Book series LOUNGE 1 – volume I
Editor: Gabriele Walter
Flowers are a gift for every occasion. With gorgeous blossoms, art, and rainbow colors in panoramic format, this unusual gift book will take you on a soothing trip to deep relaxation. The printed flower bouquet was created with love to bring joy to your loved ones. Consciously experience the colors and shapes of the flowers as you breathe them in through your eyes like healing scents.
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 50 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume IX
Editor: Kurt Ries
Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece “La Bohème” is one of the five most frequently performed operas in the world. Set in Paris, the main reason for its success is that it depicts the actual lives, pains, and loves of artists working without trying to please the public, striving instead to create pure art. Any life governed by such idealistic ambitions is somewhat awe-inspiring. Cherishing the complete creative freedom the bohemians sought, this book predominantly features works unrelated to its title topic.
Excerpts from the book “Magic of La Bohème”
Critics regard Puccini’s works as sentimental, but the fact of the matter is: They are enchanting! Whilst working on Mimi’s dying scene, Puccini is said to have burst into heavy sobbing. The spiritual and sensory origin of his aesthetic sensitivity was Tuscany. It was in Torre del Lago, a romantic village near Lucca, that he lived and suffered with the heroes and heroines of his operas. “La Bohème” made the maestro world famous. Its success entirely freed him from financial worries. Nevertheless, he continued to hold the bohemian lifestyle in high regard, and even founded a bohemian club. His opera is marked by Baudlairesque anti-bourgeois aesthetics. The composer had read Henry Murger’s novel in one sitting. The subject allowed him to express exactly what he felt inside.
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume VIII
Editor: Kurt Ries
While Gauguin and van Gogh were rather different people, they had some things in common. Besides frequently discussing Buddhist subjects, they shared an intense longing for the south, the sun, and the joy of exotic colors. After reading about the Marquesas Islands, Vincent, too, felt drawn towards the “savage”, now wanting to paint childishly simple pictures like those featured in old peasant calendars. Gauguin had only strengthened his convictions when talking about the suggestive expressiveness of colors.
Excerpts from the book “Color Symphonies for Gauguin and van Gogh”
Without color, life would be gray. This book explores the question why so many people around the world hang reproductions of Vincent van Gogh’s and Paul Gauguin’s paintings on their walls and do not mind waiting in line to see their originals. It is easy to forget that the origin of the artists’ social conflicts was first and foremost a kind of self-sacrifice, as reflected in the color eruptions of their paintings. Brightening daily life with their unconditional artistic passion, the fragrances of the South Sea and La Provence, seeing life as colorful and diverse, and respecting other cultures and their “primitive” ways as a precious asset doubtlessly constitutes their legacy. Both have had a significant influence on modern art and inspired fauvists and expressionists to use strong colors.
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Book series LOUNGE 3 – volume III
Editor: Gabriele Walter
This art and gift book introduces 47 selected artists from 23 countries around the globe. The interpretations focus mainly on the visible, specific side of paintings, sculptures, and art objects mostly leaving out aspects related to the artists’ résumés. To learn more about the artists, please refer to their respective websites. The book invites art lovers to connect with the artworks themselves. Based on the concept behind Enter-into-Art, feel free to pick a painting, mindfully dwell on it following our instructions for meditative art observation, and relax.
Excerpts from the book “Excellent Art 2022 – vol. 3”
Most pieces of classical music featuring the sea are inspired by composers being shipwrecked, and exhibit a pompous, dynamic style of orchestration. Richard Wagner’s Flying Dutchman and Hector Berlioz’s Le Corsaire are two such examples. In my selection for this book, however, I have chosen to focus on works expressing the beauty and the lyrical element of the sea with its poetic range of sounds.
Continue readingThe international “LOUNGE” contest is divided into the following award categories:
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 50 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
Continue readingExcerpts from the book “Art in Dialogue with Nature”
When Antoni Gaudí took over as main architect of the Sagrada Familia in 1883, his feelings towards Christianity– not unlike those of Daniel Defoe’s fictional hero Robinson Crusoe – were rather ambiguous. His scepticism notwithstanding, he went on to create the monumental stone bible that is now a staple landmark of Barcelona. Inspired by his dedicated study of liturgy and the spiritual dialogue between art and nature, Gaudi finally found his faith as an architect. Similarly, Robinson on his lonely island developed a relationship with God through his conversations with nature.
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume VII
Editor: Kurt Ries
When Antoni Gaudí took over as main architect of the Sagrada Familia in 1883, his feelings towards Christianity– not unlike those of Daniel Defoe’s fictional hero Robinson Crusoe – were rather ambiguous. Inspired by his dedicated study of liturgy and the spiritual dialogue between art and nature, Gaudí finally found his faith as an architect. Similarly, Robinson on his lonely island developed a relationship with God through his conversations with nature.
Information about our free services: German online show, rewards – winner blog posts for the annual jury awards in German, tips and offers, “Enter into Art” bonus video, book presentations – on-screen art shows, public relations / networking on the Internet
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume VI
Editor: Gabriele Walter
St. Francis of Assisi’s considerable impact on art and poetry cannot be questioned. His deeply felt connection with nature exerts a special pull on free-thinking people and functions as a bulwark against irrational zeitgeist and cultural decline. At the occasion of his 840th birthday, this idea brought together 60 artists from 24 countries to honor the saint’s love of animals with contemporary imagery.
Excerpts from the book “Animal Worlds of Art”
St. Francis of Assisi’s considerable impact on art and poetry cannot be questioned. His deeply felt connection with nature exerts a special pull on free-thinking people and functions as a bulwark against irrational zeitgeist and cultural decline.
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume V
Editor: Kurt Ries
He believed the “Fountain of Cressida” in Corfu was the place where Nausicaa had washed her laundry, but the island of the Phaeacians remains a dream. The German wholesale merchant Heinrich Schliemann was a cosmopolitan and a genius. Or was he just a dreamer? He sees Homer´s epics mainly as works of art but reads them in his own way. Eventually, he excavates a seafarers´ realm from the Late Helladic period and becomes the father of Mycenaean archeology.
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 50 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
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Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume IV
Editor: Gabriele Walter
Fairy tales used to be orally transmitted and kept changing in the process. Also the author of a literary fairy tale is free to let his imagination run wild and create fantastic wonder tales. Based on this idea, at the occasion of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 265th birthday and the 230th anniversary of his death, 64 artists from 33 countries came together to honor the world-famous composer with contemporary imagery. It was also 230 years ago that Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” was first performed.
We are very pleased that – despite the difficult Corona situation – we are able to carry out 6 book presentations with on-screen shows in the Cologne-Kalk cultural center. This applies to the “Enter into Art” books that were published in 2021 with works of art from all over the world.
Continue readingExcerpts from the book “Fairytale Art for Mozart”
Apparently, Mozart’s pet songbird could whistle a few bars of his piano concert in G major (K. 453). Did Mozart live in a magic world we love to hear stories about, even if we find them unbelievable? The prelude to his marriage, too, resembles a love story with obstacles the couple had to overcome to be united. Father Leopold was exasperated when Mozart decided to leave Salzburg and embark on the insecure life of a freelancer. Also, he did not approve of his son’s wife Constanze. Maybe this was why Wolfgang hardly mentioned his father’s passing in 1787, while dedicating a long obituary to his “star songbird”, which died around the same time. If we try to judge Mozart’s life in the simplistic terms of fairy tales, based on our conventional ideas of “good” and “bad”, we inevitably encounter contradictions.
Continue readingExcerpt from the book “Moonlight Sonatas for Beethoven”
Name a tune you want to listen to again and again, because it goes straight to the heart. Millions on the internet click “Moonlight Sonata” in response to this call. At the same time, both the title and the history of this work have long been subjects of debate. The fact is that Beethoven reversed the conventional sequence of the first and the second movement, thus breaking with the classical sonata form, which may explain this word choice of “fantasy” in the original title. Based on this idea, 69 artists from 26 countries got together at the occasion of Beethoven’s 250th birthday and – with boundless sensitivity – interpreted the “Moonlight Sonata” in visual terms. Was it not the image of a landscape, after all, that led to the work’s famous epithet?
Continue readingExcerpt from the book “Excellent Art 2020”
Starting in Volume 2 of the “Excellent Art” series, each book will introduce one famous musical work that may contribute to the harmonious overall sound, alongside the topic related selection of haiku poetry. By introducing a musical work, the editor hopes to inspire readers to expand their perception to the tonal aspects of art and poetry. Inspired by the composer’s international experiences, and the way he uses notes like a painter in this work, she has chosen “The Seasons” by Joseph Haydn. After all, the seasons are of universal importance in the poetry of the world’s peoples.
Continue readingYou can use our art meditation for all images that can be viewed in our various book series!
The concept is based on our international art installations of previous years. Its basic tenor can also be transferred to the art meditation with the works in the other book series. In addition to the small-format pictures from the “Art Retreat” book series, the large-format pictures from all book series are also included annually in our German online show, where they are sorted by color and inspire an art and color meditation.
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Book series LOUNGE 3 – volume II
Editor: Gabriele Walter
The art and gift book introduces 33 selected artists from 20 countries around the globe. The interpretations focus mainly on the visible, specific side of paintings and sculptures. The texts invite art lovers to connect with the artworks themselves. Special art and poetry pages have been incorporated to give artists an opportunity to present their visual work alongside their poetry.
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 50 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
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We are pleased to announce the solo art and gift book of our artist friend Gerhard Rasser from Austria. The paths of silence remind observers to be silent and walk without haste. Although every emotional turmoil seems to be smoothed out in these paintings, their empty spaces contain more action than it seems. Master Eckehart once opined: „To receive everything, we must let go of everything.“ Gerhard Rasser’s painting titles imply that this is a “Long Path” marked by temptations, abysses, and melancholy. A path of searching and getting closer, of losing oneself in worlds new and distant.
We are pleased to announce the solo art and gift book “Mysterious Worlds” of our artist friend Isao Kobayashi from Japan. The trademarks of Kobayashi’s works are their multi-layered depth and their tonal beauty. The artist is an excellent observer of hidden details. In a world full of secrets and mysteries, his paintings are signposts towards the truth. With his novelistic and dramatic touch, he takes observers into a mysterious universe, opening the door to our imagination. The introduction of a musical work aims at inspiring readers to expand their perception to the tonal aspects of art and poetry. Inspired by the artworks and a topic-related selection of her haiku poetry, the editor chose the koto piece “Akikaze no Kyoku” (Melody of the Autumn Wind), for which the composer developed a specific way of tuning the instrument – the “autumn wind scale”.
Editors: Gabriele Walter, Kurt Ries
With its purposefully structured content, unusual perspectives, and deep insights, and incorporating the sensitivity of people who create art, this art and gift book unravels the subject of traveling and invites readers to examine it in more depth. Eighty artists from thirty-two countries have come together to interpret traveling with their boundless imagination. Poets and artists are interested in experiencing selected places with a specific atmosphere, because their talent is based on their special power of perception and their sensitivity.
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 50 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
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Book series LOUNGE 3 – volume I
The book project “Excellent Art” emerged from the two winner exhibitions in Weißenthurm “Excellent Art” and “Nominee and Won”. The art gift book “Excellent Art – Exzellente Kunst 2019” is being released in March 2020 (publisher edition).
We are pleased to announce the solo art and gift book of our artist friend Takanori Iwase from Japan. The book is based on the solo winner exhibition held for Takanori Iwase in Cologne. His wood engravings are technical masterpieces. Through his delicate representation of light Takanori Iwases images convey a wonderfully lyrical mood.
The book design prizes are awarded according to the requirements of the book design, whereby the quality of the works of art naturally plays an important role. These prizes are awarded as part of a book project. The winning images will be selected solely from the participating images in the respective book. In our LOUNGE series we usually have about 20 to 70 participants per book. The artworks of the participants automatically take part in the respective competition.
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The art and gift book „16 times art“ introduces eighteen artists from sixteen countries by presenting four small works per artist. The group exhibition under the same title was held from 25 June – 21 August 2018 in the light-flooded foyer of Weißenthurm’s townhall on the left bank of the Rhine. In addition to the visual artworks shown at the exhibition the book also features several haiku poems from Germany and the Netherlands. As two of the poets are also visual artists, their work is presented under the heading: “art and poetry”. During the exhibition, three artists received an “honorable mention” and are featured more prominently on the cover, title page, and back of the book.
The gift book in German is also the exhibition catalog 2018. The foreword and the table of contents are in English. In addition to 219 images and the winning pictures in the larger format, the art book contains chapters on the topics “Living with pictures”, “Collecting art”, “Art, wine, poetry” (wine meditation), “Exhibition concept” and a detailed guide for mindful and enjoyable viewing of art and colors. In addition, there are 35 haiku poems, images with art objects, photos of the exhibitions and illustrations included. The book also contains a chapter on the topic of the two Prelude exhibitions “Homage to William Turner and the Rhine Romance” and “Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Wolfgang Goethe”. There is also a section on the haiku event in Cologne.
The gift book in German is also the exhibition catalog 2017. The foreword and the Table of Contents are in English. In addition to 212 images and the winning pictures in the larger format, the art book contains chapters on the topics “Living with pictures”, “Collecting art”, “Art, wine, poetry” (wine meditation), “Exhibition concept” and a detailed guide for mindful and enjoyable viewing of art and colors. In addition, there are 40 haiku poems, images with art objects, photos of the exhibitions and illustrations included. The book also contains a chapter on the topic of the Prelude exhibition “Homage to Guillaume Apollinaire”.
The gift book in German is also the exhibition catalog 2016. The foreword and the table of contents are in English. In addition to 205 images and the winning pictures in the larger format, the art book contains chapters on the topics “Living with pictures”, “Collecting art”, “Art, wine, poetry” (wine meditation), “Exhibition concept” and a detailed guide for mindful and enjoyable viewing of art and colors. In addition, there are 40 haiku poems, images with art objects, photos of the exhibitions and illustrations included.
The text content of the art book series “Kunstretreat” is substantially integrated into our German blog, “Bernsteinrose.” With Google Translate you can convert these texts into your own language, or into English, to understand what is involved. (Sometimes it is better to translate German texts into English, as these languages belong to the same family and share similar features.) However, since 2019 this book series will also be published in two languages (English and German).
