The Br cke Museum in Berlin houses the world's largest collection of works by the early twentieth-century expressionist movement Die Br cke, or The Bridge. Formed in Dresden by Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, this group had a major impact on the evolution of modern art. But as Escape into Art? reveals, they were also affected by the rise of Germany's National Socialist party in the 1930s. Discussing in detail the everyday reality of the Br cke artists under National Socialism, this book takes a critical look at the fates and artistic practice of the movement's former members in the years after 1933. Explaining the measures carried out against Br cke members as a result of Nazi art policy, Escape into Art? describes how, in 1937, thousands of works by these artists were confiscated from German museums by National Socialist authorities and then shown in a traveling exhibition called "Degenerate Art." Using numerous sources that have never before been studied, the authors examine not only how these acts affected the creative work and self-image of the painters themselves, but also today's popular image of expressionism, its vilification as degenerate, and the creation of the Br cke artists' legend after the end of the Second World War. How much scope for action was there, the book asks, and how should we evaluate the narratives of inner emigration and the zero hour today? ​Including 180 color plates from the museum's collection, Escape into Art? offers an in-depth exploration of the effects of National Socialism on Br cke artists and beyond.

'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven Lindqvist's profound meditation on art and its relationship with life, first published in 1967, and a classic in his home country - it has never been out of print. As a young man, Sven Lindqvist was fascinated by the myth of Wu Tao-tzu, and by the possibility of entering a work of art and making it a way of life. He was drawn to artists and writers who shared this vision, especially Hermann Hesse, in his novel Glass Bead Game. Partly inspired by Hesse's work, Lindqvist lived in China for two years, learning classical calligraphy from a master teacher. There he was drawn deeper into the idea of a life of artistic perfectionism and retreat from the world. But when he left China for India and then Afghanistan, and saw the grotesque effects of poverty and extreme inequality, Lindqvist suffered a crisis of confidence and started to question his ideas about complete immersion in art at the expense of a proper engagement with life. The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu takes us on a fascinating journey through a young man's moral awakening and his grappling with profound questions of aesthetics. It contains the bracing moral anger, and poetic, intensely atmospheric travel writing Lindqvist's readers have come to love.

An ABA Indies Introduce Top Ten Title for Winter 2018 William A. Noguera has spent thirty-four years at the notorious San Quentin Prison, home to the nation’s largest and deadliest death row. Each day, men plot against you and your life rests on a razor’s edge. In Escape Artist, he describes his personal growth as a man and artist and shares his insights into daily life and the fight to survive in the underworld of prison culture. After being sentenced to death, he arrived at San Quentin Prison and was thrown into a rat-infested cell—it was there that he discovered the key to his escape: art. Over the next three decades, Noguera rebelled against conventional prison behavior, and instead forged the code he lives by today—accepting responsibility for his actions, and a self-imposed discipline of rehabilitation. In the process, he has explored his capacity to bring focus and clarity to his artistic vision. Escape Artist exposes the violence, politics and everyday existence within the underbelly of society that is prison life. In an unprecedented narrative, Noguera reveals the emotional and heart-wrenching loss that landed him on death row and the journey he has taken to become an award-winning artist, speaker, and author—a tale of one man’s transformation through tragedy.

Nola Brown, the U.S. Army's artist-in-residence--a painter and trained soldier--sees something nobody was supposed to see and earns a dangerous enemy in this novel as powerful as "a launched torpedo slashing through 400 pages of deep water before reaching impact...one of the best thrill rides ever" (David Baldacci). Who is Nola Brown? Nola is a mystery Nola is trouble. And Nola is supposed to be dead. Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she's dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run. Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig's daughter and someone who once saved his daughter's life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he's determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola's past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes. Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army's most mysterious secret--a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini. "Meltzer is a master and this is his best. Not since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have you seen a character like this. Get ready to meet Nola. If you've never tried Meltzer, this is the one." -- Harlan Coben

When Mount Vesuvius erupts in 79 A.D., Tranio and his friend Livia flee from their homes in Pompeii, Italy, and run to the harbor.

Offers one hundred concise methods of surviving dangerous situations based on the skills of military special forces operatives, covering such topics as evading ambushes, escaping confinement, and winning a knife fight.

Think of a mother cupping a child's face in her hands, and you have the shell of Mothershell, Andrea Potos' tender and luminous new collection. Yes, these are poems of loss: her mother's cancer and treatments, her death and the grief that follows, but these are also poems that celebrate the chord, "the unseen thread" that binds mothers and daughters forever. Potos imagines heaven as an eternal breakfast, mother and daughter drinking our coffee/black and filled to the top. Coffee without bitterness or sweet / but somewhere in the perfection / of the middle. Here are poems that celebrate the power of presence, poems of travel: Ireland, France, Italy, ekphrastic poems that illuminate paintings. In "What the Poem Did," Potos writes It became a spine/walked me upright/ into the day, and this is what this book does, walks with each of us and sustains us in the long journey of all of our ordinary days. Barbara Crooker, author of Some Glad Morning, and others In this stunning, new collection by Andrea Potos, we find beautiful windows into the life of abiding love-each poem steeped in elegant imagery and story. A simple moment of sharing eggs over-easy with her mother, or witnessing her daughter's essence igniting in the Italian light, is all we need, to know the deep connection this poet has to others. Potos offers up these poems as prayer and healing. This collection is a love letter to memory, hope, and presence. She brings memories to life so vividly, that we, too, can hear her mother's voice through glittering veins of stone. Gentle in their touch, these beautifully sculpted poems pay tribute to the quiet strength needed for the loss you know is coming and the spaces left behind. Cristina M. R. Norcross, editor of Blue Heron Review; author of Beauty in the Broken Places, Amnesia and Awakenings, and others In Mothershell, Andrea Potos uses light and color and sound as expertly as she did in her recent chapbook, Arrows of Light. In this new collection, visual and tactile arts expand metaphors even further, weaving rich phrases such as all of them spun and still spinning / with filaments of unstoppable light into a glorious, whole cloth that not only honors memories but recreates tangible moments with her mother and other loved ones. Potos explores relationships in deftly conveyed, universal allegories that touch our innermost understanding. As so aptly expressed in "Writing My Mother," Potos does her writing on the top of light, her hands passing / across brightness and slanting shadows. Every bit of light and shadow in Mothershell reflects a gifted writer's heart and mind. C. Ann Kodra, author of Under an Adirondack Moon

An immersive escape-room experience. Featuring artworks ranging from ancient Egypt to modern masterpieces, you will need to solve visual riddles and discover the hidden secrets that lie within the paintings if you want to figure out what is going on, and why you are imprisoned in this warped gallery.

Ansel Adams, Robert Adams, Carlos Almaraz, Robert Arneson, John Baldessari, Lewis Baltz, Robert Bechtle, Jeff Brouws, Laurie Brown, Angela Buenning, Darlene Campbell, Mark Campbell, Gary Carlos, Fandra Chang, Stephane Couturier, Robert Dawson, Joe Deal, Richard Diebenkorn, John Divola, Beth Yarnelle Edwards, Kota Ezawa, William A. Garnett, Jeff Gillette, Joe Goode, Todd Hido, David Hockney, Salomon Huerta, Robert Isaacs, Thomas Lawson, Jean Lowe, Alex MacLean, Richard Meisinger, Jr., Richard Misrach, Rick Monzon, Barrie Mottishaw, Martin Mull, Deborah Oropallo, Bill Owens, Rondal Partridge, John Register, Ed Ruscha, Peter Saul, Mary Snowden, Joel Sternfeld, Larry Sultan, Rudy Vanderlans, Camilo Jose Vergara, Henry Wessel, Amir Zaki.