Bøker av Nicholas James

Despite his short span of activity, from 1423 to 1428, Masaccio can be posited as the signifier of a radical break with the period of Italian painting known as the Trecento, and alone among his contemporaries, in his use of dramatic realism, points the way to the spectacular creations of the High Renaissance, in which artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael and Palladio, achieved a fusion of classic and humanist ideals in painting, sculpture and architecture. Masaccio's Trinity at the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is analysed in an essay initially prepared for the MA programme of History of Art at Kingston University in 1995. It considers the conditions of belief and patronage that informed the work, a powerful and original representation of The Crucifixion which in its striking effect became the key to unlock the major pictorial revolution of the Italian ArtisticRenaissance.

An index of three hundred Stately Homes and Country Houses in England, Scotland and Wales. Illustrated with historical and architectural data with family lineage in the properties.

Attending life classes each week studies of professional models, actresses and dancers, were made in watercolour, oil and charcoal pencil. About fifteen sketches were made each session, often in bespoke ornamental leather bound books. Studies feature the models Agnieszka, Bethan, Caroline, Esther, Jess, Gilda, Ella, Mairi, Maya, Lydia, Natasha, Serelyn, Erica, Sassy, Sophie, Sol, Stella, Susannah, Sylvette, Fatima, Marika, Maya Magdalena, Mercy, Tiziana and Vanessa. The oils are made on linen canvas or canvas board, oil painting paper in small scale from 6x4" to 60x40".

The first edition of Curators and Collections, published in 1997, was based on interviews and features published in the quarterly review: Cv Journal of Art and Crafts (1988-91). These recorded the launch of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1991, the construction of Tate Modern in 1997, as well as exploring special collections at The National Gallery, Courtauld Gallery, The British Museum and Royal Photographic Society. The book contained a comprehensive guide to public and private collections in England, Scotland and Wales, which is revised and updated in this volume. The landscape of the arts has radically transformed in the intervening years, with a tremendous growth in audiences for contemporary art. The study recognises the important role of private foundations and the activity of curators and gallerists in their independent initiatives. Interviews with Keepers of National collections consider aspects of arts management: conservation, acquisition and collection development, with the growth of the institution in relation to the general culture.

Pioneer of British conceptual art John Latham projects 1974-78.

With its eccentric shape, tacked on like a long medieval shoe to Southern England, Cornwall is not the easiest shape of an area to research. I began by driving north to Kilkhampton and Morwenstow, then south via Bude to Bodmin and Padstow. From there I moved east to Launceston, visiting Antony and St Germans near the Tamar Valley, and down to Looe and St Austell. The centre of Cornwall disclosed the working face of mining towns such as Bugle and Camborne, their clusters of Victorian terraced cottages built around great quarries and industrial sites. My route around the southern peninsula brought me past some fabulous aspects of the coastline; the uncompromised rocky landscape of Sennen and St Just, or the delightful flower filled vale of Lamorna and the dramatic headland of The Lizard. Cornwall is like another country, carrying its own culture and history, though its energy keeps it moving forward in a present reality. It can provide a blissful escape and equally opens itself to enterprise and new connections. Nicholas James

Andy Warhol: Art, Design & SocietyThe 2013 monograph republished on the occasion of the 2020 Andy Warhol retrospective at Tate Modern London featuring: Campbell's Soup Cans, 1960s portraits; Suicides and Car Crashes; Sex Parts; Latinx Trans Portraits and the finnale Sicty Last Suppers 1986. Includes Andy Warhol at the NGMA Edinburgh, October 2007, A Celebration of Life..and Death. Magdalena Wasiura on Andy Warhol: Brigid Bardot portrait at Gagosian Gallery 2013; meeting Andy and his team at his Broadway office in May 1976; Vanitas at Anthony d'Offay 1996 and an interview with New Zealand artist Billy Apple¿, his recollections of Andy at the outset of his Pop Art before The Factory, in 1962-3.

The thirty parts of The Landscape Series were developed in two phases: sixteen sets were made from February 2002 to June '03 and a further fourteen in February 2006 totalling some 1,500 panel paintings. The uniform size of a 30cm square panel grew from the idea of one painting being all painting,or one landscape becoming all landscapes.With gesso and emulsion, mounds and hollows were formed by sweeping and dividing poured paint, using cardboard strips cut from cartons.The panels were laid on a framed base board which also served as a container for pools of colour washed over the textured surface. Two inch square wooden cubes were used to stack the paintings in small towers to dry out.Various factors steered the series: thoughts about load bearing pressures on a place, tracks and crossing points, air flow, water, spaces and intervals, the nature of settlement in the land. Offset corner marks in the panels from the cubes stood for a house, rounds for a moon. Titles were assigned later to the line of production. The identity of a place emerged not by literal description but as an equivalent found by coincidence in the passage of an abstract process.

London Review publishes a collection of reviews by Nicholas James visiting museum and gallery exhibitions between January and June 2019. Recording his responses and observations the author then composes pieces based on these on-site records. This allows accuracy and spontaneity to enliven the texts, which are supported by additional biographic information of the individual artists. Reviews in this volume include Mantegna and Bellini (National Gallery), Pierre Bonnard (Tate Modern), John Ruskin (Temple Place), Vincent van Gogh (Tate Britain), Jeff Koons (Ashmolean), Mary Quant (V&A), Anish Kapoor (Lisson Gallery), RA Summer Exhibition 2019; William Blake (Tate Britain), Frieze Masters (Regents Park), Pre-Raphaelite Sisters (NPG), Nam June Paik (Tate Modern), Antony Gormley (RA).

Cv/VAR series 52 features an interview with American artist James Turrell recorded at Michael Hue Williams London in June 1996. It explores the artist's work with light in major projects such as The Roden Crater environmental sculpture. Contents: Mendota Hotel Shallow Space Constructions Plato's Cave Roden Crater Soft Cell bio-data and references

Interviews with seventy artists recorded 1989 to 2011

First published in 1999 Crafts Directory draws together interviews, features, showcases and listings of makers in the UK and Ireland, which explore individual practices and avenues of distribution from workshop production to general retail outlets. Interviews include: Nannette Bowers-Stel jeweller; Georgina Hadrill fashion retailer; Josephine Jackson ceramist;Anthea Lahr crafts retailer; Roddie McVittie antique furniture restorer; John Page harp mender; Nicola Taylor stained glass restorer; Janice Tchalenko ceramics & industry; Ann Vose milliner;Wilbraham and Vaughan fashion designers. Articles: Studio Survey by Roberta Stoker; The Decorative Arts in West Cork by David Rose; Dublin Colleges of Art and Design by Margaret MacNamidhe, with additional indexes of designer-makers; specialist galleries; shops andsuppliers.

A review of the exhibiton: Late Constable at the Royal Academy London. It explores the family background of the artist, his career development, working methods and technique; noted works including The Leaping Horse, Cottage in East Bergholt, Rainstorm at Sea, Chain Pier Brighton,Stonehenge and The Cornfield..It includes essays by Edward Lucie- Smith (John Constable 2006) and Janet Barber (John Constable: Earth and Sky 2012) 'In his own lifetime, Constable was constantly struggling to catch up with his great rival, J.M.W. Turner, whose astonishing fluency he could never match. Turner has maintained his fame, but, among the British at least, Constable is now more intimately loved. People talk of the 'Constable country' in Suffolk that he made his own artistically, and the images he created appear on calendars, kitchen towels and place mats. You don't have to be an intellectual to love Constable's work - in fact, it is probably better if you aren't.'Edward Lucie-Smith

Cv/VAR 36 takes as its focus two paintings by Johannes Vermeer (1632-75): The Milkmaid c.1661-62 and Woman Holdinga Balance c.1662-65, and considers critical approaches to the artist by four historians Edward A.Snow, Lawrence Gowing, John Michael Montias, and Martin Pops. Its aim is not solely to describe Vermeer's art, but by a process of comparative analysis to discern the various standpoints of his biographers, and to clarify their methodologies in research. The volume includes studies of artists from the early Renaissance to the 20th century: Masaccio; Vermeer; Velázquez; Cézanne; Dali.

The sixth in Cv's series of English County Guides explores Wiltshire. The dramatic sweep of a spare landscape of the Pewsey Vale introduces the historic town of Marlborough. It follows routes towards the West; to Bath and Avon; taking in settlements of Chippenham, Calne, Melksham, , Devizes, Malmesbury and Bradford on Avon. Wiltshire is beautiful and mysterious, spanned by ancient lay lines and runic landmarks such as Stonehenge, The White Horse and the Avebury Ring. This is an original account of eye-witness experience; fascinating for visitors and informative for those seeking a new place to live. First researched from 1999-2001 and resumed in 2011-12, Cv's series of English County Guides provides descriptions of market towns and villages, for casual visitors and those interested in moving to a different area. The guides contain eye-witness records of natural character, of the villages: the properties, amenities, communication, travel and business links. Available titles include: Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Norfolk and Wiltshire; Cumbria is in preparation for autumn 2012. Each guide records between one and two hundred villages and county towns. There are route maps, colour photographs, and a directory of local services. 114pp, 56 colour ill, 6"x9", case bound, 70gsm interior pages, full colour.

Ever wondered what really goes on behind closed doors?