Book Key Moments in Art (Fundamentals of Art) - Thames & Hudson

Key moments in art are described through fifty pivotal events—some well-known, others less so—from the Renaissance to the present day. Vivid, colorful vignettes capture the emotions of their times: when Michelangelo’s David was unveiled for the first time or Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain; when chance encounters inspired artists to develop new, fascinating styles such as Impressionism or Pop Art; or when exhibitions caused public sensation.

Lee Cheshire’s approach is both humorous and memorable. It celebrates artistic ingenuity and collaboration but does not shy away from disputes, conflicts, and lawsuits that often haunt the turbulent course of art history. The reference section includes an invaluable dictionary of art terms.

The Thames & Hudson manufactory was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a “museum without walls” and to make the world of art, as well as cutting-edge research, accessible to a broad audience. To reflect international perspectives, the company’s name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolizing friendship and intelligence, one facing east, the other west, suggesting a connection between the Old World and the New.

Today, still an independent, family-owned company, Thames & Hudson is one of the world’s leading publishers of illustrated books, with over 2,000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality books across all areas of visual creativity: fine arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. The list of children’s books is also expanding. Headquartered in London with a sister company in New York and branches in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.

History of Thames & Hudson

Walter Neurath was born in Vienna in 1903. In 1938, he left his hometown—where he ran an art gallery and published illustrated books—for London. Initially, he worked as a production director at Adprint, a company founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed a pioneering concept now known as book packaging (or co-publishing), where ideas for books are developed, commissioned, produced, and sold to publishers operating across different markets and languages, to create large editions and reduce unit production costs. Neurath’s concept was the first of many innovations introduced into the publishing world by Thames & Hudson.

Seeking to continue book packaging in a second edition and recognizing the need to amortize the high costs of producing illustrated books, Neurath established his own publishing house with offices in London and New York in autumn 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on Thames & Hudson’s first list in 1950, the English Cathedrals, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, was the first and most successful. The company’s strong belief in the longevity of books remained evident, as it remained in print until 1971. Also in the first year, Albert Einstein’s “Out of My Later Years” was published, an early indicator of the program’s scope. As the list gradually expanded—from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955—the company moved its offices from High Holborn and, in 1956, relocated to a Georgian townhouse at 30 Bloomsbury Street, near Bedford Square, becoming the epicenter of book publishing in London. The manufactory remained at this address, eventually expanding to five buildings, until 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames & Hudson launched one of its most famous series, World of Art, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by pocket-sized editions with black spines, the series expanded in just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, over 300 titles have been published in the series, which, according to Christopher Frayling, “are splattered with paint in every art school in the country.”

Other important series that added depth and prestige to the collection include Ancient People and Places, edited by Glyn Daniel, who since the 1950s has contributed to pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and television. Over 34 titles have been published in the series over 34 years. The large-format series Great Civilizations, published in 1961, featured contributions from renowned scholars such as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.
After building one of the most significant publishing houses in Europe in less than two decades, Walter Neurath died in 1967 at the age of 63. Sculptor Henry Moore wrote that “his death was a loss to our cultural life.” Sir Herbert Read noted that Neurath “more than anyone else was responsible for the revolution in art publishing” and was “one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combine business acumen with idealism.” Eva Neurath became chairwoman. Walter’s son, Thomas, who joined the company in 1961 along with his sister Constance, became managing director; Constance later served as artistic director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the Thames & Hudson board, as do Thomas’s daughters, Johanna and Susanna.
From producing the first commercial edition of The Book of Kells to the triumphant publication of the six-volume Vincent van Gogh - Letters, from technical innovations like “French folds” to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in Subway Art, Thames & Hudson has always been at the forefront, both culturally and in production techniques.

2016 marked the beginning of an extraordinary new chapter for the company, announcing publishing partnerships with two of the world’s most important museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The art world and scholarship thus remain at the heart of Thames & Hudson’s publishing program, which remains true to its core principle: providing a “museum without walls.”
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognized international brand, a symbol of British publishing. Its extensive catalog includes thousands of engaging titles, many of which are prestigious collectible books. 

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