The seascapes of Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) made his name in Russia, his native country where he was a painter of the court of Nicholas I, yet his fame barely extended beyond these borders. Master of the Sublime, he made the ocean the principal subject of his work. Sometimes wild and raging, sometimes calm and peaceful, the life of the ocean is composed of as many allegories as the human condition. Like Turner, whom he knew and whose art he admired, he never painted outside in nature, nor did he make preliminary sketches; his paintings were the fruit of his exceptional memory. With more than 6,000 canvasses, Aivazovsky was one of the most prolific painters of his time.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899-1969): An Avant-Garde for the Proletariat is the first exhibition and publication to present this outstanding figure of socialist realism - and, by extension, the historical period from which his work was borne - in a twofold context: the end of the avant-garde and the advent of Soviet socialist realism. It covers Deineka's entire oeuvre, from his early paintings of the 1920s to the twilight of his career in the 1950s, when the dreamlike quality of his first works gave way to the harsh materiality of everyday life, the life in which the utopian ideals of socialism seemed to materialize. Combining Deineka's graphic work, extraordinary posters and celebrated contributions to illustrated magazines and books with his imposing monumental paintings, this catalogue displays a variety of subjects: factories and enthusiastic masses, athletes and farmers, the ideal and idyllic image of Soviet life.

The Pussy Riot protest, and the subsequent heavy handed treatment of the protestors, grabbed the headlines, but this was not an isolated instance of art being noticeably critical of the regime. As this book, based on extensive original research, shows, there has been gradually emerging over recent decades a significant counter-culture in the art world which satirises and ridicules the regime and the values it represents, at the same time putting forward, through art, alternative values. The book traces the development of art and protest in recent decades, discusses how art of this kind engages in political and social protest, and provides many illustrations as examples of art as protest. The book concludes by discussing how important art has been in facilitating new social values and in prompting political protests.

The Pussy Riot protest, and the subsequent heavy handed treatment of the protestors, grabbed the headlines, but this was not an isolated instance of art being noticeably critical of the regime. As this book, based on extensive original research, shows, there has been gradually emerging over recent decades a significant counter-culture in the art world which satirises and ridicules the regime and the values it represents, at the same time putting forward, through art, alternative values. The book traces the development of art and protest in recent decades, discusses how art of this kind engages in political and social protest, and provides many illustrations as examples of art as protest. The book concludes by discussing how important art has been in facilitating new social values and in prompting political protests.

Nesting one inside the other, wooden matryoshka dolls are a favorite toy in Russian homes and are collected by enthusiasts around the world. Illustrated throughout with color photographs, this volume tells the story of matryoshka production from the doll's first appearance in the toy making center of Sergiev Posad in 1899 through its contemporary interpretations by entrepreneurial artists. Each step in the manufacturing process from the cutting of logs through the final lacquering of the dolls is described in detail. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The largest surviving portion of the first major collection of Classical antiquities in Britain - the sculptures and inscriptions collected in the early 17th century by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel for his London house and garden - is in the Antiquities Department of the Ashmolean Museum. This handbook tracks their eventful history.

First published in 1912, Kandinsky's treatise on art lays the theoretical foundation for German Expressionism and for non-objective art in general. This new edition includes not only letters between Kandinsky and his translator, Michael Sadler, but also Kandinsky's unpublished prose poems from the time of the book's composition. With these additions, as well as the introduction by Adrian Glew, archivist at the Tate, this text is an important record of the modernist period. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)