Albert Skira was a Swiss publisher and the founder of the Skira publishing house.
The Skira publishing house, Editions d'Art Albert Skira
Skira founded the eponymous publishing house in Lausanne in 1928, at various times known as Skira, Editions d'Art Albert Skira, and Skira Editore. During the 1930s Skira opened an office in Paris and the publishing house became a meeting place for important artistic figures of the time. In 1933, Skira contacted André Breton about a new journal, which he planned to be the most luxurious art and literary review the Surrealists had seen, featuring a slick format with many color illustrations. Skira's restriction was that Breton was not allowed to use the magazine to express his social and political views. Later that year Minotaure began publication, and continued until 1939. In addition to Minotaure Skira published several volumes of literature and poetry in the 1930s, both classic and contemporary, that prominently featured original prints by major artists of the time including: Les Métamorphoses by Ovid, illustrated with 30 original engravings by Pablo Picasso in 1931; Poésies by Stéphane Mallarmé, with 29 etchings by Henri Matisse in 1932; Les Chants de Maldoror by Isidore Lucien Ducasse with 43 etchings by Salvador Dali published in 1934. During the Second World War Skira's publishing house was forced to reduce its activities. Henri Matisse designed the cover of the Editions d'Art Albert Skira publisher's catalogue in 1948, for the celebration of its first twenty years, a woman’s head which was to become the unofficial trademark for Skira. After World War II Albert Skira planned and directed the publication of several ambitious series or, book collections, on the subject of painting and art history. The volumes in these collections were characterized by fine scholarship illustrated with numerous high quality color reproductions "tipped" into each volume. Most of the volumes in each collection were translated into multiple languages and available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish editions.
Book collections planned and directed by Albert Skira">Skira (publisher)">Skira 1948 - 1973
Painting, Color, History: 23 volumes . A series surveying national schools of painting including Flemish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Modern Painting and more.
The Taste of our Time. 57 volumes, published 1953–1972. This collection includes: Monographs ; The Great Art Revolutions ; Famous Places as Seen by Great Painters ; Drawing.
The Treasures of Asia. 6 volumes, published 1960–1963. A companion series in matching format to The Great Centuries of Painting, surveying the history of painting in Arabia, Central Asia, China, India, Japan, and Persia.
The Treasures of the World. 8 volumes, published 1962–1970. "Created by Albert Skira for Horizon Magazine" this series focuses on the architecture, fine art, and decorative arts of various cultures or cities including Ancient America, Iran, Spain I, Spain II: Turkey, The Pharaohs, The Vatican, and Venice.
Art, Ideas, History. 10 volumes, published 1964–1969. Like the Great Centuries of Painting, this collection is a chronological historical overview, expanding the coverage to encompass sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts, and to place that art into the broader social, political, philosophical, and historical context of the period that it was produced.
