The First Biography of the Influential Modernist Artist and Sculptor--Includes More Than 350 Full-Color Plates In 1914 Frank Lloyd Wright asked an unknown twenty-six-year-old Italian-American immigrant to sculpt the strikingly geometric figures for his landmark Chicago masterpiece, Midway Gardens. Decades later, when New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art installed one of Midway Gardens' female "Sprite" sculptures, they listed Wright as its only artist. In all those years that followed the original project, Wright never publicly referred to the actual sculptor responsible for those remarkable figures, perhaps preferring to keep the secret of their success away from the world. That secret was Alfonso Iannelli. From his groundbreaking modernist posters designed for Los Angeles' Orpheum Theater to his zodiac figures at the twelve corners of Chicago's Adler Planetarium to his iconic industrial designs that appeared in households across America, Iannelli's diverse work placed him firmly on a national level in the design world. Having created the Iannelli Studios in suburban Park Ridge, Illinois, shortly after the turn of the last century, Alfonso Iannelli continued to create within and around a Modernism environment for nearly six decades. And he seemed to have known everybody who was anybody in the design world at the time, becoming friends with Mies van der Rohe, talking shop with Wassily Kandinsky and, for what seemed like decades, feuding with Frank Lloyd Wright. As a metaphor for America's cult of celebrity, he had become enormously famous. Then he was forgotten. Author David Jameson has painstakingly collected a nearly complete archive of job files, correspondence and historical writings that Iannelli himself kept for sixty years. Exhaustively researched and beautifully illustrated with more than 350 full-color illustrations and photographs, Alfonso Iannelli: Modern by Design is the first comprehensive monograph on an artist, designer and leader of a Modernist vanguard whose important body of work has been historically overshadowed and is now at last becoming fully appreciated.

Alfonso Iannelli: Modern by Design

David Jameson

Top Five Books

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated) (Top Five Classics Book 6)

Literature & Fiction

CONAN DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR

Classics

In the fictional 18th-century English city of Airenchester, the body of Thaddeus Grainger's rival turns up stabbed to death in an alley just hours after their inconclusive duel. Only one suspect comes to mind. Charged with murder, Grainger's fate is sealed before his trial even begins. A young gentleman of means but of meaningless pursuits, Grainger is cast into the notorious Bellstrom Gaol, where he must quickly learn to survive in the filthy, ramshackle prison. The "Bells"--where debtors, gaolers, whores, thieves, and murderers all mix freely and where every privilege comes at a price--will be the young man's home for the rest of his life unless he can prove his innocence. Despite his downfall, his friends--the journalist William Quillby and Cassie Redruth, the poor young girl who owes Grainger a debt of gratitude--refuse to abandon him. But before they can win his freedom, they must contend with forces both inside and outside the prison determined to keep Grainger behind bars and, at the same time, decode the meaning behind the crude wax seal that inspires terror in those who know its portent. Set against the urban backdrop of late 18th-century England, The Raven's Seal unravels a tale of corruption, betrayal, murder, and--ultimately--redemption and love. "Baltakmens captures the flavor and scope of classic British fiction." --Kirkus Reviews "This atmospheric, character-driven, and plot-twisty bildungsroman is a worthy paean to Oliver Twist and Great Expectations." --Booklist "Baltakmens gives readers of The Raven's Seal all of the history and the mystery his subtitle promises. The mood, color, details, and dialogue come across as very authentic . . . [his] characters would not be out of place in a work of Defoe or Thackeray. --ForeWord "The author's exquisite prose rushes along full of surprises, shadows, betrayal, and squalid situations where the high-born and criminals intermix. A superb mystery with vibrant characters." --Historical Novels Review

The Raven's Seal

Andrei Baltakmens

Genre Fiction

By the time Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death on the banks of the Hudson River in August 1944, it was clear that the hard-partying teenage companion to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs might need to reevaluate his life. A two-year stint in a reformatory straightened out the wayward youth but did little to curb the wild ways of his friends. MANIA tells the story of this remarkable group--who strained against the conformity of postwar America, who experimented with drink, drugs, sex, jazz, and literature, and who yearned to be heard, to remake art and society in their own libertine image. What is more remarkable than the manic lives they led is that they succeeded--remaking their own generation and inspiring the ones that followed. From the breakthrough success of Kerouac's On the Road to the controversy of Ginsberg's Howl and Burroughs' Naked Lunch, the counterculture was about to go mainstream for the first time, and America would never be the same again. Based on more than eight years' writing and research, Ronald Collins and David Skover--authors of the highly acclaimed The Trials of Lenny Bruce--bring the stories of these artists, hipsters, hustlers, and maniacs to life in a dramatic, fast-paced, and often darkly comic narrative.

Mania

Biographies & Memoirs

Ronald K.L. Collins

David M. Skover

Arts & Literature

Wickedly funny—Kirkus Reviews A layered, smart, surprising plot —Booklist Fresh, fast-paced, and great fun —Library Journal Acquisition of the King's Jar, a priceless African artifact, is a major coup for San Francisco's prestigious Devor Museum of Art and Antiquities—and the gala celebration honoring its donors is a high-stakes affair. Dani O'Rourke, Devor's chief fundraiser, is a pro at dealing with wealthy patrons, demanding bosses, big egos, and museum-world politics. Murder, however, is way above her pay grade, and definitely beyond her comfort zone. When the renowned archaeologist who authenticated the King's Jar turns up dead, and the invaluable relic vanishes, Dani suddenly finds herself trapped in a real-life game of Clue—with a gallery of glittering suspects, and a killer who's playing for keeps. But drumming up donations from society swells is a far cry from matching wits with homicidal thieves. And juggling the amorous advances of a police detective, a TV celebrity, and her own playboy ex-husband—while sparring with an African ambassador, an obsessed archaeologist-in-training, a billionaire and his trophy wife—certainly doesn't make it any easier to figure out who's lying...or keep anyone else from dying.

The King's Jar (Dani O'rourke)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Shea, Susan C.

Mystery

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems (Illustrated/Annotated) (Top Five Classics Book 13)

POE, EDGAR ALLAN

Poetry

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated) (Top Five Classics Book 17)

DOYLE, ARTHUR CONAN

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