This book surveys the significant influence that the painters of the so-called Spanish School had on the creative process of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the great master couturier of the 20th century.

"Published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Skira Rizzoli Publications, Inc., on the occasion of the exhibition Balenciaga and Spain, on view at the de Young Museum from March 26 through July 4, 2011"--T.p. verso.

"The Palais Galliera is paying homage to the couturier Cristobal Balenciaga (1865-1972) with an extra-mural exhibition at the Musée Bourdelle entitled : 'Balenciaga, l'oeuvre au noir'. The exhibition resonates with the black tones of an alchemist of haute couture : variations of black repeated in over a hundred of pieces from the Galliera collections and the archives of Maison Balenciaga...The exhibition resounds with a black harmony of an Haute Couture alchemist. Black motivated Balenciaga : the backbone of his work was inspired by the folklore and traditions of his Spanish childhood. Black was this exceptionally skilled tailor's preference. Black was a monastic influence on the master, about whom Dior once said: "Clothes were his religion". Balenciaga saw black as a vibrant matter whether it be opaque or transparent, matt or shiny - a dazzling interplay of light, that owes as much to the luxurious quality of the fabrics as to the apparent simplicity of the cut. A lace highlight, embroidery, guipure, a heavy drape of silk velvet and, hey presto, you have a skirt, a bolero, a mantilla, a cape reinvented as a coat, a coat tailored as a cape... ...Every piece is magnificent, from day clothes to cocktail dresses and sumptuous evening outfits lined in silk taffeta, edged with fringes, decorated with satin ribbons, jet beads, sequins... more than hundred couture variations of black are the treasures of the Galliera collections and the Maison Balenciaga's archives. The exhibition is located in the Musée Bourdelle where the sculptures mirror the pure sculptural effect of Cristobal Balenciaga's stunning creations"--http://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/exhibitions/balenciaga-loeuvre-au-noir

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) studied painting from the age of 15 in his native Valencia, then in Madrid and eventually Rome. On his return to Spain, he became the major portraitist of his time, and worked with subjects including King Alphonso and Queen Victoria Eugénie. Like John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), whose career was unfolding on American shores, Sorolla remained firmly outside of the Impressionist vanguard and was all but indifferent to other popular artistic movements of the day, but nevertheless achieved international renown in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both artists focused on society portraits but also undertook independent work and commissions for cultural institutions. They encountered one another occasionally, and held one another in very special regard. Sargent & Sorolla highlights the affinities between not just their personal and professional lives but their work itself: the expressive use of color and light, the development of a Modernist sensibility from Naturalist techniques, and the tremendous renown and commercial success each man reached independently. An essential exploration of how the careers of the two great artists ran parallel to each other, intersected, and also diverged.

An astounding novel from Argentina that is a meditation on the beautiful and the grotesque in nature, the art of landscape painting, and one experience in a man's life that became a lightning rod for inspiration. An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter is the story of a moment in the life of the German artist Johan Moritz Rugendas (1802-1858). Greatly admired as a master landscape painter, he was advised by Alexander von Humboldt to travel West from Europe to record the spectacular landscapes of Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. Rugendas did in fact become one of the best of the nineteenth-century European painters to venture into Latin America. However this is not a biography of Rugendas. This work of fiction weaves an almost surreal history around the secret objective behind Rugendas' trips to America: to visit Argentina in order to achieve in art the "physiognomic totality" of von Humboldt's scientific vision of the whole. Rugendas is convinced that only in the mysterious vastness of the immense plains will he find true inspiration. A brief and dramatic visit to Mendosa gives him the chance to fulfill his dream. From there he travels straight out onto the pampas, praying for that impossible moment, which would come only at an immense pricean almost monstrously exorbitant price that would ultimately challenge his drawing and force him to create a new way of making art. A strange episode that he could not avoid absorbing savagely into his own body interrupts the trip and irreversibly and explosively marks him for life.

The bravura Impressionist works of the premier Spanish painter of a century ago, showcased and explored in detail by an international team of renowned scholars Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) was the leading Spanish painter of his day, world-famous when Picasso was still struggling to establish a name. This sumptuously illustrated book traces Sorolla's career at home and abroad, focusing on more than 60 canvases. These include portraits, landscapes, the bathers and seascapes for which he is most famous, and genre scenes of Spanish life. His monumental early works established the artist's reputation as an unflinching social realist. Sending pictures strategically to major exhibitions across Europe, Sorolla depicted peasants, fishermen, and sail-makers eking out meager existences; young women forced into prostitution; and naked, disabled orphans. Rarely had Impressionist technique been turned to such provocative ends. As Sorolla found a wealthy clientele toward the turn of the century, his focus turned to sun-drenched scenes of leisure and elegant sociability: beautiful women stroll in fashionable resorts and children gambol on the seashore. Here, leading scholars offer a contemporary assessment of his career and explore Sorolla's relations with the most famous bravura painters of the day, including John Singer Sargent and the Swedish artist Anders Zorn. An illustrated chronology by Blanca Pons Sorolla, the artist's great-granddaughter, provides additional information. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: National Gallery, London (03/18/19-07/07/19) National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (08/10/19-11/03/19)

A sparkling life of the monumental fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga When Cristóbal Balenciaga died in 1972, the news hit the front page of The New York Times. One of the most innovative and admired figures in the history of haute couture, Balenciaga was, said Schiaparelli, “the only designer who dares do what he likes.” He was, said Christian Dior,“the master of us all.” But despite his extraordinary impact, Balenciaga was a man hidden from view. Unlike today’s celebrity designers, he saw to it that little was known about him, to the point that some French journalists wondered if he existed at all. Even his most notable and devoted clients—Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Hutton, a clutch of Rothschilds—never met him. But one woman knew Balenciaga very well indeed. The first person he hired when he opened his Paris house (then furnished with only a table and a stool) was Florette Chelot, who became his top vendeuse—as much an adviser as a saleswoman. She witnessed the spectacular success of his first collection, and they worked closely for more than thirty years, until 1968, when Balenciaga abruptly closed his house without telling any of his staff. Youth-oriented fashion was taking over, Paris was in upheaval, and the elder statesman wanted no part of it. In The Master of Us All , Mary Blume tells the remarkable story of the man and his house through the eyes of the woman who knew him best. Intimate and revealing, this is an unprecedented portrait of a designer whose vision transformed an industry but whose story has never been told until now.

Andrés Jaque and the Office for Political Innovation bring new subjects into the fold of architecture. Documenting a series of performances, research projects, installations, films, characters, and exhibitions, Superpowers of Scale demonstrates the breadth of architectural knowledge and its possible representations.