Founded in 1830, the Gemäldegalerie houses the main body of paintings belonging to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Unlike most European national collections, the Gemäldegalerie’s was not formed around that of the Royal family – instead each piece was acquired with the intention of creating a true reflection of European art history. As a result, the Gemäldegalerie holds one of the world’s leading collections of European paintings from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Here the viewer can find examples of all schools and styles of European painting from the Late Middle Ages to the conclusion of the Baroque tradition.

The German collection is arguably the most comprehensive in the world, and the Early Netherlandish and Italian collections are also exceptional. The collection includes instantly recognisable masterpieces from such artists as Dürer, Holbein, van Eyck, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, Caravaggio and Vermeer, with especially renowned Rubens and Rembrandt groups.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is located in a parklike setting with other cultural and educational institutions. Built on land given by one of the museum’s major donors, the museum opened to the public in 1916. The foreground of this majestic white marble structure, however, was a long-neglected parcel of land with a small lake owned by the City of Cleveland. In the 1920s the Garden Club of Cleveland took on the job of transforming this blighted plot into a garden everyone could enjoy. Mary Hoerner presents the history of the Fine Arts Garden, and Jeffrey Strean discusses the development of the museum’s grounds since the 1930s as well as plans for the future. This lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed book presents a new aspect of the history of a distinguished institution.

Founded in 1953, the Gallery of West Bohemia houses one of the Czech Republic’s most important collections of visual art – 10,000 graphic, painted and sculptural works, with an emphasis on Czech art of the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. The collection includes works by the great figures of Czech modernism, Bohumil Kubista, Emil Filla, Otto Gutfreund, Toyen and Josef Síma. Director Roman Musil’s personal selection of highlights has been made as the Gallery looks forward to a move into new, state-of-the-art premises that will allow the collection to expand further and cement Plzen’s reputation as one of the Czech Republic’s most attractive and exciting cultural destinations.

The Fryderyk Chopin Museum holds the world’s largest Chopin collection, featuring the composer’s last piano, many of his musical manuscripts, and letters, portraits and other objects that together provide a unique insight into his life, music and creative process.

The history of the Chopin Museum dates back to 1934, and today it functions under the aegis of the Chopin Institute, set up by parliament in 2001 to safeguard and disseminate the Chopin heritage. The Institute organises concerts and piano competitions, including the International Chopin Competition, and pursues scholarly, educational, publishing and phonographic work.

The selection of objects presented in this book is complemented by recordings of Chopin’s music, all made on period instruments. Although the objects relate to the composer’s biography in a fragmentary way, the selection is designed to enable readers to gain a fuller picture of his music and his character.

Featuring works by many of the leading twentieth-century Modernists, the sculpture collection of the Meadows Museum in Dallas, Texas, is an American gem. Large- and small-scale works by renowned artists such as Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi and Claes Oldenburg can be seen on the Museum’s welcoming outdoor plaza, while important figural sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol and Alberto Giacometti are on display within the Museum. This elegantly designed book is the first publication on this outstanding collection, offering photography by Laura Wilson and new scholarship by Steven A. Nash on works by some of the most accomplished artists to work in three dimensions.

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From Poland with Music: 100 Years of Polish Composers Abroad (1918–2018) is the first comprehensive treatment of the theme of emigration among Polish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The book focuses on classical composers (e.g. Paderewski, Weinberg, Panufnik), but extends to important figures from the worlds of jazz and film music (Komeda, Makowicz, Kaczmarek, Korzeniowski). 

The first part of the book contains a series of essays on overarching themes related to the Polish musical diaspora, while the second part comprises an engaging collection of interviews with experts concerning the life and legacy of selected composers, with revealing insights into the artists’ personalities and entertaining anecdotes from their lives. Ignacy Jan Paderewski was not only an outstanding pianist and composer, but also the prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of free Poland in 1919. Bronisław Kaper was the first Polish composer to win an Oscar in 1954 for Lili, and Henryk Wars scored 60 projects for Columbia, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, United Artists and Paramount. 

From Poland with Music recalls all of these stories, revealing just how impactful Polish composers have been on the international music scene in the last 100 years.

The collections at The Frick Pittsburgh are the combined legacy of famed art collector and industrialist Henry Clay Frick and his daughter Helen. Two essays tell the story of Frick’s early collecting and his daughter’s interest in continuing his mission to purchase great art and make it publicly accessible. The book also provides a photographic tour of Clayton, the Frick family’s historic Pittsburgh home, which is now a house museum.

Collection highlights presented include fabulous examples of early Renaissance Italian painting; eighteenth-century French painting, furniture, and decorative arts; spectacular Chinese porcelains; and masterpieces by artists like Rubens, Guardi, Boucher, Gainsborough, Fragonard, Millet, and Monet.The entirety of the Frick’s collections, spanning history from the thirteenth century to the present day, are displayed at The Frick Art Museum, Clayton, and the Car and Carriage Museum, all located on the Frick’s five-plus acres of landscaped grounds.

The Frans Hals Museum has attracted interest since it opened in 1913. Its collection of Haarlem Old Masters of the Golden Age, including the world’s largest collection of paintings by Frans Hals, is unique. The collection reflects the radical changes that painting underwent in the early seventeenth century, with Haarlem providing fertile soil for a new expression of art to flourish. In the same way De Hallen Haarlem provides a platform for innovations in modern and contemporary art, positioning itself unequivocally as the champion of a living culture.

In early 2018 the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem, which already operate as a single organisation behind the scenes, will become one museum under the name Frans Hals Museum. Each location will offer a new and distinctive programme of exhibitions in which traditional and contemporary art are shown side by side.

The latest title in Scala’s Director’s Choice series celebrates the coming together of these two art institutions, with a selection of works which speak personally to the Director and reflect the synergy between the two collections.

Originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1954, the Bachman-Wilson House now resides, fully restored, in the grounds of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is an example of what Wright called "Usonian" architecture, a distinctly American and democratic style of residential architecture he developed during the Great Depression to be within the reach of the average middle-class family, without sacrificing quality. The house was originally situated in New Jersey but, after being threatened by repeated flooding, the entire structure was dismantled and transported to Crystal Bridges. Meticulously reconstructed from the original plans, the house opened to the public in the autumn of 2015. This fully illustrated publication highlights this classic structure, and further cements the architectural legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright.

This volume highlights one of the most significant collections of African ceramics in the United States, distinguished for its breadth and representation of women’s excellence in ceramics. It presents these ceramics through sections organised around topics that explore ceramics through different lenses of place, time, artistic media, and cultural identity. This richly illustrated volume organized by the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art celebrates outstanding African ceramics in the collection of Professor Emeritus William M. Itter. 

The Flint Institute of Arts is the second largest art museum in the state of Michigan and one of the largest museum-connected community art schools in the United States. For nearly 100 years, the FIA has been responsible for acquiring, protecting, and presenting a collection of art and artefacts spanning the globe. The world-renowned collection, which exceeds 9,700 objects, is significant for its depth of important European and American paintings and sculptures, 15th century to the present, and its extensive holdings of decorative and applied arts dating back five millennia.

Joining Scala’s popular Director’s Choice series, this fully illustrated book provides Executive Director Tracee Glab’s personal tour of some of her favourite objects in the collection, including both popular highlights and lesser-known gems.

When Helena Normanton was admitted to Middle Temple on 24 December 1919, she became the first woman to enter this traditional male preserve, setting in train a series of firsts for women in law which continue today. The day before, the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act had made it possible, for the first time, for women to enter the legal profession.

Marking the centenary of the Act, First tells the story of women in law in their first 100 years of practice. From early campaigners through to the first women solicitors, barristers, magistrates and judges, the book tells the often untold stories of the pioneers, reformers and influencers who paved the way, revealing the barriers they faced, their challenges and triumphs. It offers a unique insight into how women have succeeded in a profession still dominated by men, and looks ahead to the prospects for women in law in the next 100 years.