Bøker av Susan Owens

Drawing is at the heart of human creativity. It is the most democratic form of art-making, requiring nothing more than the stub of a pencil, piece of chalk or ink brush, and a surface. Our prehistoric ancestors drew with natural pigments on the walls of caves, and every subsequent culture has practised drawing—whether on papyrus, parchment, or paper.   Virtually all artists have used drawing as part of the creative process. However, by stepping back and surveying the long history of drawing, Susan Owens reveals an alternative history of art. While art forms such as painting and sculpture have been shaped heavily by money and influence, drawing has always offered exceptional creative latitude. Drawing is where we can encounter the artist at his or her most unguarded.  The Story of Drawing offers a glimpse over artists’ shoulders as they work, think, plan, innovate, and either scrutinise the world or retreat into their imaginations.

Imagining England¿s Past takes a long look at the country¿s invented histories, from the glamorous to the disturbing, from the eighth century to the present day. England has long built its sense of self on visions of its past. What does it mean for medieval writers to summon King Arthur from the post-Roman fog; for William Morris to resurrect the skills of the medieval workshop and Julia Margaret Cameron to portray the Arthurian court with her Victorian camera; or for Yinka Shonibare in the final years of the twentieth century to visualize a Black Victorian dandy? By exploring the imaginations of successive generations, this book reveals how diverse notions of the past have inspired literature, art, music, architecture and fashion. It shines a light on subjects from myths to mock-Tudor houses, Stonehenge to steampunk, and asks how ¿ and why ¿ the past continues so powerfully to shape the present. Not a history of England, but a history of those who have written, painted and dreamed it into being, Imagining England's Past offers a lively, erudite account of the making and manipulation of the days of old. Praise for Imagining England's Past 'Susan Owens conjures our imagined past with such vivacity and lyricism that I can see the dawn mist rising over fabled fields and hear the tread of fictional histories on the worn stairs of yesteryear. Packed full of myths, stories, poems and paintings I found this book impossible to put down!' Charlotte Mullins, broadcaster, art critic and author of A Little History of Art

A lyrical, critically acclaimed account of the British landscape in writing and art from Beowulf to now.

High school is not easy, and don't Sarah know it. After moving back to her father's home town, Sarah finds that things are not as they seem. What do a centuries old curse and a silly ring have in common? Sarah soon will find out.

Jonathan Richardson (1667-1745) was one of 18th-century England's most significant cultural figures. At the age of 61, shortly before his retirement, Richardson began to create a remarkable series of self-portrait drawings. Not intended for public display, these were unguarded explorations of his own character.

The Art of Drawing is the first book in sixty years to cover the wider history of drawing in Britain exploring the role drawing has played in British art. Featuring works by foremost British artists from the early seventeenth century right up to the present day, this book offers fresh insights into the range of ways these artists have used drawing.