Collection: Art

Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting' - The Guardian As a Spice Girl, TV talent show judge and Broadway star, Mel B a.k.a Scary Spice, has been a global icon since her twenties. But behind the glittering façade of fame, the struggles and pain of this working-class, mixed-race girl from Leeds are laid bare in her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, Brutally Honest. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and trademark Yorkshire humor, the book tells how she went from Girl Power to girl powerless during her ten-year emotionally abusive marriage. Tracing a path through the key moments in her life, she reflects on her childhood, rise to fame and her chilling downward spiral before she finally broke free.

In this expanded edition, written with Louise Gannon, Mel brings her story up to date. With her trademark honesty, she tells the unfiltered story of piecing herself back together, dealing with trauma and new heartbreak whilst becoming a champion for survivors of abuse, performing once more with the Spice Girls and receiving her MBE from Prince William.

In 2022, it was reported that plus-sizes accounted for nearly twenty percent of all women's apparel sales in the United States and was one of the industry's few growth sectors. For many, this news seemed to herald a remarkably inclusive turn for an industry that long bartered in exclusivity. Yet the recent success of plus-size fashion obscures a rather complicated history-one that can be traced back over a century, and which illuminates the fraught relationship between fashion, fat, and weight bias in American culture.

Although many regard fat as a malady of the present, in the early twentieth century it was estimated that more than one-third of American women classified as "overweight." While modern weight bias had yet to fully cement itself in the American imaginary, the limitations of mass garment manufacturing coupled with the ascendent slender beauty ideal had already relegated larger women to fashion's peripheries. By 1915, however, fashion forecasters predicted that so-called "stoutwear" was well positioned to become one of the most lucrative subsectors of the burgeoning ready-to-wear trade. In the years that followed, stoutwear manufacturers set out to create more space for the fat woman in fashion but, in doing so, revealed an ancillary motivation: that of how to design fat out of existence altogether.

Fashion Before Plus-Size considers what came "before" plus-size fashion while also shedding new light on the ways that the fashion industry not only perpetuates but produces weight bias. By situating stoutwear at the confluence of mass manufacturing, beauty ideals, standardized sizing, health discourse, and consumer culture, this book exposes the flawed foundations upon which the contemporary plus-size fashion industry has been built.

The rollicking saga of reality television--an ambitious cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer

Who invented reality television, the world's most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can't we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of "dirty documentary"--from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump--Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.

In sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre's trickster pioneers, from the icy Allen Funt to the shambolic Chuck Barris; Cops auteur John Langley; cynical Bachelor ringmaster Mike Fleiss; and Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim, the visionaries behind The Real World--along with dozens of stars from An American Family, The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor. We learn about the tools of the trade--like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor's best friend--and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality's peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.

What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds--and why won't they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.

A photographic celebration of the love and relationships of queer people of color by a former New York Times multimedia journalist

"Thank you, Jamal Jordan, for showing the world what true love looks like."--Billy Porter

Queer Love in Color features photographs and stories of couples and families across the United States and around the world. This singular, moving collection offers an intimate look at what it means to live at the intersections of queer and POC identities today, and honors an inclusive vision of love, affection, and family across the spectrum of gender, race, and age.

From daughter of musical visionary Frank Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa, comes a memoir of growing up in her unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age as part of the MTV generation in the 1980s as the "Valley Girl," and finding herself after losing her father, then her mother, and the fracturing of her longest relationships.

I got my first journal when I was five, for Christmas, then every year after I'd get a new one. They were hardbound in black leather with gold embellishments on the cover and along the paper edges. So fancy. These books felt important. I believed I had a responsibility to do excellent work in them, to match their external beauty and honor the dead trees I held in my hands, a concept my mother had recently illuminated along with explaining hamburgers were deceased cows. Plus, the diaries were from Gail and Frank, my mother and my father, with the inscription to me in his handwriting, so I put undue pressure on myself to turn these blank nothings into weighty somethings, as I saw my idol dad doing on his large, butter-colored music paper.

When I wasn't writing short stories about my camels T'mershi Duween and Sinini, or about aliens or ballerinas or nuns, or alien ballerina nuns, I'd report on the happenings in the house or the world at large. I was political and wrote a letter to President Ford to get him to stop men from clubbing baby harp seals. I was ambitious and practiced signing my autograph in various handwriting styles. I was complimentary and wrote a letter to Tina Turner to let her know she is almost as good a dancer as me. I was boy crazy for Shawn Cassidy and wrote his name everywhere, followed by pages of scrawling my new name "Moon Unit Cassidy" in loopy cursive. I used my journals like a secret best friend I could tell anything to: "I'm sad. I wish my dad would take me with him to Europe." When I still lived at home and had no privacy, I'd write in code about really secret stuff so I had somewhere safe to be the real me, to vent about my feelings with impunity.

As time went on, I loosened the reins on my dad-comparing and perfectionism in my journals. And in life. I had no choice. Rightly or wrongly, I believed I would never be as good as my dad, so I had to learn to live with plain old me.

For Moon Unit Zappa, processing a life so unique, so punctuated by the whims of creative genius, the tastes of popular culture, the calculus of celebrity and the nature of fractured love has at times been eviscerating, at others, illuminating. Yes, this is a book about growing up in the shadows of Frank Zappa, in a sexually free, but also dysfunctional world in 1970s LA.

And as we careen into the 1980s, the style and the music and the tone changes--but Moon remains the constant, trying to find herself in a very confusing, everchanging equation--that of her family and the relationship with fame.

It is Moon's deep sense of humor and humility that keeps her grounded, and keeps this memoir pinned to the ground. Earth to Moon is a creative, colorful, and wonderful lesson in growing into oneself.

In this lavish retrospective authored by the icon himself, Elton John shares his fondest memories, most unforgettable moments, and previously untold stories from his record-breaking final tour.

Farewell Yellow Brick Road is a full-color celebration of Elton John's record-breaking, globe-spanning farewell tour--from Allentown to Auckland, from Sydney to San Francisco. Featured concerts include Elton's dazzling performances at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in November 2022, the finale of which streamed live on Disney+. Fans will be treated to a behind-the-scenes glimpse into every aspect of these spectacular shows, including Elton's legendary touring wardrobe by Gucci, the set design, official photography, and more.

As the tour weaves across the world, Elton reaches back in time to reflect on key moments from his life on the road and to reminisce about the beginning of his career while sharing never-before-seen images and memorabilia. A poignant foreword by David Furnish, Elton's husband and manager, as well as the tour's creative director, rounds out this incredible insider's look. Join Elton on his remarkable, career-affirming farewell.

Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age is a tribute to the groundbreaking drag icons who helped pave the way for the queens of today.

Prelude and Foreword written by fashion icon Miss J Alexander and drag superstar Sasha Velour

Drag has officially transcended the underground and exploded into the mainstream. Queens have more visibility than ever, and it's been hard won through decades of perseverance, imagination, and intergenerational support within local drag communities. It's time to honor the queens who paved the way for the new generation of drag and are still carrying out their work today.

To create Legends of Drag, a photo book and archive of living drag history, authors Harry James Hanson and Devin Antheus traveled coast to coast, visiting 16 cities to meet 80 legendary entertainers who shared boundless wisdom and powerful anecdotes from their lives. These queens are featured in stunning portraits shot on location and styled with unique floral elements.

"Through its attention to archiving drag history and capturing the precious and fleeting moments with our queer elders, Legends of Drag will go down in history itself. It is essential reading, and in this day and age, when LGBTQ+ literature, chronicles, and history are being banned, this book is more important than ever." --Bust magazine

An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System Of A Down, Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System Of A Down, was "unlikely a chart-topper as had ever existed in modern music history: a band of Armenian-Americans playing a practically unclassifiable clash of wildly aggressive metal riffs, unconventional tempo-twisting rhythms, and Armenian folk melodies, with me alternately growling, screaming, and crooning lyrics that could pivot from avant-garde silliness to raging socio-political rants in the space of a single line." After all, as Serj concedes, "it's not easy listening."

Even so, there's no doubt that System's music had struck a chord with millions of listeners across the globe ever since they burst on the scene in the mid-1990s. With nearly 40 million album sales, three albums topping the Billboard charts, and a devoted legion of fans, the band dominated the alt-rock and metal scenes just as the world hurtled into a new millennium, redefining the very idea of what rockstars could and couldn't talk about, could and couldn't do, could and couldn't represent.

In DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM, Serj presents readers with a memoir that is far more than just a rock 'n' roll fable. It's an immigrant's tale, it's an activist's awakening, and it's a spiritual journey from darkness toward light. And all of this comes down to the fact that Serj himself has had the chance to live an extraordinary life--thanks to a combination of luck, circumstance, struggle, talent, and spiritual awakening. Born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Serj grows up hearing bombs drop outside his childhood home during the country's civil war, before moving to Los Angeles at the age of seven. As a young man, he is immersed in the SoCal community of "Little Armenia," learning more and more about the brutal genocide faced by his ancestors while helping his parents adapt to the constraints and contradictions of the American Dream. Then, during a pivotal drive home from an LSAT class, Serj decides to turn away from a promising future in business and law to make music instead--a decision that leads him to touring five continents as the lead singer of a hugely popular rock band, hitting number #1 on the Billboard album charts the morning of 9/11, and then having the hit single from the same album banned from radio two days later. In the years that follow, his uniquely singular story continues, as he evades glass bottles hurled at a cancelled show by angry Slayer fans, teams up with Tom Morello to push social justice causes on unsuspecting metalheads, argues with LAPD officers over the best way to quell rioting fans, and defines new sounds and singing tactics with Rick Rubin.

Braiding together Serj's thought-provoking insight with heartfelt and poetic prose, DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM retraces Serj's remarkable and unlikely journey, and explores what it's taught him--about music, about art, about activism, and about himself. It's an unforgettable ride that will leave you breathless--and an absolute delight for new fans and old ones alike.

2019 Reprint of 1972 English Language Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. Containing 187 Illustrations, some of which are in color. Between 1919 and 1921, circulars were sent to psychiatric institutions in German speaking countries by Hans Prinzhorn and Karl Willmanns, then Head of the Psychiatric University Hospital. The artistic works of patients they asked for were destined for the creation of a museum of psychopathological art.

In 1922, Prinzhorn published his richly illustrated Artistry of the Mentally Ill [in German] based on the collection. Received enthusiastically by the art scene of his time, it immediately became "the Bible of the Surrealists". The book was edited many times and translated into various languages. To this day, it remains a classic. It launched the field of psychiatric art. It was the first attempt to analyze the drawings of the mentally ill not merely psychologically, but also aesthetically. Prinzhorn presents the works of ten "schizophrenic masters", now housed in the Prinzhorn Collection at the University Hospital Heidelberg, with in-depth aesthetic analysis of each and also full-color reproductions of their work. This is the first and only English translation.

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go comes a gorgeously illustrated volume of lyrics written for the platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated jazz singer Stacey Kent.

Memorably introduced by Ishiguro himself, The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain collects the lyrics of sixteen songs he wrote for world-renowned American singer Stacey Kent, which were set to music by her partner, Jim Tomlinson. An exquisite coming together of the literary and musical worlds, the lyrics are infused with a sense of yearning, melancholy, love, and the romance of travel and liminal spaces.

Further exploring the notion of collaboration and interpretation, the collection is illustrated by the acclaimed Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli, whose work perfectly captures the atmosphere and sensibility of the songs.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "The definitive biography for decades to come."--Leo Jansen, curator, the Van Gogh Museum, and co-editor of Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Letters

Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, who galvanized readers with their Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Jackson Pollock, have written another tour de force--an exquisitely detailed, compellingly readable portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Working with the full cooperation of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Naifeh and Smith have accessed a wealth of previously untapped materials to bring a crucial understanding to the larger-than-life mythology of this great artist: his early struggles to find his place in the world; his intense relationship with his brother Theo; and his move to Provence, where he painted some of the best-loved works in Western art. The authors also shed new light on many unexplored aspects of Van Gogh's inner world: his erratic and tumultuous romantic life; his bouts of depression and mental illness; and the cloudy circumstances surrounding his death at the age of thirty-seven.

Though countless books have been written about Van Gogh, no serious, ambitious examination of his life has been attempted in more than seventy years. Naifeh and Smith have re-created Van Gogh's life with an astounding vividness and psychological acuity that bring a completely new and sympathetic understanding to this unique artistic genius.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review - The Washington Post - The Wall Street Journal - San Francisco Chronicle - NPR - The Economist - Newsday - BookReporter

"In their magisterial new biography, Van Gogh: The Life, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith provide a guided tour through the personal world and work of that Dutch painter, shining a bright light on the evolution of his art. . . . What [the authors] capture so powerfully is Van Gogh's extraordinary will to learn, to persevere against the odds."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Brilliant . . . Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith are the big-game hunters of modern art history. . . . [Van Gogh] rushes along on a tide of research. . . . At once a model of scholarship and an emotive, pacy chunk of hagiography."--Martin Herbert, The Daily Telegraph (London)

While Karl Lagerfeld was famous for being at the very center of the fashion industry for over half a century, he was equally opinionated when it came to interiors, which acted as a private creative outlet.

Following an introduction by Patrick Mauries, each house is introduced by a short text by Marie Kalt unveiling the history of Lagerfeld's homes while identifying key designers and pieces. From his elegant art deco-inspired apartment in Saint-Sulpice, Paris, to the incredibly ornate eighteenth-century mansion Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo, Lagerfeld's houses reveal he was a collector on a Renaissance scale as they showcase his spectacular range. Lagerfeld balanced the old with the new and moved from one atmosphere to the next, leaving a Memphis-designed apartment in Monte Carlo for a grand tour-themed Roman pied-a-terre, followed by bucolic French country houses and even a majestic Nordic villa in his native Hamburg.

Presented in a large, elegant format, Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses will be a rich source of inspiration for those interested in interior design and will appeal to fans of the decorative arts and the fashion designer himself.

"Every speaker can put these ideas into practice immediately -- and they should!" Dr. Richard C. Harris, Certified World Class Speaking Coach

"An insightful read" Dennis Waller, Top 500 Reviewer

"Superb communication advice" Larry Nocella

MASTER THE ONE THING ALL GREAT TED TALKS HAVE IN COMMON

What is the secret to delivering a great TED talk?

What is the magic ingredient that makes a TED talk captivating?

And more importantly, how can you use those secrets to make your presentations more powerful, dynamic and engaging?

To try to answer these questions, I studied over 200 of the best TED talks. I broke each TED talk down in terms of structure, message and delivery.

Here's what I discovered. After studying over 200 TED talks, the one commonality among all the great TED talks is that they contain stories.

UTILIZE ADVANCED STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES TO INJECT LIFE INTO YOUR PRESENTATIONS

Essentially, the best speakers on the TED stage were the ones who had mastered the art of storytelling. They had mastered how to craft and present their stories in a way that allowed them to share their message with the world without seeming like they were lecturing their audience.

DISCOVER THE 23 STORYTELLING SECRETS OF THE BEST TED TALKS

In this short but powerful guide, you're going to learn how to use stories to make your presentations engaging and entertaining. Using case studies drawn from TED talks by Sir Ken Robinson, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Susan Cain, Leslie Morgan Steiner, Mike Rowe and Malcom Gladwell, you'll learn how to craft stories that keep your audience mesmerized.

By the time you've finished reading this storytelling manifesto, you will have picked up twenty-three principles on how to create stories that keep your audiences mesmerized.

Whether you are giving a TED talk or a corporate presentation, you will be able to apply the principles you pick up in this guide to make your next talk a roaring success!

RAVE REVIEWS FROM READERS

"No more boring speeches and presentations" Douglas L. Coppock

"A crisp and no fluff book" Kam Syed

"A great book on storytelling" David Bishop

"Excellent book for any speaker" Dean Krosecz

2023 Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
2023 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, Association for Recorded Sound Collections​
2023 The Judy Tsou Critical Race Studies Award, American Musicological Society

How Black musicians have changed the country music landscape and brought light to Black creativity and innovation.

After a century of racist whitewashing, country music is finally reckoning with its relationship to Black people. In this timely work--the first book on Black country music by a Black writer--Francesca Royster uncovers the Black performers and fans, including herself, who are exploring the pleasures and possibilities of the genre.

Informed by queer theory and Black feminist scholarship, Royster's book elucidates the roots of the current moment found in records like Tina Turner's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On! She reckons with Black "bros" Charley Pride and Darius Rucker, then chases ghosts into the future with Valerie June. Indeed, it is the imagination of Royster and her artists that make this music so exciting for a genre that has long been obsessed with the past. The futures conjured by June and others can be melancholy, and are not free of racism, but by centering Black folk Royster begins to understand what her daughter hears in the banjo music of Our Native Daughters and the trap beat of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road." A Black person claiming country music may still feel a bit like a queer person coming out, but, collectively, Black artists and fans are changing what country music looks and sounds like--and who gets to love it.

Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself.

."What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it's a tale of long journeying through a life that changed popular music: of a homesick wanderer forging ahead on routes of her own invention, and of me on her trail, heading toward the ringing of her voice."

--From the introduction

For decades, Joni Mitchell's life and music have enraptured listeners. One of the most celebrated artists of her generation, Mitchell has inspired countless musicians--from peers like James Taylor, to inheritors like Prince and Brandi Carlile--and authors, who have dissected her music and her life in their writing. At the same time, Mitchell has always been a force beckoning us still closer, as--with the other arm--she pushes us away. Given this, music critic Ann Powers wondered if there was another way to draw insights from the life of this singular musician who never stops moving, never stops experimenting.

In Traveling, Powers seeks to understand Mitchell through her myriad journeys. Through extensive interviews with Mitchell's peers and deep archival research, she takes readers to rural Canada, mapping the singer's childhood battle with polio. She charts the course of Mitchell's musical evolution, ranging from early folk to jazz fusion to experimentation with pop synthetics. She follows the winding road of Mitchell's collaborations with other greats, and the loves that emerged along the way, all the way through to the remarkable return of Mitchell to music-making after the 2015 aneurysm that nearly took her life.

Along this journey, Powers' wide-ranging musings on the artist's life and career reconsider the biographer's role and the way it twines against the reality of a fan. In doing so, Traveling illustrates the shifting nature of biography, and the ultimate contradiction of celebrity: that an icon cannot truly, completely be known to a fan.

Kaleidoscopic in scope, and intimate in its detail, Traveling is a fresh and fascinating addition to the Joni Mitchell canon, written by a biographer in full command of her gifts who asks as much of herself as of her subject.