On the last day of 2016, we lost one of the world’s foremost architectural historians when James Sloss Ackerman died at age 97. Ackerman was a consummate, and widely esteemed, academic, whose rigorous method set architecture in the broader contexts of cultural and intellectual history. He was a Fellow of
David Ebony– Revolutionary Horizons: Art and Polemics in 1950s Cuba, a new book by University of Maryland professor and Latin American art scholar Abigail McEwen, could hardly have appeared at a more opportune moment. Cuba is everywhere in the news lately. President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba last March, the
January 31st, 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the revolutionary building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. The building launched the careers of these two Pritzker Prize-winning architects and is today one of the world’s most popular cultural institutions and the
Matthew Affron and Mark A. Castro– Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950, an exhibition that focuses on an extraordinary moment in the history of modern art, opened in October at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). The show is the product of a partnership between the PMA and the Museo del
Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’s iconic Centre Pompidou in Paris will celebrate its 40th anniversary in January 2017. Francesco Dal Co, author of our newly published book on the building, penned an open letter to President Hollande calling for the restoration of the Parisian landmark, parts of which are now
Peter M. Blaiwas — The Absolutely Unique Challenges of Publishing the Voynich Manuscript Fascsimile Book In 2014, Yale University Press approached Wordesign Services to copyedit, design, and produce a facsimile edition of the Voynich Manuscript, a very old, mysterious, beautifully illustrated text. The book would include the first full-size reproduction
Robert Fairer— The Spring/Summer 2004 Deliverance show was, for me and for many others, a uniquely memorable Alexander McQueen accomplishment. It expressed breathtaking contradictions: a combination of the classic and the modern; a coexistence of Lee’s singular, visionary genius with the organizing structure of a well-known Hollywood movie. It was dazzling; it invented a
Rachel High– Diane Arbus (1923–1971) is one of the most distinctive and provocative artists of the 20th century. Her photographs of children and eccentrics, couples and circus performers, female impersonators and nudists, are among the most recognizable images of our time. diane arbus: in the beginning is the definitive study
In Elisabeth de Bièvre’s book Dutch Art and Urban Culture, 1200-1700, the author explains how distinct geographical circumstances and histories shaped unique urban developments in different locations in the Netherlands and, in turn, fundamentally informed the art and visual culture of individual cities. In seven chapters, each devoted to a city, the book
Tony Seddon— I recently wrote a book titled Essential Type: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding and Using Fonts. When I started the book I assumed, as one does with any writing project, that there would be difficulties of various sorts along the way, but I didn’t figure on there being any