Books published by publisher Skira Rizzoli

A national treasure is celebrated in this landmark publication. The Birds of America is a monumental classic, but it has never been explored like this before. This important new volume presents all the dazzling watercolors that Audubon painted for these monumental engravings. We are familiar with the prints engraved by Robert Havell Jr., but Audubon’s Aviary illuminates the original masterpieces that were created by Audubon himself and tells the story behind their creation with fresh insights and engaging quotes from his writings. These powerful paintings—all newly photographed using state-of-the-art techniques—possess a startling immediacy, vibrancy, and fluidity that link natural history, art, and a respect for the environment. These watercolors transmit Audubon’s devotion to his craft with their inscriptions and layers of media wrought with a miniaturist’s attention to detail and their revolutionary compositions, which for the first time in history depicted all the birds life-size. Audubon is considered America’s first great watercolorist, introducing innovative approaches developed over a lifetime of study. Even judged alongside today’s technology, his dramatic tableaux remain some of the most spectacular natural history documents and visually arresting works of art ever produced.

A local’s treasure map to the sites where Parisians know to go to be oh-so-Parisian.Finally, the “must-do, must-visit, must-see” travel list given to you by the Parisian friend you’ve been longing to have. Charmingly illustrated throughout, this practical guide will transport readers to the delightful sites and discoveries of Paris. Vibrant watercolors illustrate destinations including architectural marvels, gardens, historical highlights, cultural hubs, markets, food and wine favorites, and lots of little “je ne sais quoi’s” that make Paris so magical. Cultural musings, accessible histories, anecdotes, and informative details accompany the illustrations throughout, making this volume truly as practical as it is beautiful.The book features seven specially curated daylong walking tours. Winsome watercolor maps of the “promenades” with colorful icons of suggested sites guide readers through the romantic, winding Parisian streets, passing cafés, historical sights, small galleries, outdoor markets, and the kind of authentic and timeless places that one hopes to find when imagining the city. The careful artistry, insider’s musings, and approachable readability—both visually and texturally—in this book will delight and inspire tourists and armchair travelers alike.

This New York Times bestselling book from interior designer Mark D. Sikes is a celebration of American style today, showcasing chic and accessible ideas for every home. Modern and unfussy, Mark D. Sikes’s interiors are classic takes on California indoor/outdoor living, with natural fibers and crisp coloration, informed and influenced by the fashion world where he began his career. In eight chapters, he explores approachable, stylish looks, from "Blue and White Forever," which features indigos, stripes, batiks, and wicker in casual rooms such as porches and pool houses; to "Timeless Neutrals," presenting semiformal rooms filled with chinoiserie, gilt, glass, mirrors, banquettes, and French chairs; to "Garden Greens," featuring happy, casual family rooms and kitchens inspired by the garden with treillage woodwork, rattan, and cotton. There are also "Beautiful Brights," colorful rooms that are eclectic, layered, and fun, with chintz, florals, and Middle Eastern influences; and "Sun Faded Hues," rustic coastal rooms with weathered fabrics and furniture. Each chapter presents light-filled images of the designer’s looks and offers the reader inspiration and advice. As famed film director Nancy Meyers writes in the book’s foreword, this is a book that shows design lovers "how classic can look fresh, how style and comfort go hand-in-hand."

At once a style guide, an inspirational tome, and a how-to volume on creating one’s home, this book will serve as a go-to reference for all those seeking to spur their own creativity as they embark on the creation of home. When Diane Keaton decided that she wanted to build her own home from the ground up, she took the advice of her dear friend, film director Nancy Meyers, and took to the boards of Pinterest to find inspiration. There she discovered the practical and the fantastical, elements and styles long adored and ones that she never knew she was drawn to. Keaton’s dream house was officially under way and this book that resulted is a compelling account of her that house, from idea to realization in brick, stone, and wood. The House that Pinterest Built defines what home and house mean to the celebrated movie star, who is known for her love affair with houses and design. Filled with ideas that reveal a personal yet engaging aesthetic, this volume includes compelling photos from Keaton’s past homes and those she admires, as well as a multitude of details from every corner of those spaces and objects that excite and inspire the house designer and dreamer—dramatic staircases and magical light fixtures, film stills and book covers, pottery and art—drawn from the visual treasure trove known as Pinterest and Keaton’s private collection, as she creates and designs her newest house. Rich imagery is accompanied by Keaton’s ideas for selecting furniture, kitchen layout, and bedroom design; she talks about the importance of lighting in the bathroom and why the living room needs to be reimagined. Beyond the interior, she explores curb appeal and environmental sensitivity, always with an eye to making home the way it should be—a place of tranquility, a place where one is restored and where one returns to dream again and again. The book culminates in the dream realized, the house she has imagined, designed, and made, now shared with the world for the first time in all-new photography. “If you want to explore. If you love to see. If you’re looking to look; this book is an example of a home made from the gifts of other people’s addictive yearnings for the perfect home, with the perfect landscape and the perfect interior. It illustrates my choices of your choices. Who knows, you might find one of your pins here. You might smile. You might shake your head and say, ‘This isn’t what I had in mind.’ You might think: ‘Hey that’s my kitchen. She copied my kitchen.’ But the truth is, as much as I tried, I could never entirely recreate the light filled photograph of a kitchen that led the way to the journey that brought me here. No one can.” – Diane Keaton

In his debut book, acclaimed event designer Bryan Rafanelli shares his secrets for creating unforgettable parties.Voted one of the best wedding planners in the world by Vogue, Bryan Rafanelli has designed and produced some of the nation's most exclusive and high-profile events, including many for President Obama at the White House as well as Chelsea Clinton's wedding. In "A Great Party,' Rafanelli shares his philosophy for creating artful celebrations that convey beauty and elegance while telling a story unique to its hosts. From a seaside destination wedding to a stylish masquerade fête, Rafanelli's work is marked by stunning statements and clever everyday details.The book explores dozens of events in detail, taking readers behind the scenes of Weddings, showcasing both the main event and the welcome and after parties; Charity Events, highlighting what makes one unique and successful; and the White House, featuring state dinners and holiday decor. It concludes with 7 key Rafanelli principles, otherwise known as "Rafanelli's Rules," for hosting great celebrations, from considering a room's surfaces-the floor, walls, and ceiling-to how adding guests will change what you see. He shares his thoughts on the importance of enhancing what's already part of a space rather than obscuring it, as when he enclosed the gilded mirrors of the East Room in the White House in twelve-foot frames of fresh flowers for a state dinner under President Obama.

Maira Kalman’s exuberant illustrations and humorous commentary bring design history to life in this inspired ABC book that celebrates thirty-one objects from the Cooper Hewitt, in time for its long-awaited reopening. "A. Ah-ha! There you Are." begins Maira Kalman’s joyfully illustrated romp through the treasures of Cooper Hewitt’s design collection. With her signature wit and warm humor, Kalman’s ABC book introduces children and adults to the myriad ways design touches our lives. Posing the question "If you were starting a museum, what would you put in your collection?", Kalman encourages the reader to put pen to paper and send in personal letters—an intimate, interactive gesture to top off her unique tour of the world of design. Objects ranging from a thirteenth-century silk thinking cap to 1889 tin slippers with bows, all the way to Gerrit Rietveld’s Zig-Zag chair are brought to colorful life. Kalman’s hand-lettered text is whimsical and universal in turns, drawing lessons as easily from a worn old boot as a masterpiece of midcentury modernism. Irresistibly, we are led to agree, "Everything is design."

A visual account of the birth of graffiti and street art, showcasing as-yet-unseen works collected by preeminent artist Martin Wong. Referred to by the New York Times as an artist "whose meticulous visionary realism is among the lasting legacies of New York’s East Village art scene of the 1980s," Martin Wong (1946–1999) was firmly entrenched in the NYC street art world of the late ’70s and ’80s. City as Canvas chronicles the most important chapter in the street art movement and the artists involved. Showcasing Wong’s enormous graffiti art collection, the book contains artwork, photographs, black books, letters, postcards, posters, and flyers made by Wong and his artist friends. The book contains previously unpublished art by famous street artists such as Futura 2000, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christopher "Daze" Ellis, LA II, Lady Pink, and Keith Haring, to name only a few. City as Canvas traces the origins of urban self-expression and the era of "outlaw" street art in New York, which primed the floodgates for graffiti art to spread worldwide. Exhibition Schedule: Museum of the City of New York: Opens October 2013

From Boyle Heights to Malibu, Los Angeles is the most exciting food city in the United States. These 100 recipes from L.A.’s best chefs transport the California Dream to your table.Blessed by the abundance of sun, sea, and fertile agricultural land; vibrant Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and European communities; and talent in up-and-coming mavericks, celebrity chefs, and bold restaurateurs redefining hospitality, Los Angeles is having an unprecedented food moment.Alison Clare Steingold has collected and curated 100 recipes from the most talked-about kitchens in town, many shared for the very first time. From local favorites to celebrity hot spots, Los Angeles dining culture combines respect for ingredients, relaxed yet confident technique, and a flair for showmanship that can only come from next door to Hollywood. From cocktails and pantry staples through homemade pizza dough and desserts, The L.A. Cookbook presents the drinks and dishes Angelenos love most, brilliantly adapted for the home.Contributors include Alma, Baroo, Bestia, the Beverly Hills Hotel Fountain Coffee Shop, Bottega Louie, Chengdu Taste, Everson Royce Bar, Farmshop, Felix, Guelaguetza, Joan’s on Third, Jon & Vinny’s, Little Flower Bakery, The Little Door, LocoL, Love & Salt, Matsuhisa, Meals by Genet, n/naka, Otium, Paloma’s Paletas, Park’s BBQ, Revolutionario, Rucker’s Pies, Spago Beverly Hills, The Tasting Kitchen, Valerie Confections, and many more.

Known for her life-size sculptures made entirely of beads, Liza Lou has had audiences and critics spellbound since her debut exhibition fifteen years ago. Liza Lou’s sculptures, room-size installations, and performances have been at the center of the art world’s bewilderment and awe since the unveiling of her first masterpiece, Kitchen, in 1996. A true-to-size replica of a kitchen in the midst of a museum gallery would hardly cause a stir, were it not for one important fact: the work is made entirely of beads. Eschewing the well-traveled path in art school to embrace the traditional mediums of painting or sculpture, Lou embarked on forging a body of work unlike any that had been seen before in the art world. In the nearly fifteen years since her auspicious debut, Lou’s work has developed from realistic room-size tableaux taken from everyday life—such as Backyard and Trailer, among others—to works no less monumental in construction and more sober in their themes, such as Security Fence and Cell. In this comprehensive volume devoted to her work, illustrated with two hundred photographs, writers, critics, and scholars explore her work in depth.

FOREWORD INDIES Book of the Year Awards — 2017 BRONZE Winner for CookingIn her first cookbook, the acclaimed chef, winner of a 2018 James Beard Award for Best Chef: New York City, shares her favorite cook-at-home recipes, inspired by her year off from professional cooking. Missy Robbins had been on an upward trajectory through the ranks of chefdom, racking up accolades in Chicago at Spiaggia and in New York as the executive chef of A Voce Madison and A Voce Columbus, both of which earned Michelin stars under her leadership. But success in the grueling world of restaurant cooking took a toll, in sacrifices of time, health, and relationships. So in 2013 Robbins hung up the title of executive chef to explore life outside of the restaurant. This book is a result of that year off: A collection of recipes that Robbins created in her tiny West Village kitchen while she rediscovered life outside of the restaurant world. These dishes, organized around essays narrating her year off, will help readers fall in love with cooking again, as Robbins did. In addition to pasta and the Italian-inspired dishes that Robbins is known for, there are her childhood favorites, such as chicken soup with ricotta dumplings, and breakfast, vegetable, and salad recipes, resulting from Robbins’s commitment to healthier eating habits; there is also a chapter of Asian recipes, inspired by a long-wished-for trip to Vietnam and Thailand. Intimate, engaging, and filled with Robbins’s signature thoughtful, ingredient-driven cooking, this cookbook gives readers the secrets to delicious and varied home cooking within a poignant story of self-discovery.

The first book to survey the work of this iconic designer, known for her serene "new American classic" look. One of today’s most influential designers, Victoria Hagan exploded onto the scene in 1988 when New York magazine devoted the cover of its design issue to one of her rooms. Since then she has become renowned for her intelligent integration of architectural and interior design, her refined use of materials, her sophisticated color palette, and her strong silhouettes. Always looking to the view, Hagan effortlessly makes a close connection of interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. The houses profiled—ranging from elegant urban residences to casual weekend retreats—reveal Hagan’s unerring attention to what Proust called "the unexpected detail," which makes her interiors beautiful as well as timeless. Throughout, Hagan discourses on the spirit of cherished objects—a print of birds in flight, a vintage star-shaped mirror, or a chair with an unusual silhouette—that add soul and modernity. With stunning photography and personal insights into Hagan’s design philosophy, Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits is an artful and inspiring collection of this design superstar’s oeuvre.

This sumptuous volume features gracious country homes that blend the very best of vernacular tradition, classical architecture, and high-style elegance. For four centuries, the ideal of the gentleman’s farm has inspired Virginians to create extraordinary homes on landscapes of unparalleled beauty. Often places of retreat, these houses display the virtues of the very best of American historic and classical architecture, incorporating harmonious proportion, elegant interiors, and thoughtful design in traditional styles. Each one in its way a model of taste and beauty, the houses of The Gentleman’s Farm are an expression of an American ideal of domestic happiness, the very picture of home, which has served to influence the style of residential building across the country. The houses featured, including a centuries-old home for a president as well as recently built residences, present a stylish, traditional aesthetic, hallmarks of which include warm, wood-paneled libraries, plaster walls hung with paintings of horse riding scenes, classical motifs, lovingly wrought architectural detail, screened porches, large windows that frame inspiring vistas of the country landscape—all those things that say home to the country and suburban gentleman and gentlewoman.