In a world filled with great museums and great paintings, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the reigning queen. Her portrait rules over a carefully designed salon, one that was made especially for her in a museum that may seem intended for no other purpose than to showcase her virtues. What has made this portrait so renowned, commanding such adoration? And what of other works of art that continue to enthrall spectators: What makes the Great Sphinx so great? Why do iterations of The Scream and American Gothic permeate nearly all aspects of popular culture? Is it because of the mastery of the artists who created them? Or can something else account for their popularity? In Famous Works of Art—And How They Got That Way, John B. Nici looks at twenty well-known paintings, sculptures, and photographs that have left lasting impressions on the general public. As Nici notes, there are many reasons why works of art become famous; few have anything to do with quality. The author explains why the reputations of some creations have grown over the years, some disproportionate to their artistic value. Written in a style that is both entertaining and informative, this book explains how fame is achieved, and ultimately how a work either retains that fame, or passes from the public consciousness. From ancient artifacts to a can of soup, this book raises the question: Did the talent to promote and publicize a work exceed the skills employed to create that object of worship? Or are some masterpieces truly worth the admiration they receive? The creations covered in this book include the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, El Greco’s The Burial of Count Orgaz, Rodin’s The Thinker, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and Picasso’s Guernica. Featuring more than sixty images, including color reproductions, Famous Works of Art—And How They Got That Way will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered if a great painting, sculpture, or photograph, really deserves to be called “great.”

There is no single masterpiece in art galleries or with people—we’re all works of art in our own special way! Our skin tones might all vary; we're every shade and hue. Some people think we look surreal, and frankly, yes, we do! But we can make you tilt your head, and see the world anew. Pairing bright and engaging illustrations with relatable rhymes, this beautiful hardbound book celebrates diversity while teaching kids about different styles of art: from prehistoric cave art to surrealism, cubism, pop art, and contemporary art. Includes an appendix that provides brief descriptions of different art styles along with mentions of their most significant works and practitioners to encourage further exploration, including: Stonehenge the bust of Nefertiti Leonardo da Vinci Henri Matisse Joan Miró Rene Magritte Roy Lichtenstein Pauline Boty Rachel Whiteread Steve McQueen Lexile: AD490L

Bold and engaging predictions of which artists and artworks from the past two decades will endure through their power to question, provoke, and inspire Just as Picasso’s Guernica or Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa survive as powerful cultural documents of their time, there will be works from our own era that will endure for generations to come. Kelly Grovier curates a compelling list of one hundred paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, performances, and video pieces that have made the greatest impact from 1989 to the present. The global cast includes Marina Abramovic , Matthew Barney, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan, Marlene Dumas, Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Gursky, Cristina Iglesias, On Kawara, Jeff Koons, Ernesto Neto, Gerhard Richter, Pipilotti Rist, Kara Walker, and Ai Weiwei. Many of the pieces reflect the cultural upheavals of recent times, from the collapse of the Berlin Wall to the blossoming of the Arab Spring. A daring yet convincing analysis of which artworks best capture the zeitgeist of our time, Grovier’s list also provides a much-needed map through the landscape of contemporary art. Illustrations of key works are supplemented by comparative images, and short texts offer a biography of each artwork, tracing its inception and impact, and offering a view not only into the imagination of the artist but into the age in which we live.

"How Art Works explores puzzles that have preoccupied philosophers as well as the general public: Can art be defined? How do we decide what is good art? Why do we gravitate to sadness in art? Why do we devalue a perfect fake? Could 'my kid have done that'? Does reading fiction enhance empathy? Drawing on careful observations, probing interviews, and clever experiments, Ellen Winner reveals surprising answers to these and other artistic mysteries. We may come away with a new understanding of how art works on us."--Jacket.

Filled with characters as menacing as they are memorable, this chilling twist on vampire fiction packs a punch in the bestselling tradition of ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. Asmodeus “Sax” Saxon-Tang, a vainglorious and well-established antiques dealer, has made a fortune over many years by globetrotting for the finest lost objects in the world. Only Sax knows the true secret to his success: at certain points of his life, he’s killed vampires for their priceless hoards of treasure. But now Sax’s past actions are quite literally coming back to haunt him, and the lives of those he holds most dear are in mortal danger. To counter this unnatural threat, and with the blessing of the Holy Roman Church, a cowardly but cunning Sax must travel across Europe in pursuit of incalculable evil—and immeasurable wealth—with a ragtag team of mercenaries and vampire killers to hunt a terrifying, ageless monster…one who is hunting Sax in turn. From author Ben Tripp, whose first horror novel Rise Again “raises the stakes so high that the book becomes nearly impossible to put down” (Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother), The Fifth House of the Heart is a powerful story that will haunt you long after its final pages.

Mix and match pieces of the world's greatest artworks from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Gilbert Stuart's George Washington to create new portraits. Flip Flora's pretty hairstyle on the head of a Kabuki actor. Top Frida Kahlo with the straw hat of Vincent van Gogh. Printed on heavy board and laminated, Master-Pieces will stand up to the most enthusiastic flipping, at home or in the classroom. Including full images with captions, short descriptions of the works, and artists’ biographies, it features artworks from the world’s most magnificent public collections, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Louvre. With one thousand possible portrait combinations, Master-Pieces will have children looking at art in a whole new way. Featured artists include Leonardo da Vinci · Vincent van Gogh · Frida Kahlo · Sandro Botticelli · Gilbert Stuart · Toshusai Sharaku · Archibald J. Motley Jr. · Giuseppe Arcimboldo · Rogier van der Weyden · Diego Velázquez Featured museums include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Museum of Fine Arts, Boston · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC · Art Institute of Chicago · The Louvre, Paris · The Uffizi, Florence · Skokloster Castle, Sweden · The Prado, Madrid · Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo