Modern British Artists

A blog dedicated to Modern British Art from Lund Humphries, the leading publisher of books on the subject.

Why Plan? Making Sense of Planning for a Post-pandemic Era

Posted on 05 June 2020

Authors Graham Haughton and Iain White consider the importance of planning in a post-pandemic world. They outline the failures and successes of recent planning decisions - as highlighted by Covid-19...

Tags: Concise Guides to Planning, Covid-19, Planning, Planning Theory, Why Plan?,

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The Power of an Image - by John Pardey

Posted on 03 June 2020

The journey that led to my book began nearly five years ago on yet another trip to visit one of the most celebrated houses of the last one hundred years; this time it was ‘Fallingwater’, on PA Route 381 out of Pittsburgh in the States. Although I knew the house inside out and must have read nearly everything printed about it, as an architect I know that only actually experiencing a building allows you to really understand it – to feel it.

Tags: 20/20, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, Great houses, Photography,

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Dorothea Tanning : In Conversation with Victoria Carruthers

Posted on 31 May 2020

In our latest 'In Conversation' article, Victoria Carruthers - author of Dorothea Tanning: Transformations - talks to Meris Ryan-Goff about Tanning’s life and art, key works and ‘Transformations' in Tanning's career, and her...

Tags: Art, Dorothea Tanning, Lund Humphries, painting, Surrealism, Transformations, Victoria Carruthers,

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Barbara Hepworth and the St Ives Story

Posted on 19 May 2020

On the occasion of the 45^th anniversary of Barbara Hepworth’s death, Lund Humphries Managing Director, Lucy Myers, reflects on the life and art of a pioneering artist and her unique connection to a location which was to shape the history of Modern British Art.

Tags: Art Book Publishing, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth Carving and Drawings, Barbara Hepworth The Plasters, British art, history of Lund Humphries, Lund Humphries, Modern British Art, sculpture, St Ives,

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Edward Burra's Dark Side : The Danse Macabre

Posted on 17 May 2020

As part of our focus on Surrealist artists this month, we are sharing an extract from Simon Martin's monograph on Edward Burra.

This important book represents the first full-scale monograph on Edward Burra, positioning the artist - who has been somewhat neglected by histories of modern art because his singular vision was often at odd with the mainstream art world - as a major figure in the history of 20th-century art.

Tags: Art Blog, artist monographs, Book Extract, British art, Edward Burra, Lund Humphries, Modern British Art, Pallant House, Simon Martin, Surrealism,

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Museum Week 2020

Posted on 15 May 2020

Supporting Museums and Galleries is more important than ever during these difficult times... so for MUSEUM WEEK 2020 we have curated a collection of 10 of the best online museum exhibitions, resources and ‘events’ for you to enjoy from home!

Tags: british library, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Hepworth Wakefield, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, Museum Publications, Museum Week, Museum Week 2020, Pallant House Chichester, Recommendations, Schirn Kunsthalle, Stanford University, Top 10, UK Galleries, V&A, Watts Gallery,

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Ruskin's Venice: The Stones Revisited... Under Quarantine

Posted on 13 May 2020

What might Ruskin have thought of Venice today? He held strong views about the kind of destructive restorations he had witnessed in the mid-nineteenth century, and his meeting in Venice in 1877 with the young Count Alvise Piero Zorzi led to their close collaboration on Zorzi’s planned publication: a damning account of the works undertaken on the north and south façades of the Basilica of San Marco, and a forceful protest against the plans scheduled for the west front. Ruskin took part with enthusiasm, writing a long preface to Zorzi’s pamphlet, and undertaking to pay the publication costs.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, art history, Covid-19, John Ruskin, Restoration, Ruskin, Ruskin's Venice, Venice Biennale,

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Designing London : In Conversation with Ike Ijeh

Posted on 05 May 2020

I’ve always loved and been fascinated by London, as well as it being the city of my birth and the place where I live and work. I almost view it as a friend who is constantly present and in whose company I can never feel truly dejected or alone. For me, this kind of relationship lends the city human characteristics and I thought it might be fascinating to explore what these characteristics might be and how they contribute to the overall image and identity of the city.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, City Design, Future of Design, In Conversation, London, Urban Character, Urban Design,

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Studio Lives : In Conversation with Louise Campbell

Posted on 01 May 2020

I began to think about relations between architects and artists on a visit to Paris. In areas like Montparnasse, there’s a concentration of stylish studio-houses around the Parc Montsouris, many of them designed by architects like Le Corbusier, Perret and Lurçat. Twentieth-century architects are often said to have ignored their clients’ wishes in order to pursue their own ideas. But could that be true in buildings which accommodated particular needs and ways of working? They made me wonder about the importance of the artist-client, and whether the studios built for them actually represented a joint project.

Tags: 20th Century Art, 20th Century Painting, 20th Century Sculpture, Architecture, Art, art studio, Country Life, Dora Gordine, Eileen Agar, F.E. McWilliam, G F Watts, Henry Payne, In Conversation, interior design, Le Corbusier, London, Paris, Roger Fry, Studio Lives,

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Alec Hamilton : The Voysey church that Voysey didn’t build

Posted on 28 April 2020

Mount Vernon Chapel stands, oddly imposing though tiny, on a slope amounting to an eminence, on the forgotten edge of a car park, with brambles encroaching from below. It would not look out of place in Darmstadt or a Vienna suburb.

Tags: Architecture, Arts and crafts, Arts and Crafts Churches, Churches, history of architecture, Voysey,

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Insiders/Outsiders : In Conversation with Monica Bohm-Duchen

Posted on 21 April 2020

A good place to start, I think, is to consider how many iconic markers of British life (from the London bus stop sign through the Tiger who Came to Tea to the Festival Hall or Glyndebourne Opera) were wholly or in large part the creation of refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. By doing so, we not only acknowledge the pervasive influence of so many of these refugees but are forced to interrogate the very notion of Britishness – a topical issue, to be sure.

Tags: 20th Century Art, 20th Century Painting, emigre artists, Emigre Photographers of the 20th Century, Eva Frankfurther, Festival of Britain, Frank Auerbach, Insiders Outsiders, Insiders Outsiders Festival, Josef Herman, Lucien Freud, Moholy-Nagy, refugee art, Refugee Britain,

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The Edwardians and their Houses : In Conversation with Timothy Brittain-Catlin

Posted on 18 April 2020

Each quintessential Edwardian house will by definition be different from another one, because the link between them is the richness of exploration of style and detail. But there are some examples which are quite extraordinary. One of the pioneers in my book is Earl Carrington, who is an interesting figure as a politician because he was on the one hand a radical, active, and personally extremely generous, land reformer, and on the other, one of the hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains, in attendance on Queen Victoria and a close friend of Edward VII.

Tags: Architecture, Design, Edwardian Architecture, Edwardian history, history of architecture, House, Political History, The Edwardians and their Houses,

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STAFF PICK : A Kurt Jackson Bestiary

Posted on 16 April 2020

Kurt Jackson is an artist well known for his environmentalism, and his love and respect for the natural world. In A Kurt Jackson Bestiary (2015) we are taken on what feels like a wonderful and varied field trip across Britain and Southern Europe, sketching and painting as we go. I say ‘we’ because the artist/author communicates the experience of producing art in a manner so vivid that it is easy to imagine yourself as part of the situations being described. The noise and excitement of sketching gulls on a Cornish fishing boat as sardines break the surface of the water, the peaceful morning in autumn where small copper butterflies are found ‘blissed out in their floral arcadia’, the quiet scientific focus when painting the tranquilised badger or the injured buzzard.

Tags: contemporary, contemporary art, Cornwall, Kurt Jackson, Kurt Jackson Bestiary, Kurt Jackson Sketchbooks, Kurt Jackson The Burn, painting, southwest,

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PARKS, PLANNING, AND THE RESPONSES TO COVID-19

Posted on 14 April 2020

Parks are not the answer to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, but they are part of a suite of places and resources that offer respite from the ongoing media discussions of isolation and ill health. By looking at historical forms of planning we can see the multiple positive impacts of Green Infrastructure: we can see how it was used to facilitate social betterment; we can identify how well-designed places are actively allowing people to go outside; and we can show how well-planned towns and communities can function in this time of need. We need Green Infrastructure now and we cannot afford to lose green spaces to closures. Planning has taught us that a lack of access to Green Infrastructure leads to poor quality places and ill health. If we all follow the government guidance, then we will not lose our parks and we will continue to benefit from them.

Tags: Concise Guides to Planning, Covid-19, Green Infrastructure, Green Space, Parks, Planning,

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Alan Davie, Lund Humphries and the Yorkshire Connection

Posted on 26 November 2019

In 1967 Alan Bowness, future Director of the Tate, wrote the first monograph on Alan Davie and described him as being ‘among one of the major figures in the art...

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Library of Light: In Conversation with Jo Joelson

Posted on 11 July 2019

To celebrate the publication of Library of Light, written and compiled by Jo Joelson, Alexander Harris has conducted an in-depth interview with the artist, writer and interviewer about some of the ideas that informed the writing of her fascinating book.

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Amy Sillman

Posted on 20 May 2019

Dub Stamp 5a, Amy Sillman, 2018, ink, gouache, silkscreen To celebrate the publication of Valerie Smith’s new book Amy Sillman, we have decided to share an extract from the...

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Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas

Posted on 11 April 2019

Two Fishes, Ben Nicholson, 1932, from Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas To celebrate the publication of Lee Beard's new book Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas, we've decided to share...

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Verne Dawson

Posted on 01 March 2019

The allusive paintings of American artist Verne Dawson (b.1961) suggest an artist fascinated with storytelling. Dawson's idiosyncratic paintings defy contemporary art-world trends and eschew categorisation, revealing an artist attuned to...

Tags: Art, art book, Art Book Publishers, Art Book Publishing, Contemporary Painters series, John Hutchinson, landscape, Lund Humphries, painting, Verne Dawson,

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Neo Rauch

Posted on 28 February 2019

Born in 1960, acclaimed German painter Neo Rauch blends the iconography of Socialist Realism with the stylistic mannerisms of the Baroque and Romantic past. Influenced by his art-school training in...

Tags: Art, Art Book Publishers, Art Book Publishing, Baroque, Contemporary Painters series, David Zwirner, Hong Kong, Leipzig School, Lund Humphries, Michael Glover, Neo Rauch, Romanticism, Socialist Realism,

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Gino Valle

Posted on 01 November 2018

Born in Udine, Italy in 1923, Gino Valle was one of the most original and creative figures to emerge in post-war European architecture. He studied at the IUAV in Venice before...

Tags: architect, Architecture, architecture book, Gino Valle, Italian architecture, Lund Humphries,

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Rabih Hage: Quiet Architecture

Posted on 03 October 2018

We're delighted to have published a monograph on the award winning architect and interior designer Rabih Hage. Ranging from London townhouses to escapist farmhouses, this book provides a comprehensive survey...

Tags: Design, Dominic Bradbury, interior design, Rabih Hage,

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Preview: Eric Ravilious Scrapbooks

Posted on 07 August 2018

Eric Ravilious was an English designer, wood-engraver and illustrator born in July 1903. Growing up in East Sussex, he attended Eastbourne School of Art and then went on to study...

Tags: Art, art books, artists scrapbooks, artwork, Brian Webb, designer, Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, new publication, Peyton Skipwith, Ravilious, scrapbooks, Webb & Webb,

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Alison Wilding

Posted on 20 July 2018

Alison Wilding RA (b.1948) is one of Britain's foremost sculptors. Born in Blackburn in 1948, she studied at Nottingham College of Art from 1967 to 1968 before attending Ravensbourne College...

Tags: Alison Wilding, art exhibition, Art gallery, artist, artists monograph, De La Warr Pavilion, exhibition, Modernist Sculpture, monograph, sculpture, The Whitworth,

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Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings at Gagosian

Posted on 13 June 2018

Howard Hodgkin, born in London in 1932, was a popular British artist known for his abstract paintings, many inspired by his regular travels to India as well as his friends and...

Tags: artwork, exhibitions in london, Gagosian gallery, Hepworth Wakefield, Howard Hodgkin, Howard Hodgkin and india, last paintings, paintings,

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Introducing Global Spectacular

Posted on 06 June 2018

Earlier last month we published The Global Spectacular: Contemporary Museum Architecture in China and the Arabian Peninsula by Karen Exell, Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Qatar. The book provides,...

Tags: Architecture, Contemporary Museum Architecture, Museum Architecture, Museums, Museums in China, Starchitect,

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Etel Adnan: Vibrant Landscapes

Posted on 05 June 2018

Etel Adnan is a Lebanese-American poet, essayist and visual artist. Born in 1925, she grew up in Beirut, Lebanon before moving to California and then France. Adnan came relatively late...

Tags: Art, artist, author, California, ceramic, Contemporary Painters series, Etel Adnan, leporellos, painter, paintings, poet, tapestry, writer,

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Plundering Beauty: An Extract

Posted on 04 June 2018

In March, this year, we published Plundering Beauty: A History of Art Crime during War by Arthur Tompkins, a District Court Judge based in Wellington, New Zealand. The book charts the...

Tags: art crime, art crime during war, art history, plundering beauty,

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INTRODUCING: PREFAB HOUSING AND THE FUTURE OF BUILDING

Posted on 19 February 2018

Our new book Prefab Housing and the Future of Building, edited by Matthew Aichison, is now available in the UK and in the US. The book provides a timely insight into the...

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Cook's Camden: An Exhibition

Posted on 01 February 2018

An exhibition exploring the acclaimed housing built by Camden when Sydney Cook was Borough Architect 1965-1973 has been announced by Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre. It is curated by...

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Thomas Nozkowski: 16x20 at Pace Gallery

Posted on 25 January 2018

In September last year we published the first monograph of Thomas Nozkowski's work and with it introduced our new Contemporary Painters Series. Now, Pace Gallery are displaying an exhibition of paintings by Nozkowski, approximately...

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Introducing The Wessex Project: Thomas Hardy, Architect

Posted on 24 January 2018

Thomas Hardy is one of England’s greatest novelists and poets, known for works such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd and whose part-real, part-imaginary realm of...

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Introducing Designing for Heritage: Contemporary Visitor Centres

Posted on 08 December 2017

With tourists expecting higher levels of service, information and retail opportunities, visitor centres have become a vital component in providing access to heritage sites, historic buildings, landscapes of natural beauty...

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Lois Dodd: Exhibition and Book Signing

Posted on 29 November 2017

The Lois Dodd exhibition opens at the Alexandre Gallery in New York tomorrow until 20 January 2018. The exhibition celebrates the publication of our Lois Dodd monograph by Faye Hirsch...

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Preview: Dark Side of the Boom

Posted on 21 November 2017

At the end of the year we'll be publishing Georgina Adam's second book with us, Dark Side of the Boom: The Excesses of the Art Market in the 21st Century. The...

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Introducing Geoffrey Clarke Sculptor

Posted on 16 November 2017

This month we'll be publishing Geoffrey Clarke Sculptor: A Catalogue Raisonne, the first complete catalogue of the sculpture of Geoffrey Clarke, a major figure in post-war British sculpture. The book...

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Introducing: Seth Stein Architects

Posted on 11 November 2017

We have published a book on the award winning architecture practice Seth Stein. The book features projects from South Africa, Finland, the Turks & Caicos Island, Canada, Australia and the UK,...

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Heath Robinson's Commercial Art

Posted on 10 November 2017

Heath Robinson (1872–1944) is fondly regarded for his mischievous, gently comic illustrations that have been enjoyed for generations. Born in Finsbury Park, North London, he trained at Islington School of...

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Thomas Nozkowski: First in Contemporary Painters Series

Posted on 09 November 2017

In early September we published the first book in our Contemporary Painters Series, Thomas Nozkowski by John Yau. It is the first full-scale book on Nozkowski's fascinating career and offers a detailed account...

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Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures

Posted on 08 November 2017

In early September, we published Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures, the first book to assemble Fragonard's 'fantasy figures' alongside his original sketches. It is a unique project which uses the multiple...

Tags: Art, art book, Art Book Publishers, Art Book Publishing, Exhibitions, Fantasy Figures, Fragonard, Lund Humphries,

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Introducing Lois Dodd

Posted on 29 October 2017

We are very pleased to announce the publication of the second book in our 'Contemporary Painters' series, Lois Dodd. The book, which was released earlier this month, features paintings by...

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An Evening with Neave Brown

Posted on 25 October 2017

This Friday, award-winning architect Neave Brown will be joined by the author of Cook's Camden: The Making of Modern Housing Mark Swenarton to discuss Neave's work. The event will include appearances...

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Foundation, Cook's Camden, Event, Lund Humphries, Neave Brown,

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Cook's Camden: The Making of Modern Housing

Posted on 05 October 2017

We're delighted to present the new book Cook’s Camden: The Making of Modern Housing, by Mark Swenarton, now available from our website. The book is particularly topical moment as the central protagonist in...

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Introducing the new Lund Humphries identity

Posted on 31 July 2017

Lund Humphries is celebrating two years as an independent publisher following our departure from the Ashgate Publishing Group in Summer 2015. It has been an exciting time of change and...

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Frederick Walker and the Idyllists

Posted on 04 July 2017

We are thrilled to be publishing Frederick Walker and the Idyllists by Donato Esposito, the first book in over a century to explore the work of watercolour artist and illustrator Frederick Walker (1840–1875), described...

Tags: Frederick Walker, Idyllists, Sir John Everett Millais, Victorian Art,

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Social Housing in Vienna & London: Two Traditions

Posted on 22 June 2017

On 14 June 2017, Lund Humphries hosted a discussion on the comparative social housing traditions of London and Vienna, at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London as part of the London Festival of...

Tags: Liane Lefaivre, London housing, Mark Swenarton, Peter Barber, Social Housing, Viennese architecture,

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Howard Hodgkin: Painting India

Posted on 05 June 2017

For popular British artist Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017), India was a source of inspiration from his first visit to the country in 1964. The first of Hodgkin’s paintings inspired by India, Indian Subject...

Tags: British Art, Howard Hodgkin, Painting India,

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Rebel Modernists: Viennese Architecture since Otto Wagner

Posted on 07 May 2017

Set within the fascinating cultural and political world of Vienna from the fin-de-siècle to the present day, Rebel Modernists: Viennese Architecture since Otto Wagner by Liane Lefaivre provides an insightful analysis of the...

Tags: modernist architecture, Viennese architecture, Viennese art,

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‘Designing the V&A’: some reflections by the author

Posted on 04 May 2017

Godfrey Sykes and Francis Fowke, Design for the decoration of the South Kensington Museum, c.1865, © Victoria and Albert Museum, 2017 It may seem strange that the largest object in the...

Tags: art, Arts and crafts, Design, Edward Burne-Jones, Edwardian history, interior design, Lord Leighton, Victorian history, William Morris,

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America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting

Posted on 04 May 2017

When Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon I, fled to America in 1815, he packed his collection of 18th-century French painting. In an effort to spread his native country’s culture...

Tags: eighteenth-century french art, french art, neoclassical, rococo,

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Modern British Artists

A blog dedicated to Modern British Art from Lund Humphries, the leading publisher of books on the subject.

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