C’is the time to please and treat yourself by placing these so-called beautiful books, which some publishers specialize in, under the tree. They are already in bookstores, we have chosen them for you, in all areas, for lovers of literature, the arts, the sea or the mountains, for fans of fantasy, and children, from 9 years old. Here they are of all sizes, and for all budgets, from the book-exhibition of African art to more than 1000 €, at the Louvre in pop-up for less than 25 €. Enjoy beauty and Merry Christmas!
Every Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Receive the cultural news of the week not to be missed as well as Surveys, decryptions, portraits, trends…
Merci !
Your registration has been taken into account with the email address:
To discover all our other newsletters, go here: MyAccount
By registering, you accept the general conditions of use and our confidentiality policy.
Your guide? Alexandre Dumas!
“The Gallery of Florence told by Alexandre Dumas”, established edition, presented and annotated by Cristina Farnetti and Jocelyn Fiorina (Éditions du Chêne, 7 volumes, 1,900 p., 700 images, €149).
Who still knew that such a treasure existed? In 1840, the man who was not yet the author of Three Musketeers is in Florence to produce a guide of unequaled scope to the Uffizi Museum. Here it is published for the first time, and the undertaking is as big as the novelist's ogre appetite. The author of Great Cooking Dictionary was just as hungry for art! In this collection of seven volumes, of which there were only a few copies left in the world, the great Dumas comments on 200 masterpieces from the famous gallery (notably The Birth of Venusdescribed… in verse!) and adds a history of the Medici as well as that of painting. The original engravings are, moreover, now enriched with all the works photographed in color, with the collaboration of the Uffizi Museum… Magnificent! C. O.-D.-B.
Audrey Tautou in the mirror
« Superfacial », by Audrey Tautou (Fisheye Éditions, 232 p., €38).
As a child, she dreamed of becoming a photojournalist. Audrey Tautou is today the formidable actress we know, but she has never stopped photographing. The journalists who interview him. Anonymous people, captured from behind, during his travels. And his own person, staged in playful self-portraits which question his artificial status as a star as if in a burst of laughter. A collection of these photos, to which personal texts and a few letters from admirers have been added, this very joyful album is like a wink, in the mirror, from the artist to herself. VM
African art on the dimensions of a continent
« African Arts.The Impossible Collection », text by Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter (Assouline, 232 p., more than 150 illustrations, €1,200).
Is this truly a beautiful book, this splendid inventory of major pieces of African art, Dogon statuettes, Kota masks, textiles from Zaire, bronzes from Nigeria, coming from the greatest collections, public (Quai Branly, MET) and private ( Barbier-Mueller)? Or the catalog of a virtual exhibition of masterpieces that we can offer ourselves to contemplate just for ourselves? The choice of an expert explores, in this iconic work in twelve chapters, the creation of an entire continent which makes its entry into Assouline's Ultimate collection. A manifesto of universal beauty. V. M. L. M.
By the very hand of Apollinaire
« Calligrammes », by Guillaume Apollinaire (Éditions des Saints Pères, 224 p., €200; special launch price, €180).
After Alcoholshere in the Manuscrit collection is Apollinaire's last collection published during his lifetime, reproducing for the first time the model kept at the Jacques-Doucet library, which was used in the edition of Mercure de France in 1918. These Poems of Peace and War – dedicated “to the memory of the oldest of my comrades René Dalize who died on the field of honor”, writes Apollinaire – provide a strong emotion in both substance and form, to which the poet, as we see on each page, had a strong equal attention. V. M. L. M.
Ski or dream of it
“Winter sports posters”, by Jean-Daniel Clerc and Jean-Charles Giroud (Citadelles and Mazenod, 216 p., €77).
Bright, inventive, dynamic, they compete in inspiration to attract the public of the end of the 19th century.e century, where winter sports became fashionable. From skaters to skiers, from railways to ski boots, including sledding and sunscreen, everything is good to draw for famous graphic designers like Jules Chéret or Carl Moos, who talentedly extol the exhilaration of snow-capped peaks . The international selection of this formidable album offers an exciting publicity panorama. We're leaving right away! V. M. L. M.
Dolan remombobine
“A friendship on film”, by Shayne Laverdière and Xavier Dolan (mk2 and Sons of Manual, 480 p., 80 €).
It was ten years ago. In Cannes, the young Quebec director shakes up the Croisette with a fifth film of explosive tenderness, which tells of the despair of a single mother in the face of her son's behavioral problems. It's on the set of Mommy that Xavier Dolan and the genius photographer Shayne Laverdière will become friends. Made up of hundreds of never-before-seen images from the set and prefaced by Jane Campion, this magnificent book offers us a behind-the-scenes look at the film with its million entries. We find Anne Dorval and Suzanne Clément, the filmmaker's muses, and throughout the pages, we let ourselves be won over by the sweet sepia nostalgia of the surroundings of Montreal. And by a furious desire to see again Mommy… V. G.
Horror and bible paper
« H.P. Lovecraft. Stories”, introduction by Laurent Folliot (La Pléiade, 1,408 p., €69 until December 31, 2024, then €76).
Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth: Lovecraftian monsters haunt our imaginations as much as contemporary culture. Michel Houellebecq and Joyce Carol Oates have made a fetish of this great master of terror. But publishing mistreated it, reducing it to the rank of Z series during his lifetime, then making it available to read by grouping his works by theme. Here he is entering, supreme coronation, in La Pléiade, which publishes his stories in chronological order, in impeccable new translations. This disciple of Poe opens a new dimension in horror literature and addresses, finally, a new audience. AND. L.
Frazetta, hero of Heroic Fantasy
« The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta », de Dan Nadel, Zak Smith, Dian Hanson (Bags, 480 p., €25).
More pop culture, you die: small but super strong, The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta propels us into the galaxy of this great artist born in 1928 in Brooklyn, known for his legendary representations of Conan, Tarzan, Vampirella… Available in English, French, German and filled with his breathtaking colorful warrior canvases celebrating women and men with sculpted bodies, the work explores the incredible variety of a multimedia career spanning half a century, also touching on horror and SF. Essential. P. G.
Nine lives, from 9 years old
“The 9 Extraordinary Lives of Princess Gaya”, collective, illustrated by Régis Lejonc (Little Urban, 120 p., €29.90).
They say that cats have nine lives: the same goes for Princess Gaya, survivor of a dark pact that her mother made with death herself. Moved by the child, she offers him not one, but nine existences, which are told to us by not one, but ten authors. From Bavaria to China via Mexico and Greece, his adventures are lively, strange, moving, and the illustrations that accompany them, signed Régis Lejonc, are also a journey, to begin from 9 years old. AND. L.
The Louvre in your hands
« Louvre pop up », by Dominique Ehrhard and Anne-Florence Lemasson (Les Grandes Personnes, 34 p., €24.90).
We open this small book (15 cm) and Victory of Samothracethe Sarcophagus of the spouses, The Mona Lisa rise and unfold, in volume, in the middle of the pages: the Louvre in your hands! Dedicated to the major works of the largest museum in the world, this meticulous and charming micro pop-up will delight all fans of animated books. VM
A literary road-trip
“America. Writers in majesty”, by Jean-Luc Bertini and Alexandre Thiltges (Albin Michel, 335 p., €39.90).
“We would happily say that America today resembles the Disunited States of America more than ever,” write in the foreword to this very beautiful book the photographer Jean-Luc Bertini and the author, specialist of American literature, Alexandre Thiltges, who published the second volume of their America of Writers. Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, Colson Whitehead, Siri Hustvedt, Ron Rash… Through fascinating interviews punctuated with superb photographs, thirty American writers evoke their roots, their journey and their astonishment in the face of a country that never stops fragment, but remains eminently fascinating. AND. L.
Immediate boarding
“Liners 1913-1942. A transatlantic aesthetic”, under the direction of Adeline Collange-Perugi and Sophie Lévy (In Fine, 280 p., €32).
And to think that we didn't have the chance to experience that! The floating paradox that was a liner, both cutting-edge machinery dedicated to speed and a luxurious setting for savoring the passing of time, a vehicle sailing on the sea and a temple of the most earthly elegances, a solid incarnation of the differences of class and place moving making their encounters possible. Accompanying the exhibition of the same name co-produced by the Nantes Museum of Arts and the MuMa in Le Havre, this catalog, as graphic as it is moving, transports the reader through pages bringing together precious archives, works of design, paintings, photos. A hymn to a time when modernity was also a matter of taste. C. O.-D.-B.
vertigo of love
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
“Vertigo of surrealism”, by Yves Peyré (Gallimard, 336 p., €179).
The Manifesto of surrealism is 100 years old. For the occasion, the writer, poet and art critic Yves Peyré has designed a magnificent book combining two forms of beauty: that of images and that of words. They marry over the double pages of this emotional journey to the heights of desire and dreams where the great texts of the movement (by Éluard, Breton, Desnos or Aragon) dialogue with its emblematic works of art (Chirico, Magritte, Miro, Dali…), without excluding discoveries, which further increases the enchantment of the work. In 1924, a “surrealist butterfly” proclaimed: “If you love Love, you will love Surrealism. » This is still true today. C. O.-D.-B.
Related News :