This fascinating study of art gallery interiors examines the changing ideals and practices of galleries in Europe and North America from the 18th to the late 20th century. It offers a detailed account of the different displays that have been created—the colors of the background walls, lighting, furnishings, the height and density of the art works on show—and it traces the different scientific, political and commercial influences that lay behind their development. Charlotte Klonk shows that scientists like Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt advanced theories of perception that played a significant role in justifying new modes of exhibiting. Equally important for the changing modes of exhibition in art galleries was what Michael Baxandall has called “the period eye,” a way of seeing informed by the impact of new fashions in interior decoration and by department store and shop window displays. The history of museum interiors, she argues, should be appreciated as a revealing chapter in the broader history of experience.

In the sciences, the experimental approach has proved its worth in generating what subsequently requires understanding. Can the emergent field of artistic research be inspired by recent thinking about the history and workings of science?

When Philip Serrell gave up teaching to become a professional auctioneer, he thought he was embarking on a sensible and safe career... a quiet life in the country with no surprises. How wrong he was. In What Am I Bid? he tells of life after the events he described in his previous memoirs, An Auctioneer's Lot and Sold to the Man with the Tin Leg, to bring his story up to date. From dodgy cars to fakes in the saleroom; angry livestock, mangled silverware and tortuous - not to mention muddy - experiences in local markets and farm sales, Philip has been there, done that and got the hoofprints on his suit to prove it.

This introductory guide to Philip de Laszlo's portraiture explores his reputation as one of the most important and prolific portrait artists working in Britain between 1907 and 1937."