Gauguin book (World of Art) - Thames & Hudson

Paul Gauguin achieved a high public profile during his lifetime and was one of the first artists of his generation to attain international recognition. But his significance was always as much about the dramatic events of his life — from voluntary exile on a remote South Sea island, to his turbulent relationships with contemporaries — as it was about the charm of his art.

Belinda Thomson provides a comprehensive and accessible account of the life and work of one of the most original artists of the late 19th century. Gauguin's oeuvre — painting, sculpture, prints, and ceramics — is discussed in light of his public personality, his relationships with contemporaries, his exhibitions, and their critical reception. Belinda Thomson uncovers Gauguin’s private world, his beliefs, and aspirations through extensive memorabilia including magazines, letters, and other writings. Fully updated, drawing on insights from her thirty-year scholarship since the first edition, Thomson’s text remains the best introduction to this controversial and often contradictory artist.

The Thames & Hudson brand 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 leading scholarly 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 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, applied arts, decorative arts, performing arts, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. It is also expanding its list of children’s books. 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 book ideas 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 by Thames & Hudson into the publishing world.

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 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, *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, with titles remaining 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 manufacturing remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses by 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames and Hudson launched one of the most well-known series, *World of Art*, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by pocket-sized dimensions 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 across the country.

Other important series that added depth and prestige to the list 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 on television. Over 34 titles have been published in the series over 34 years. The large-format *Great Civilizations* series, published in 1961, featured contributions from esteemed scholars such as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.
After building one of the most important 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, along with 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 and 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 world of art and scholarship remains 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, symbolizing British publishing. Their extensive catalog includes thousands of original book titles. Many of these are luxury collector’s editions.

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