Contact: Vanessa Hope Schneider, 212-207-7745, Vanessa.Schneider@HarperCollins.com
MEDIA ADVISORY, Nov. 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- Throughout their history, human beings have felt a need for supernatural support--for powers that help, powers that guide, powers that either proclaim important events or bring news of them. In THE GLORY OF ANGELS by Edward Lucie-Smith (Collins Design; Hardcover: October 27, 2009; $35.00; 9780061787775) we explore the importance of angels, and the myriad ways in which they have been depicted in illustrations, short stories, and aphorisms. In this beautiful, oversized book that opens with church-like doors, Lucie-Smith highlights the importance of the guardian angels and archangels, including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. And he explores the ways in which music has been used to portray the voice of angels, the appearances of angels in mythology, and the role the angels play in the last judgment. He explores how angels guide us by protecting and warning us of danger, healing and comforting us, and urging us to follow God's path.
While angels as we now know them are specifically associated with monotheistic religions, specifically Christianity and Islam, most cultures seem to offer equivalents, even if they do not always take the forms that would be familiar to us today. And yet, while many people have a strong instinctive belief in angelic presences, both good angles and sometimes bad ones, they generally find it difficult to visualize these other-worldly creatures for themselves. Even Joan of Arc found it hard to describe her angelic visitor, the Archangel Michael. What clearly helped her to "see" as well as hear him were the statues and paintings of angels she had seen in churches. If we look at the whole story of belief in angels, we immediately understand how our own conception of them has been formed not only by sacred texts, but also by great artists over the centuries. It is works of art that have been instrumental in creating the strongly established traditions about the physical appearance of angels, and about their role as guides, protectors, and messengers.
In-depth essays in THE GLORY OF ANGELS reveal the stories of fallen angels, angels in disguise, and angels who have given in to temptation. There are also inspiring accounts of those who have been visited by angels, including King Lear, William Blake, Lot, Daniel and Jacob, and how each eventually overcame hardship with the help of an angel. Through these stories, we see how a desire to personalize wisdom, protection and strength, is satisfied by angels who embody these qualities so completely. Artists step in to give these concepts physical existence, bringing them into our world.
Visually stunning, with lavish gatefolds and gold foil throughout, THE GLORY OF ANGELS is a perfect holiday gift and an inspiration to return to, and reflect on, time and time again.
About the Author
Edward Lucie-Smith is an internationally known art critic and historian who has published more than a hundred books in all, including a biography of Joan of Arc, a historical novel, and more than sixty books about art. He is also a published poet (member of the Académie Européenne de Poésie, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize), an anthologist and a practising photographer. A number of his art books, among them Movements in Art since 1945, Visual Arts of the 20th Century, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Art Today are used as standard texts throughout the world. Other well-known texts include Sexuality in Western Art and 20th Century Latin American Art.
In addition to writing on art he has written extensively on craft and on industrial design, where his books include The Story of Craft, A History of Industrial Design and A Concise History of Furniture. Other texts include American Realism (1994) and Ars Erotica (1997). He is the author of Judy Chicago: An American Vision (1999), the first full career survey of the work of the leading American feminist artist.
Edward Lucie-Smith lives in London, but has lectured in numerous countries including the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Australia, Turkey, Iran, Korea, Hong Kong, Yugoslavia, Australia and New Zealand. In Britain he was for many years a well-known broadcaster, appearing regularly on the BBC arts discussion program "The Critics" and its successor "Critics' Forum." His appearances on these programs spanned a period of twenty years. He has also written for many leading British newspapers and periodicals, among them The Times of London (where at one time he had a regular column), the London Evening Standard (whose critic he was for two years), the New Statesman, the Spectator, the London Magazine and Encounter. He currently writes regularly for Art Review, Index on Censorship, and for La Vanguardia, which is based out of Barcelona.
THE GLORY OF ANGELS
By Edward Lucie-Smith
Collins Design; Hardcover
On Sale October 27, 2009
192 pages / $35.00
ISBN: 9780061787775
