The modern art market was born on a single night. On 15 October 1958 Sotheby's of Bond Street staged an 'event sale' of Impressionist paintings from the collection of an American banker, Erwin Goldschmidt: three Manets, two Cézannes, one Van Gogh and a Renoir. Movie stars and other celebrities attended in black tie and saw the seven lots go for £781,000 – at the time the highest price for a single art sale. Overnight, London became the world centre of the art market and Sotheby's an international auction house. The event signalled a shift in power from dealers to auctioneers and pointed the way for Impressionist paintings to dominate the market for the next forty years. In this climate Sotheby's and Christie's became a great business duopoly – as aggressive, dominant and competitive in the field of art sales as Pepsi and Coca-Cola were in soft drinks. The resulting expansion of the market was accompanied by rocketing prices, colourful scandals and legal dramas. Over the decades, London transformed itself from a place of old master sales to a revitalised centre of contemporary art, a process crowned by the opening of Tate Modern in 2000. James Stourton tells the story of the London art market from the immediate postwar period to the turn of the millennium in engaging and fast-paced style, populating his richly entertaining narrative with a glorious rogues' gallery of clever amateurs, eccentric scholars, brilliant emigrés, cockney traders and grandees with a flair for the deal.
A unique and glamorous book about British Imperial and post-Imperial architecture and a lively and evocative read for anyone interested in the international projection of British power and culture. British Embassies have a special role in our history. They represent our country in bricks and stone and have often expressed – at least in the eyes of foreigners – our national character. Whether they are Lutyens buildings in Washington, grand palaces in Europe, beautiful old colonial buildings in Asia, or secure compounds in the Middle East, they all have stories to tell and reveal the changing face of British diplomacy. A mixture of history, architectural description, diplomacy and anecdote, this large format picture book covers Residences and embassies in twenty-six countries to provide an authoritative text, accompanied by newly commissioned photography.
The definitive biography of this brilliant polymath--director of the National Gallery, author, patron of the arts, social lion, and singular pioneer of television--that also tells the story of the arts in the twentieth century through his astonishing life. Kenneth Clark's thirteen-part 1969 television series, Civilisation, established him as a globally admired figure. Clark was prescient in making this series: the upheavals of the century, the Cold War among others, convinced him of the power of barbarism and the fragility of culture. He would burnish his image with two memoirs that artfully omitted the more complicated details of his life. Now, drawing on a vast, previously unseen archive, James Stourton reveals the formidable intellect and the private man behind the figure who effortlessly dominated the art world for more than half a century: his privileged upbringing, his interest in art history beginning at Oxford, his remarkable early successes. At 27 he was keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean in Oxford and at 29, the youngest director of The National Gallery. During the war he arranged for its entire collection to be hidden in slate mines in Wales and organized packed concerts of classical music at the Gallery to keep up the spirits of Londoners during the bombing. WWII helped shape his belief that art should be brought to the widest audience, a social and moral position that would inform the rest of his career. Television became a means for this message when he was appointed the first chairman of the Independent Television Authority. Stourton reveals the tortuous state of his marriage during and after the war, his wife's alcoholism, and the aspects of his own nature that he worked to keep hidden. A superb work of biography, Kenneth Clark is a revelation of its remarkable subject.
“Collates the most shocking killings and puzzling murder mysteries from the sixteenth century in fascinating detail” —Gazette & Herald In the Tudor age the murder rate was five times higher than it is today. Now, this unique true crime guide, The Tudor Murder Files, reveals just how bloody and brutal this fascinating era really was. From the dark days of Henry VIII to the turbulent times of Shakespeare, James Moore’s new book is the first to chart the period’s most gripping murder cases in all their grizzly detail. Featuring tales of domestic slaughter, sexual intrigue, and cunning assassinations, as well as murder mysteries worthy of Agatha Christie, the book vividly brings to life the violent crime wave that gripped the sixteenth century both at home and abroad. Enter a world in which stabbings were rife, guns were used to kill victims for the first time, and in which culprits frequently escaped justice. The book also reveals just how severe some of the penalties could be, with grisly punishments for those who dared to commit the gravest of crimes. Discover how one murderer was gruesomely pressed to death, another boiled alive for poisoning his victims, and meet some of history’s most notorious serial killers, including one considered so barbaric she was labelled a vampire. “Contains more than seventy real life murders, profiling over thirty cases in detail. And not only does James chart how killers were caught and dealt with by the justice system, he also discusses how murders were reported to the new, news hungry nation.” —Luton Today
James Hilton was an English interwar novelist, whose popular works include ‘Lost Horizon’, ‘Goodbye, Mr. Chips’ and ‘Random Harvest’, all of which were made into highly successful films. He is noted for his deft style and impeccable gift for storytelling. Although Hilton’s works are sometimes characterised as sentimental and idealistic celebrations of English virtues, the novels often reveal a darker side, analysing the societal flaws of his time. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Hilton’s complete works, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Hilton’s life and works * Concise introductions to the major novels * All 19 novels, with individual contents tables * Features rare works appearing for the first time in digital publishing, including ‘Storm Passage’ and ‘The Silver Flame’ * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting * Rare uncollected short stories * Easily locate the stories you want to read * Rare non-fiction, including the Duke of Edinburgh biography – available in no other collection * Includes Hilton’s lecture ‘Mr. Chips Looks at the World’ – first time in digital print * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres CONTENTS: The Novels Catherine Herself (1920) Storm Passage (1922) The Passionate Year (1924) Dawn of Reckoning (1925) Meadows of the Moon (1926) Terry (1927) The Silver Flame (1928) Murder at School (1931) And Now Goodbye (1931) Contango (1932) Knight without Armour (1933) Lost Horizon (1933) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1934) We are Not Alone (1937) Random Harvest (1941) So Well Remembered (1945) Nothing So Strange (1947) Morning Journey (1951) Time and Time Again (1953) The Shorter Fiction To You, Mr Chips! (1938) Uncollected Short Stories The Non-Fiction Mr. Chips Looks at the World (1939) The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) H. R. H.: The Story of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1956)
DIVDIVThree classic novels by James Hilton, about a world—and men—forever changed in the time between two world wars /divDIVIn So Well Remembered, George Boswell, a respected lawyer and civic leader, possesses the skill and charisma to shine on the national stage. But ambition is not without a cost. When he must choose between the promise of a bright future and staying behind for the people who have come to depend on him, his decision comes at a shocking price in this story of a people pulled reluctantly toward modernity amid the farms and factories of Lancashire. /divDIVIn Random Harvest, a veteran’s comfortable life is upended when long-buried memories of his time in the trenches of World War I come rushing back. This moving account of the trauma of war explores the courage required to find redemption in the face of the most overwhelming circumstances. /divDIVAnd in We Are Not Alone, brilliant but naïve country doctor David Newcome courts tragedy when he invites a stranger into his home—and his family is torn asunder as their country and the world outside are drawn into war./div/div
In 1598, the first English convent was established in Brussels and was to be followed by a further 21 enclosed convents across Flanders and France with more than 4,000 women entering them over a 200-year period. In theory they were cut off from the outside world; however, in practice the nuns were not isolated and their contacts and networks spread widely, and their communal culture was sophisticated. Not only were the nuns influenced by continental intellectual culture but they in turn contributed to a developing English Catholic identity moulded by their experience in exile. During this time, these nuns and the Mary Ward sisters found outlets for female expression often unavailable to their secular counterparts, until the French Revolution and its associated violence forced the convents back to England. This interdisciplinary collection demonstrates the cultural importance of the English convents in exile from 1600 to 1800 and is the first collection to focus solely on the English convents.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.