Harvard University Press - ART

Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 6

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

John Nesbitt
Assisted by Cecile Morrisson
The combined Dumbarton Oaks and Fogg collection of Byzantine seals is one of the largest in the world, containing 17,000 specimens. Volume 6 in the catalogue presents the seals of emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople. More than 250 seals are illustrated and accompanied—where appropriate—by a full commentary regarding each specimen’s date, biographical information on its owner, peculiarities of orthography, and iconographic features.
Hardcover April 2009

Cleopatra and Rome

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Diana E. E. Kleiner
In this beautifully illustrated book, we experience the synthesis of Cleopatra's and Rome's defining moments through surviving works of art and other remnants of what was once an opulent material culture. This culture best chronicles Cleopatra's legend and suggests her subtle but indelible mark on the art of imperial Rome at the critical moment of its inception.
Paperback April 2009

Lighting in Early Byzantium

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Laskarina Bouras
Maria Parani
Foreword by Susan A. Boyd
This book is the first general survey of lighting in Byzantium. The first part of the book discusses the technology and types of lighting devices and explains their decorative symbolism and social function. The second half illustrates this narrative by drawing on a Dumbarton Oaks exhibition.
Paperback March 2009

Arab-Byzantine Coins

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Clive Foss
This illustrated handbook presents a concise history of the development of the coinage of the early Arab caliphate in the seventh century. The historical introduction, which includes descriptions of all the basic types, is followed by a summary catalogue of the recently acquired collection of Arab-Byzantine coins at Dumbarton Oaks.
Paperback February 2009

The Naked Gaze

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

Carlos Rojas
This volume focuses on tropes of visuality and gender to reflect on shifting understandings of the significance of Chineseness, modernity, and Chinese modernity. Through detailed readings of narrative works by eight authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the study identifies three distinct constellations of visual concerns corresponding to the late imperial, mid-twentieth century, and contemporary periods, respectively.
Hardcover January 2009

Dogs

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

Catherine Johns
The juxtaposition and explanation of images as diverse as Greek pottery, Victorian jewelry, Assyrian sculpture, and Japanese netsuke, illuminates our understanding of the place of dogs in human society around the world. This book explores these cultural expressions and reflections of our deep and long-standing interest in dogs.
Hardcover December 2008

The Economy of Prestige

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

James F. English
This is a book about one of the great untold stories of modern cultural life: the remarkable ascendancy of prizes in literature and the arts. James F. English documents the dramatic rise of the awards industry and its complex role within what he describes as an economy of cultural prestige.
Paperback December 2008

Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 53/54, Spring and Autumn 2008

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Francesco Pellizzi
Among other articles, this double volume includes: The value of forgery, Jonathan Hay; Affective operations of art and literature, Ernst van Alphen; Betty’s Turn, Stephen Melville.
Paperback December 2008

Harvard Art Museum Handbook

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Stephan Wolohojian
With some 280,000 objects, the Harvard Art Museum is the largest university art museum in the United States. This first handbook of the collections surveys their full scope, from early-Egyptian bronzes and Chinese ceramics to contemporary paintings and prints.
Paperback November 2008

Leaves from Paradise

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Jeffrey F. Hamburger
A pair of leaves recently acquired by Houghton Library presents an opportunity to examine the illuminated sequence composed in honor of John the Evangelist. The richly decorated fragments promise to transform our understanding of the special place of Christ’s “beloved disciple” in 14th-century art, liturgy, theology, and mysticism.
Paperback November 2008

Dumbarton Oaks Papers 61

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Alice-Mary Talbot
This latest volume of Dumbarton Oaks Papers focuses in part on literary and historical texts: historicism in Byzantine thought and literature; the Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa, encompassing the First Crusade and the Armenian diaspora; and a reappraisal of the satirical prose work Mazaris’s Journey to Hades.
Hardcover October 2008

From Egypt to Babylon

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Paul Collins
For those who believe that globalization is a purely modern phenomenon, this book holds a startling and absorbing lesson. Readers are immersed in a world of exotic empires and states as they waxed and waned and interacted in a period of extraordinary internationalism—all before the rise of the Persian Empire.
Hardcover October 2008

Audubon: Early Drawings

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

John James Audubon
Introduction by Richard Rhodes
Notes by Scott V. Edwards
Foreword by Leslie A. Morris
In 1805, Jean Jacques Audubon fled revolutionary violence in both Haiti and France to take refuge in frontier America. Ten years later, John James Audubon was an American citizen whose desire to “become acquainted with nature” led him to reinvent himself as a naturalist and artist. The drawings he made during this crucial decade, of specimens he collected in France and in America, are published together here for the first time in large format and full color.
Hardcover September 2008

Art of Ancient Egypt

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Gay Robins
From the awesome grandeur of the Great Pyramids to the delicacy of a face etched on an amulet, the power of ancient Egyptian art persists to this day. Spanning three thousand years, this illustrated history offers a thorough and delightfully readable introduction to the artwork.
Paperback September 2008

Hadrian

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Thorsten Opper
Even in the panoply of Roman history, Hadrian stands out. This book moves beyond the familiar image of Hadrian to offer a new appraisal of this Emperor’s contradictory personality, his exploits and accomplishments, his rule, and his military role, against the backdrop of his twenty-one-year reign.
Hardcover September 2008

Classic-Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Philip J. Arnold
Edited by Christopher A. Pool
This book explores the diverse traditions and dynamic interactions along the Mexican Gulf lowlands at the height of their cultural florescence. Best known for their elaborate ball game rituals and precocious inscriptions with long-count dates, these cultures served as a critical nexus between the civilizations of highland Mexico and the lowland Maya, influencing developments in both regions.
Hardcover June 2008

Dumbarton Oaks

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Gudrun Bühl
Dumbarton Oaks houses the extraordinary art collection begun by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss. In this book the museum publishes the specialist collections in Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, along with examples from the Blisses’ superb European collection, for the first time.
Paperback June 2008