Chris Orr

Chris Orr, the well known British painter and printmaker, takes us on a tour of his prodigious and penetrating vision of the world over the last twelve years.

In The Miserable Lives of Fabulous Artists, Chris Orr turns his humorous gaze on some of the most famous - and fabulous - artists of the past. With over 30 new works, accompanied by Orr's captions, artists from Edward Hopper to Pablo Picasso find themselves in weird and wonderful situations. Edvard Munch holidays at the seaside, John Constable RA is disturbed at his easel by frolicking nudists and there's an unfortunate incident in Barbara Hepworth's studio... No one can escape Orr's imagination: Walter Sickert is distracted from a spreadeagled model by a fly in his soup, Dame Laura Knight RA is caught shoplifting, and Frida Kahlo enjoys a fry-up. Each image is packed with detail to pore over, and the book concludes with notes from the artist, accompanied by preparatory drawings for the finished work. This new collection, published to coincide with an exhibition of Orr's works at the Royal Academy of Arts, is a charming romp which affectionately pokes fun at well-loved artists.

Chris Orr MBE RA is one of Britain's foremost printmakers. In this definitive book he and Robert Hewison explore his remarkable printmaking career, from his early experiments as a student in the 1960s, when he first discovered how etching could enhance his drawing, to his later innovations in lithography, silkscreen and digital printing, and his ingenious use of long-forgotten processes. Hewison also considers the significant contribution that Orr has made to printmaking as a teacher, first at Cardiff College of Art and then in London at Central St Martins and the Royal College of Art, where he was Professor of Printmaking from 1998 to 2008. Illustrated with over 150 of Orr's theatrical, witty and wilfully allusive prints, this book looks for the first time in depth at the gloriously original output of a ceaseless inventor. The book will also be published in a limited edition containing a specially made print signed by the artist.

The book comprises 22 chapters, from the simplest explanation of how to taste wine to a more in-depth look at the principle of wine regions and styles from around the globe. The book covers, amongst other things: How to work out which wines you like best, where to buy wine;