POPULAR ART BOOK SERIES COMING IN AUDIO FORMAT FOR TRAVELERS

CONTEXT AUDIO GUIDES, LLC, producer of the Jane’s Smart Art Guides™, audio guides to the remarkable art sites of Europe, (www.JanesSmartArt.com) has acquired exclusive audio rights to titles in the GEORGE BRAZILLER, INC. series, The Great Fresco Cycles of the Renaissance (www.georgebraziller.com) .

The magnificent frescoes seen in chapels and town halls across Italy are among the greatest artistic achievements of the Renaissance. In the 1990s George Braziller introduced a series of ten books covering some of the most famous and widely-loved of these wall paintings. Each volume, written by a leading scholar specializing in the featured artist, explores one outstanding fresco cycle within the context of its cultural, political and artistic history.

Whereas the Great Fresco Cycles books are illustrated with full-color images — providing stimulating “armchair travel” — Jane’s Smart Art Guides™ are intended for use by travelers who are actually visiting the sites, standing in front of the artwork and wanting to know about the artistic and historical context of what they’re seeing. The audio format is ideal for the onsite visitor, since it engages the ears, while — unlike a printed book — it leaves the eyes free to look at what one is there to see.

“I’m pleased that the work of our highly-regarded authors will now be available in a format accessible to travelers,” George Braziller said. “This material is extremely well-suited for adaptation to spoken-word. I applaud Jane’s vision in producing specialized audio guides for travelers who are interested in art.”

The first four titles of the Great Fresco Cycles series to be adapted as Jane’s Smart Art Guides™ are: William Hood’s Fra Angelico: San Marco, Florence (Fall, 2006); James Beck’s Raphael: The Stanza della Segnatura, Rome (Fall, 2006); Randolph Starn’s Ambrogio Lorenzetti: The Palazzo Pubblico, Siena (January, 2007); and Jonathan B. Reiss’ Luca Signorelli: San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto (February, 2007).


Audio rights to the books were acquired by Jane McIntosh, President of Context Audio Guides, LLC. “Having developed our first three audio titles in-house, we are delighted to now be able to adapt the work of renowned art scholars,” McIntosh said. “This agreement will enable us to more quickly add new audio guides to our title list, and our customers will be pleased with the high quality of the content.” The company’s first three titles (St. Peter’s Basilica and Sta. Maria del Popolo, both in Rome, and Antwerp’s Our Lady Cathedral), represent a unique new concept in the rapidly-growing audio travel guide arena. Each investigates — in-depth — the art and architecture of a single site in the context of its history. “George Braziller’s Great Fresco Cycles series is a perfect fit,” McIntosh said.

Founded in 1955, George Braziller, Inc. is an independent publishing house based in New York City, publishing beautiful and widely-respected books on art and architecture. They are known for consistently publishing books of exceptional content and quality, as well as discovering new writers and exploring new areas in the world of art.