Galleries - December 2013

onevery page to stimulate your inner creative and delight at human resourcefulness and ingenuity – definitely one for the festive coffee table. CM Francis Davison by Andrew Lambirth. 160pp, col & mono ills, Sansom and Company hbk, £25. A clear, readable introduction to the life and work of neglected collagist Francis Davison (1919– 1984). He began as a poet, took up painting when he married artist Margaret Mellis in 1948, and four years later embarked on a ground-breaking series of abstract collages using found and torn papers. The rest of his artistic life was spent exploring and developing these mysterious and beautiful coloured constructions. His sense of privacy prevented his work receiving the recognition it deserved during his lifetime. This major study eloquently redresses the balance. RC closely informed and friendly feel to the text. This approach provides a less artistic stance and more of an anecdotal one, but still describes the methodology and syntax of the taking of the pictures. Essential for both amateur and professional students of the genre. G. Hooper The Story of Design by Charlotte and Peter Fiell Published by Goodman Fiell, hbk, £30. From the moment humans picked up and shaped a stick elements of what we now understand to be ‘design’ have powered our evolutionary journey. Charlotte and Peter Fiell – both highly regarded design historians – have put together a delightful compendium of our historic strivings to weigh form against function. Beautifully illustrated and lightly but knowledgeably written – this is a book to pick up and dip into for an hour or two – there is something Brandt Nudes: A New Perspective . Preface Lawrence Durrell, Commentaries Mark Haworth-Booth. 176pp, 144 ills, Thames and Hudson pbk, £45 ‘Brandt Nudes’ brings together a collection of photographs that span the whole of Bill Brandt’s career. Famous for photographic imagery that explored the female form in progressively new ways, the book highlights how his artistic eye developed over the years, evolving continuously towards the abstract. ‘Brandt Nudes’ fuses together two previously published titles which Brandt edited himself; however this new edition features photographs that have not been reproduced to this standard before. The comparison of the book’s printed duotone images with originals recently studied in the V&A print room is reassuring, at least from memory, while the commentary, written mainly by Mark Haworth-Booth, a friend of Brandt in his later years, brings a ) ## & %#! "&#! #!$ "* %%* %#&' "' %+& # % % &'#) 1 &'( )!! $ & % , $ " $& & ( ' '(& ( % #( & & # # &$" $&#+ !! ($ $# $# # ' # # !!, ' ((! # # +!,# !$# + ( & # ' %' + ( & # ( $ & !($# * # &! # ( $!'$#' # ( & #,$# % ! (' % " %#! % " && "'# ' ( #( * #&& ! " #& 1 !!)'(& ( ' )( &! # .' + &( " +$& % ( # " # &' ( *$& ( # " # # $&#+ !! # +$& &' # ( '( ! $)# & ' $ $)( ! ' $#( #' $ & % ! & * + ( # )'(& ! ! # ' (+ # $&#+ !! # $)( ! ' # ')&* , $ )( &! # .' - $" &$#(. + & % #( # ' *.% +,*#/-"(0 &((/-., ."! &) *(*/, ))) & "&#! " #!$ "* # ( #% ( ' & # #(% ## & #" & #(% #" " ' # ( #% )% ' '# ! %# % &'#