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Pearls -- small white beads of purity and perfection. It is no wonder that they have fascinated and bewitched cultures the world over for thousands of years. But just what is it about this ancient gem that has so closely bonded it to our lives, our culture, and our bodies? People and Pearls explores and reveals the power of pearls, with their remarkable ability to bestow upon their wearer a sense of mystery, elegance, and grace. It offers a personal look at the world's most celebrated jewel through portraits of the most memorable personages throughout civilization to have worn them -- from Queen Elizabeth to Uma Thurman, from Josephine Baker to Marilyn Monroe. It recounts the stories of particular strands of pearls that have such an enthralling history about them that they seem to take on a life of their own. Embellishing the text are more than one hundred lavish illustrations, photography as unique as the subject of the book: These are seductive, beautiful works of ail. Some are humorous. Some are as snapshots from a personal diary. Some are breathtakingly romantic, such as the portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse wearing only her pearls. And some -- like the timeless elegance of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's -- are dreamlike visions that are simply unforgettable. Masterfully written and beautifully designed, People and Pearls is not only a cultural, historical, and personal look at the magic of pearls-it is the definitive photographic book on the subject.

Reveals the inner qualities of 14 remarkable women who define style in ways that have lasted for generations. Witty and fascinating excursions into the worlds of Coco Chanel, Pauline de Rothschild, Diana Vreeland, Elsie de Wolfe, and others are captured in lavish photographs and entertaining anecdotes. We discover not only the preeminent influence that these women held over fashion and culture, but also the wry, often poignant tales of their personal lives.--From publisher description.

Lisa Fonssagrives dominated the modelling profession for nearly three decades from 1936 to the 1950s, combining sophistication and glamour with spontaneity and total lack of vanity.

Josephine Baker -- Walter White -- Zora Neale Hurston -- A'Lelia Walker -- James Weldon Johnson -- Ethel Waters -- Louis Armstrong -- Bessie Smith -- Alberta Hunter -- Jessie Fauset -- Nella Larsen -- Florence Mills -- Duke Ellington -- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson -- Carl Van Vechten -- Langston Hughes -- Dorothy West "The Power of Pride features seventeen of the most prominent men and women of the New Negro Renaissance. Alternately irreverent, racy, and painfully honest, they were unique: risk-takers in dangerous times, sophisticated salonieres in an age of bourgeois provincialism, and experimenters who briefly managed to transcend race by immersing themselves in it." --From the Introduction The Harlem Renaissance was an electrifying period during which huge numbers of African Americans threw off the shackles of discrimination, exploitation, and poverty in the South and moved north. Heady with the feeling of liberation and the discovery of other like-minded folk, artists, writers, painters, and dancers engaged in bursts of furious creativity. From Josephine Baker, taking Paris by storm with her sensual performances and ravishing costumes, to Duke Ellington, revolutionizing the way people thought about rhythm and melody, these artists were the preeminent stylemakers of the era. The Power of Pride is a visually spirited and intimate book full of photographs, letters, playbills, and drawings that capture the gaiety and excitement of the time. Moving from the brownstones of Striver's Row in Harlem to the Negro Appreciation salons in Paris, the book focuses on seventeen Renaissance figures who exemplify the themes of race, fortitude, talent, and style, and whose strength of willand ability created a model for all those with dreams and aspirations emerging in the African-American community. The work of each shared a common thread, their intent, as writer Ralph Ellison has articulated it, "to arouse the troubling suspicion that whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black." With a foreword by Juan Williams--author of Eyes on the Prize and Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary-- and stunning photographs throughout, The Power of Pride serves as a vivid testament to the artistic and social contributions of the Harlem Renaissance to the history of America.

Ross Bleckner, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, John Cage, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Roni Horn, Brice Marden, Joan Mitchell, Jack Pierson, Richard Serra, Philip Taaffe, Cy Twombly, Terry Winters, Francesco Clemente, Milton Resnick, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Julian Lethbridge, Cindy Sherman, Jasper Johns.