Frank Whitford Book order (chronological)

Introducing the concepts and techniques of art as well as the work of some of history's most celebrated artists, this book is a triumph of paper engineering, using flaps, pop-ups and 3D models to demonstrate key ideas. Including a separate activity book, the set is ostensibly aimed at older children but is an entertaining look at the history of art for people of any age. Age 9+

Gustav Klimt's work brilliantly negotiates the borders between the traditional and the modern, the figurative and non-figurative. His subtly erotic portraits, richly patterned landscapes and enigmatic allegorical compositions are at once sensuous and refined, while his extravagant, ornamental style verges on abstraction. Obliged to go his own way when he was denied public commissions, Klimt became the leader of the modernists in Vienna, perhaps the greatest portraitist of his age, a landscape painter of dazzling originality and, above all, the creator of extraordinary decorative schemes. Frank Whitford examines the artist's work against the background of his time - the tragic final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the light shed by political and cultural history, Klimt's paintings and personality emerge with new clarity.

With his unique drawing style, distorted figures, and rejection of conventional ideals of beauty, Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was a pioneer of Viennese Expressionism and is considered one of the most impressive portrait painters of the 20th century. Under the influence of his mentor Gustav Klimt, Schiele began with the glittering Art Nouveau but soon developed a rough and provocative aesthetic characterized by harsh lines, bright colors, and emaciated figures. His portraits and self-portraits shocked Viennese society with their erotic poses and an unprecedented psychological and sexual intensity. Often, he or his models, who are sometimes gaunt and sickly, sometimes strong and sensual, crouch on the ground with spread legs and visible genitals, staring at the viewer. Many contemporaries found his works not only ugly but also morally reprehensible, leading to a brief imprisonment for "dissemination of immoral drawings." Today, Schiele is celebrated for his revolutionary representation of humanity and his unmistakable, feverish drawing style. The book introduces Schiele's short but intense career through selected works and highlights his enormous influence on modern art, which is also reflected in the work of contemporary artists like Tracey Emin and Jenny Saville.

An accessible history of the Bauhaus, tracing the ideas behind its conception and its highly influential teaching methods. The aesthetic of our contemporary environment, including everything from housing estates to furniture and newspapers, is partly the result of a school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919, the Bauhaus. While in operation for only fourteen years, shut down by the Nazis in 1933, the school left an indelible mark on design and the practice of art education throughout the world. Placing Bauhaus into its sociohistorical context, Frank Whitford traces the ideas behind the school’s conception and describes its teaching methods. He examines the activities of the teachers—who included eminent artists such as Paul Klee, Josef Albers, and Wassily Kandinsky—and the daily lives of the students. Reissued and revised to mark the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, this is an accessible introduction to perhaps the most significant design movement of the last hundred years.