"Bloomsbury on the Mediterranean," is how Vanessa Bell described France in a letter to her sister, Virginia Woolf. Remarking on the vivifying effect of Cassis, Woolf herself said, "I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim.... Complete heaven, I think it." Yet until now there has never been a book that focused on the profound influence of France on the Bloomsbury group. In Bloomsbury and France: Art and Friends, Mary Ann Caws and Sarah Bird Wright reveal the crucial...

The basis for the hit TV show Mr SelfridgeIn 1909, the largest department store in London's West End, designed and built from scratch, opened in Oxford Street in a glorious burst of publicity. The mastermind behind the façade was American retail genius Harry Gordon Selfridge: maverick businessman, risk-taker, dandy and one of the greatest showmen the retail world has ever known.His talents were to create the seduction of shopping, and as his succes...

The New York Times–bestselling biography of Manet, Cezanne, Degas, and others—a "revealing group portrait . . . lively, required reading" (People).Though they were often ridiculed or ignored by their contemporaries, their paintings are now revered around the world. Their dazzling works are familiar to even the most casual art lovers—but how well do we know the Impressionists as people? The first book to offer an intimate and lively biography of the world's ...

'Prepare to be dazzled' Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife'One of the essential reads of the year' The TimesLondon, 1905. The city is alight with change and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of brilliant, artistic friends who will come to be kn...

Helena Rubinstein revolutionised the beauty industry. Her mission was to teach women the importance of skincare and the empowering effect of looking your best. Rubinstein's company was the first to use science in the development of cosmetics, and with her unerring instinct for what customers wanted, she built a beauty empire that spanned the world. A legend in her own lifetime, this is her amazing story.

This edition does not include illustrations.Please note that due to the level of detail, the family tree is best viewed on a tablet.The wayward life (1898–1979) of the voracious art collector and great female patron of world-famous artists.‘Mrs Guggenheim, how many husbands have you had?’ ‘Do you mean my own, or other people’s?’ Peggy Guggenheim was an American millionairess art collector and legendary lover, whose father died on the Titanic returning from installin...

A moving and important book on the relationship between two remarkable sisters who jointly created the Bloomsbury Group'An outstanding work... one of the best books on Virginia Woolf to date' Literary Review'Dunn's unlayering of this complex relationship is subtle and far-reaching' Sunday Times'An investigation into the dynamics of friendship and sibling rivalry, maternal solicitude and m...

The innovative works of the Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne laid the foundations of a new and radically different form of art in the twentieth century. Challenging the conventional values of art in his time, Cézanne’s insistence on personal expression and the integrity of the painting itself, regardless of subject matter, have since earned him universal praise among his fellow artists, with Matisse and Picasso calling him "the father of us all." Delphi’s Masters of Art Se...

A painter of the Impressionist movement, Alfred Sisley was born on October 30th 1839 in Paris but was of British origin. He died on January 29th 1899 in Moret-sur-Loing. Growing up in a musical family, he chose to pursue painting rather than the field of business. In 1862 he enrolled in Gleyre’s studio where he encountered Renoir, Monet, and Bazille. The four friends left their master’s studio in March 1863 to work outdoors, setting their easels to paint the forest scenes of Fontainebleau....

The fully authorised biography of the late, great David Hockney. Discover the life and legacy of one of the greatest British artists of our time.David Hockney's career spanned and helped to define the major art movements of the last five decades. His story is one of precocious achievement at Bradford Art College and the Swinging Sixties in London, where he befriended many of the iconic cultural figures of the era; of California and the iconic swimming-pool painting...

Meet the dazzling women of Paris; from Colette to Nancy Mitford; Marie Antoinette to Coco Chanel; Napoleon's Josephine to Edith Wharton.Rule-breakers and style-setters, these women were utterly diverse, yet they shared one common passion - Paris, the world's headquarters of femininity.At a turning point in her life, Lucinda Holdforth journeys to Paris and takes a very personal tour through the lives, loves and losses of its celebrated women. She evokes the incarnations of t...

Frances Partridge: the last survivor of the Bloomsbury group - the authorised biography.Frances Partridge was one of the great British diarists of the 20th century. She became part of the Bloomsbury group encountering Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, the Bells, Roger Fry, Maynard Keynes, Dora Carrington and Ralph Partridge. She and Ralph fell in love and married in 1933. During the Second World War they were committed pacifists and they enjoyed the happiest times o...