Martin Pel

Barbara Hulanicki

Founded as a boutique mail-order service in 1963, Biba--the brainchild of designer Barbara Hulanicki--quickly gained cult status, and outgrew several London premises before landing at 99-117 Kensington High Street in 1973 as "Big Biba, the most beautiful store in the world." This book tells the story of the Biba years, from the first ensembles through the four London shops, to the eventual flourishing of a lifestyle brand that revolutionized British retail and fashion culture.

1963-1975

The Biba Years

Amy De La Haye

Hannah Gluckstein (who called herself Gluck; 1895–1976) was a distinctive, original voice in the early evolution of modern art in Britain. This handsome book presents a major reassessment of Gluck's life and work, examining, among other things, the artist's numerous personal relationships and contemporary notions of gender and social history. Gluck's paintings comprise a full range of artistic genres—still life, landscape, portraiture—as well as images of popular entertainers. Financially independent and somewhat freed from social convention, Gluck highlighted her sexual identity, cutting her hair short and dressing as a man, and the artist is known for a powerful series of self-portraits that played with conventions of masculinity and femininity. Richly illustrated, this volume is a timely and significant contribution to gender studies and to the understanding of a complex and important modern painter.

Martin Pel

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