Book Unleashed Contemporary Art from Turkey - Thames and Hudson

Turkey, a bridge between continents, a meeting point of East and West, has witnessed many golden ages of art throughout the centuries. Today, it once again is home to an incredibly vibrant contemporary art scene. Internationally acclaimed artists such as Kutlu? Ataman and Hussein Chalayan continually push boundaries, while others like Hale Tenger, Taner Ceylan, Irfan Önürmen, Banu Cenneto? Lu, Ahmet Ögüt, Canan Tolon, Ömer Ali Kazma, Haluk Akakçe, and Ramazan Bayrako? Lu produce breathtaking beauty, political prowess, and deep conceptual richness. However, they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Following groundbreaking books on contemporary art in Iran and the Arab world, Unleashed presents an almost comprehensive selection of the most exciting and challenging contemporary art from Turkey, including works by both renowned artists such as Sarkis and Gülsün Karamustafa, as well as newer and emerging artists. Offering over 950 high-quality illustrations, as well as insightful interviews, detailed profiles of over 100 artists, and four thought-provoking essays by leading scholars and curators, Unleashed is an essential guide to one of the most promising and award-winning art scenes in the world.

Thames & Hudson 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 and 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-run company, Thames & Hudson is one of the leading publishers of illustrated books worldwide, with over 2,000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality books across all areas of visual creativity: fine arts, applied arts, decorative arts, performing arts, 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 in different markets and languages to create large editions and reduce unit production costs. Neurath’s concept was the first of many innovations introduced to the publishing world through 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 founded his own publishing house, with offices in London and New York, in the fall of 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on the first Thames & Hudson list in 1950, *English Cathedrals*, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, were the first and achieved the greatest success. The company's strong conviction from the very beginning regarding the longevity of books remained in print until 1971. The first year of publication also saw the release of *Out of My Later Years* by Albert Einstein, an early indicator of the program's extensive scope. As the list gradually expanded—from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955—the company moved its offices to 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 houses by 1999, when it returned to High Holborn. In 1958, Thames & Hudson launched one of its most renowned series, *World of Art*, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by pocket-sized formats and black spines, the series expanded in just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, the series boasts over 300 titles, which, according to Christopher Frayling, are “stained with paint copies in every art school in the country.”

Other important series that added depth and prestige to the list include *Ancient People and Places*, edited by Glynn Daniel, who from the 1950s contributed to pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and television. Over 34 titles have been published in this series over 34 years. The large-format series *Great Civilizations*, launched in 1961, featured contributions from such esteemed scholars 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 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.

The year 2016 marked 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 recognizable international brand, a symbol of British publishing. Its extensive catalog includes thousands of incredible book titles, many of which are luxurious collectible editions.

Manufacturer information