Nicholas Serota Books

The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed British artists, architects, and designers rising to prominence globally. In the post-war reconstruction era, youth began to challenge established artistic norms, drawing inspiration from popular culture. This iconoclasm, rooted in the Pop movement, remains a vital aspect of British art. The book provides a year-by-year account, juxtaposing emerging talents with established figures, highlighting connections and contradictions across various visual disciplines, including architecture, interior design, and graphic art. Through images and text, it delves into the factors shaping British art's unique character, such as the distinctive art school teaching system, fashion, pop music, and political influences. Artists' responses to these elements have consistently been original and thought-provoking, paving the way for future innovation. Organized by decade, the book showcases achievements accompanied by insights from notable artists, designers, collectors, and critics who have significantly impacted each era. The creative landscape has thrived on encouragement, challenge, and opposition, enabling talents to transcend shifting tastes. Featuring over 250 artists, including Henry Moore, David Hockney, and Damien Hirst, this publication also commemorates the first fifty years of Thames and Hudson, founded by Walter Neurath in 1949, and its role in public education and arts support.

This is the first coherent historical account of the changing attitudes to the way art is presented in the modern museum of art. Nicholas Serota examines the relationship between the artist, the public and the curator. He takes us into the artist's studio, itself a paradigm of display, and then on a knowledgeable and wide-ranging international tour of museums, galleries and installations. With authority and insight, he provides an expert view of the ways we can expect art to be displayed in the twenty-first century.

Gerhard Richter is widely seen as one of the most important painters at work in the world today. Born in Dresden, Germany, in 1932, he left for the West in 1961, settling in Dusseldorf, where he held his first exhibition in 1963. He has exhibited internationally for the last five decades, including retrospectives in New York, Paris and Dusseldorf. He lives and works in Cologne. As the artist draws near to his eightieth birthday in 2012, Tate Modern in collaboration with the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, is staging a major retrospective exhibition. Exhibition: Tate Modern, London 6 October 2011 - 8 January 2012 / Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin February - April 2012 / Centre Pompidou, Paris 6 June - 24 September 2012.