From antiquity, when the Great Pyramid was revered as a wonder of the ancient world, to the Cleopatra of Shakespeare’s stage, and from the medieval Arab scholars who sought hieroglyphs’ mystical wisdom, to the biblical stories still told today, Visions of Ancient Egypt explores how ongoing engagement with ancient Egypt has shaped centuries of art and design. Accompanying a ground-breaking exhibition, it unpicks the constructed fantasies of this ancient civilisation and charts how ancient Egypt’s iconic motifs and visual style have been re-imagined over time – revealing not just an enduring artistic fascination with Egypt, but a story of how Egypt’s own heritage has been reinvented and appropriated by different cultures over time, and a history closely entwined with imperial conquest and colonial politics. Beautifully illustrated throughout and with contributions by leading scholars, this book explores the imagined construction of ancient Egypt promoted through painting, sculpture, photography, architecture and film, as well as design, fashion and jewellery. It traces the journey across time, beginning with the ancient Romans who looted Egyptian monuments and adopted Egyptian gods into their Pantheon; to Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt, and the elite taste for all things Egyptian it prompted; as well as the Victorian creation of an Orientalist fantasy popularised at World Fairs. Presented in a nuanced way, the story is not Eurocentric. For the first time, it also places Egypt’s own story firmly into the narrative, exploring for example Egyptian artists’ responses to nationalist calls for independence spurred by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, while also addressing the popular impact of the ‘Tutmania’ craze in the West and its influence on Art Deco. The book also examines the enduring appeal of ancient Egypt in global contemporary art, across media from painting and sculpture, to film and multimedia installations. Artists both within and beyond Egypt continue to look to its ancient imagery to make statements about heritage, identity and race. The book invites readers to debate and to discuss this complex history of the construction of ancient Egypt in art and design, and to ask who these visions serve – both then and now.

This book reveals that Pablo Picasso wasn't simply a figurehead of the Modern Age. He grew up in the 19th century: the extraordinary mixture of values that was fin de siècle Europe penetrated deep into his personality, remaining with him through his life. While he was the quintessential Modern in so many ways, he was also a Victorian, and this duality explains the complexity of his genius. He was simultaneously looking forwards and backwards, and feeding off the efforts of others, before developing his own idioms for depicting the contemporary world. The young artist recognised that society was increasingly in a process of transformation, not in a transitory or temporary way, but permanently, under the inexorable pressures of modernisation. He realised that the emergence of Modern art through the last quarter of the century was a product of this transformation. Throughout his life, Picasso would feel the tension between modernity and the histories it replaced. He would also struggle with the role of the individual, and subjectivity, in this new environment. Each chapter shows how the young artist embraced successive styles at large in the art world of his time. By the age of 14 well capable of drawing in a highly competent Beaux Arts mode, he drew in a Classicist manner of redolent of Ingres, or early Degas. He then moved through various forms of Impressionism, Symbolism, and Post-Impressionism, before arriving in his early twenties at his first wholly individual style, the Blue period, albeit that all these earlier sources were still evident. The Rose period followed, after which the artist began a truly seminal period of experimentation which culminated in the development of Cubism. By 1910, Cubism had become a fully mature vision, practiced by a wide range of artists. It was to provide the springboard for much Modern art across the disciplines, and it positioned Picasso as perhaps the single most important artist of the new century.

Tony Birks was a prolific writer on art, particularly in British studio ceramics. This is the first publication to bring together his writings in a single volume. During the 1970s studio ceramic grew dramatically as a force on the international art scene. In Britain and America particularly, but also across Europe, practice flourished and powerful thinkers sought to define and describe what was happening. It was a dynamic and a controversial time, in which the nature of pottery showed itself capable of radical change. In the decades that followed this outburst, ceramic consolidated into a complex aesthetic and cultural discourse. Tony Birks was at the heart of this new wave of activity. A consummate writer and an artist himself, he supported what had happened in previous decades to generate a Modern ceramic art, and he championed the new generation blossoming around him. His publications provided crucial support to a discipline barely served by mainstream art history and criticism. He wrote monographs on major established figures, but he also had an extraordinarily perceptive eye for new talent, which served to bring attention to vibrant young artists. A number of these went on to become leading forces on the international scene. This book gathers together for the first time a comprehensive selection of Tony Birks's writing. A number of the essays are about the nature of ceramic practice, but the majority are about individual practitioners, among them are Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Claudi Casanovas, Tony Hepburn, Andrew Lord, Ruth Duckworth and Takeshi Yasuda. Taken as a whole, the book is a window on the world of ceramic art at a crucial time in its growth - the issues and the personalities - opened for us by one of its most significant critical voices. The book also includes a catalogue of the ceramic works owned by Tony Birks that were gifted to the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia.

Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist art in Britain since 1951 celebrates the dynamic abstract and constructed art made and exhibited in Britain over a seventy-year period. Including constructed reliefs and sculpture, kinetic and participatory art, painting and printmaking, the publication explains the dialogue and collaboration between artists working in radical ways across the generations to continually reinvent Constructivist art. Rhythm and Geometry is drawn from the collection at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia. Featured artists include Robert Adams, Rana Begum, Charles Biederman, Lygia Clark, Natalie Dower, Stephen Gilbert, Adrian Heath, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore, Jean Spencer, Takis, Victor Vasarely, Mary Webb, Stephen Willats, Gillian Wise and Li Yuan-Chia.

Henry Moore's humanist sculpture changed the course of art in the twentieth-century and raised the status of British sculpture internationally. Friendships and Legacies explores Moore's relationships with collectors Robert and Lisa Sainsbury and photographer John Hedgecoe and how they had impact on the public presentation of Moore and his work, who became one of the most prominent sculptors of the twentieth century. Moore became friends with Robert and Lisa Sainsbury after their first purchase of his work in 1933. They formed a close friendship and went on to acquire 22 important works by the artist. The Sainsburys gifted their personal collection to the University of East Anglia where Moore's works now form a key part of the displays both inside and outside the Sainsbury Centre. Henry Moore and John Hedgecoe had a close friendship spanning almost forty years. Hedgecoe took many photographs of Moore, producing four books about the artist and his work. Many of these photographs have become iconic, contributing to the public perception of Moore. Friendships and Legacies also includes 24 extended catalogue texts about each of the works by Moore in the Sainsbury Centre collection. The book is richly illustrated with archive images and new photography.

Published to accompany a major new exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre, this book examines the spectacular and controversial vision of art practice that raged across the Western world from the end of the 19th century: Art Nouveau.The role of nature is a key focus of the exhibition. The common theme of translating plants into patterns will be explored as a defining feature of the modern style. Art and objects will represent Art Nouveau from different countries, where it appeared characterised as flowing, tensile line, and dramatic movement, or by organic imagery combined with an informal geometry. Artists and designers include René Lalique, Edgar Degas, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris; Alphonse Mucha and Gabriel Dante Rossetti.

Art Deco by the Sea is a major new book and exhibition examining British coastal culture between the First and Second World Wars. Beautifully illustrated, the book will trace how the British seaside changed during a new age of mass tourism. It will examine how coastal resorts developed and how the networks of transport that serviced them - by road, rail and sea - were modernised. The book will celebrate iconic examples of Art Deco architecture, from hotels and apartment blocks to piers, cinemas and sea fronts and will show how Art Deco became the key style for pleasure and entertainment. It will also feature seaside companies including Poole Pottery, E.K. Cole Ltd and Crysede known for their striking modern designs. The book will also explore how the seaside changed during the 1920s and 30s with the advent of the heathy body culture, when sunbathing, swimming and a host of other outdoor activities became fashionable. The development of amenities such as lidos and golf courses changed the look of seaside resorts while holiday camps such as Butlin's provided new types of holiday experience. The book will feature Deco fashions and the more ephemeral and popular culture of the seaside from theatre performances, circuses, fairgrounds, casinos and fun fairs.

In 2018 the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Opened in 1978, the building was both Sir Norman Foster’s first public commission and a new paradigm in museum design. The Sainsbury Centre forms part of one of the last, great phases of modernism, combining structural integrity and precision engineering with a radical approach to the integration of services. The publication will be released to coincide with the opening of Superstructures: The New Architecture 1960-1990, a major exhibition that will situate the Sainsbury Centre within its historical context and will explore architecture’s fascination with new technology, lightweight structures, building techniques and engineering solutions that emerged in the post-war decades, eventually redefining the spaces of culture, work, travel and living. Contents of the book include essays by Jane Pavitt and Abraham Thomas, curators of the show, and an interview to Sir Norman Foster conducted by Jonathan Glancey. An extensive photo essay will feature a range of unpublished photographs of the building under construction.

Mary’s career has been dedicated to the exploration of abstract form though painting and printmaking. This exhibition catalogue supporting Mary Webb’s exhibition, Journeys in Colour contains images of more than 60 of Mary’s paintings, along with a collection of screen prints, drawings and collages including the series of paintings that were inspired by her time spent abroad in Utah. A pupil of the late Sonia Delaunay, Mary’s works are consistently square in shape and exist as an arrangement of vivid squares and rectangles. The 71-year-old artist admits that “colour is [her] main concern”, which accounts for the vibrancy of her work, but she also explains that she strives to avoid “having a centre, or part of the picture that claims attention more than the rest”.

Among the works were stunning shields from North East Congo and the Solomon Islands, fish traps from Cameroon, Ghana and Thailand, a colourful gorget from the Society Islands, Egyptian shoes, masks from the Salampasu of Angola and baskets from across the globe. The exhibition also included large-scale basketry such as a reed boat from Lake Titicaca in Peru, a fishing weir from Papua New Guinea and a woven architectural wall panel from Guy's Hospital in London by artist Thomas Heatherwick.The exhibition featured new commissions and works by artists responding to the gallery spaces and the themes in the exhibition, showing how basketry is being used today. Spectacular contemporary art and design by leading artists including Dail Behennah, Mary Butcher, Ueno Masao and Lois Walpole was on display. Many weaving techniques were used to create designs ranging from simple geometric herringbone twill to the most complex sculptural forms. The works were made from a surprising variety of materials including traditional willow and cane, wire and recycled plastic. Other objects showed the application of basketry designs for ceramics, glassware and caving.