothic Church of Saint John in Magdeburg. Vines and coloured foliage together with lines in expressive rhythms which are a revelation in their incisiveness, fill a window area of some 350 square metres with colours and immerse the interior of the church in light.

The book synthesizes research in history, fashion, art and visual culture to reassess the hair story of peoples of African descent. Long a fraught topic for African Americans and others in the diaspora, Black hair is here addressed by artists, barbers and activists in both its historical perceptions and its ramifications for self and society today.

"Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon" presents sixty-seven masterpieces collected by John D. Rockefeller 3rd and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller. Illuminating the cultures and history of Asia, the book presents a magnificent selection of sculptures, bronzes and ceramics that range from the late sixth century BCE to the early nineteenth century CE.