Archive For The “Culture and Art” Category
The Al Thani Collection Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas, published on the occasion of the extraordinary exhibition of the Al Thani Collection in Venice, allows readers to enjoy, at least from a little distance, the jeweller’s crafts and traditions of the Indian subcontinent, from the pre-Raj Mughal period to more recent times. The…
The Wines and Winemakers of the Heart of Burgundy The name Côte d’Or might not be well known but it is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy. This is not only a beautiful part of France but a celebrated…
A Century of Goldsmith’s Art from the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation This is a sumptuous volume with silky fabric cover and a veritable treasure trove of exquisite jewellery within the pages – and there are a lot of those. It’s a superb gift-quality tome which would make the ideal present for any lover of jewellery, craft,…
Photographers create stories with their cameras. One can have the most expensive equipment but still never rise to being anything more than a holiday snapper. The eye of the photographer is the piece of kit which finds that illusive evocative shot, and New Trends in Japanese Photography offers a collection of pairs of eyes. Do…
Today sees the launch of the British Museum’s collaboration with Google Arts and Culture to digitise and share the ancient Maya collection of Alfred Maudslay, a 19th century explorer who brought the stories of the Maya to the world. This important collection is made up of photographs, casts and other scientific documents created during archaeological…
1 January – 31 December 2018 The European Capital of Culture 2018 takes place in Leeuwarden, the capital of the Dutch province of Friesland. It is a time for new ideas originating in Friesland to spread to the rest of the world. With culture as the driving force, Leeuwarden-Friesland 2018 shows that it takes courage…
Calamity and Courage – A Heroine of the Raj is another in my collection of fascinating books about India and all things Indian that I love so much. It also gave me a surprise as the setting for the aforementioned heroism is in fact the very part of India that my father knew so well…
We might not all major in architecture but we are all touched by it, and it’s argued that Frank Lloyd Wright has had more impact than most on buildings in both the 20th and 21st centuries. Frank Lloyd Wright introduced the word ‘organic’ into his vision of building, and indeed he did this as far…
Domon Ken is one of the most renowned Japanese photographers of the 20th century. One might not recognise his name but one will likely have seen some of his work, which is iconic and which spanned decades. This is an excellent book which strives to offer the reader a comprehensive overview of Ken’s photographs. The…
Dutch artists have, for centuries, been admired for the realistic quality of their work. Seventeenth-century landscapes and scenes of ordinary life are all here. One might suppose that the paintings were done directly from life; but it seems that most of them were produced with the aid of previously-executed sketches. Drawings for Paintings: in the…
This is the most comprehensive tome on contemporary art in Vietnam today. It is a page-turner for any art lover but it also appeals to the traveller. Vietnam has developed in every way over the past decade. The world has access to its culture, food and landscape, along with its traditional art. But Vietnam also…
Het Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, Holland has recently acquired from a private collection The Garden of the Vicarage at Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The work of October-November 1885 is the last known watercolour van Gogh produced in Nuenen; it occupies a special place in his oeuvre. This acquisition – the most important purchase…
I first met Chef Janice Wong at her deliciously unique dessert bar in Singapore in the early hours. It’s called, unsurprisingly, 2am: dessertbar. It’s a showcase for this talented lady and offers a flavour of this, her literary debut. Janice looks even younger than her young years but she has packed a lot into less…
I was told to expect a book. I was told to expect a big book. I was told to expect a coffee-table book. What I got was a book the size of a coffee table but one which will hold my attention long after the furniture would have lost its purely functional appeal. Sake: The…
It’s a buzz-word these days: Umami. It’s a very familiar taste, flavour, sensation on the taste buds but we have only relatively recently put a name to this savouriness, this deliciousness. But how do we view it with regard to sake? This was originally a Japanese word and it’s all about a particular taste: of…
Every three years hundreds of square miles of countryside in north western Japan are transformed into a sprawling and many-faceted art installation. More than 150 of the world’s most-celebrated landscape artists, sculptors, and architects display their work in a couple of hundred villages, fields and rice paddies. It’s a liaison between art, people and nature…
Tokyo is a vibrant modern city but tradition is still evident. We might be looking for the latest technology in Akihabara or fashion and pop culture in Takeshitadori; but we all need food and many of us need sake. You’ll find that all around this sprawling town if you know where to look for it….
This might be your first big trip and the success of that adventure might well lay in preparation and planning. You’ll want to be informed of things to avoid and others not to be missed. Rajasthan – Lonely Planet is an ideal tool to supply some travel needs. You’ll want to get the most from…
This is a volume for any student of architecture who is interested in that phrase ‘form follows function’ with regard to the inspiring and revolutionary architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Gwyn Lloyd Jones retraced Frank Lloyd Wright’s steps on journeys he made outside the USA. This volume considers the man along with his buildings. It’s…
Not sure if Marco Polo, that celebrated explorer of the East, ever got to the area we now know as Singapore; however, he has given his name to a series of guidebooks to aid a distant generation of travellers. It’s true that there are many guide books and all of them, I feel sure, have…