Play Life Illusion – the retrospective in book form refers to the title of a performance which Xanti Schawinsky developed in 1936 with students at Black Mountain College. The Swiss artist who worked at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau emigrated in the 1930s via Italy to the United States. The volume assembles autobiographical texts and letters regarding the life’s work of the multimedial artist and designer.

"Gothic Modern" illuminates the pivotal discovery of medieval Gothic art for Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and their artist contemporaries. It explores their deep attraction to the Gothic art of Europe’s north and German lands via paintings, prints and in other artistic media to imagine a new ‘Gothic modernity’, unlocking a different energy of modern art and creative experiment beyond nation-centric stories.

"Gothic Modern" illuminates the pivotal discovery of medieval Gothic art for Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and their artist contemporaries. It explores their deep attraction to the Gothic art of Europe’s north and German lands via paintings, prints and in other artistic media to imagine a new ‘Gothic modernity’, unlocking a different energy of modern art and creative experiment beyond nation-centric stories.

In 1867, Monet (1840–1925) turned his back on tradition when he focused on the bustling life of Paris from the balcony of the Louvre. He was fascinated by the present in the growing French capital rather than the old masters. In a series of three paintings he created a new pictorial topic. The important works from Berlin, Den Haag and Oberlin come together in exhibitions and this lavishly illustrated book.

Energy, optimism, the joy of life: Dietmar Brixy creates works that burst out into the world with luminous colour and dynamism. Paintings with titles such as Happy or Journey invite us to join Brixy on a visual adventure of glorious colour and spirited composition, which he sets off against dark and muted shades. Every picture offers an emotional and exciting discovery, each time in a new way.  

The female protagonists of the Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego either come from real life or derive from the world’s great legends, fairy tales and myths. As complicated heroines of our time they have endured illegal abortions or fight against the limitations of traditional gender roles instead of dragons.

With his Fat Cars and Tiny Houses, his sculptures of cucumbers, and sausages, Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) shines a critical spotlight on consumer society’s manipulative mechanisms and their effects. On the occasion of Wurm’s 70th birthday this extensive catalogue  documents all of the important stations of Erwin Wurm’s artistic career to date.

"Narrative Wisdom and African Arts" explores how historical and contemporary African arts make visible narratives rooted in collective and individual memory and knowledge. Historical works made by artists across sub-Saharan Africa during the thirteenth to twentieth centuries dialogue with contemporary works by African artists working around the globe.

Surrealism revolutionised art with fantastic, radically subjective motifs. As a political and international movement, the artists wanted to change society. The topicality of their ideas enables a fascinating comparison between important pioneers of Surrealism and the following generations of artists.

Over one thousand years old, the Buddhist monastery complex of Tabo with its exquisitely preserved works of art ranks among the most fascinating cultural and historical treasures of mankind. The new edition of this richly illustrated volume shows the beauty of  these legendary sanctuaries for the first time in the highest digital resolution and describes in detail the entire gamut of Western Tibetan artistic styles.