Symbols in Art Matthew Wilson - Thames & Hudson

Iconography, the study of symbols – whether animals, artifacts, plants, shapes, or gestures – is an essential element of art history.

This guide reveals over fifty of the most popular and intriguing visual symbols from around the world from 2300 BC to the present day. Although symbols transcend dialects and national borders, their meanings can vary and are often culturally specific. The snake, an object of fascination and mysticism in Aztec culture, usually represents sin in the West. The Last Supper (2013) by Yinka Shonibare depicts historical associations with the vine, creating a satirical and surprising effect.

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, as well as leading scientific 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 2000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality books across all areas of visual creativity: arts (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 production director at Adprint, a company founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed a pioneering concept of what is now called 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 to the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.

Desiring 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, *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 of publication was *Out of My Later Years* by Albert Einstein, 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 by 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 size 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” in every art school in the country.

2016 marked a remarkable 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 stays true to its core principle: providing a “museum without walls”.
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognizable international brand, symbolizing British publishing. Its extensive catalog includes thousands of interesting book titles. Many of these are exclusive collector's editions.