The collection comprises five books :

BOOK 1 :

“Prehistory & Foundations”, coordinated by Pascal Picq (paleoanthropologist, Collège de France), offering groundbreaking insight from the world’s eminent prehistorians in answer to the question: “How long was mankind been drawn to beauty?”.

BOOK 2 :

“Antiquity & Civilisations”, coordinated by Georges Vigarello (specialist in the history of the body and its representations, EHESS), Georges Balandier (ethnologist and emeritus professor at the Sorbonne) and Marco Bussagli (Accademia delle Belle Arti, Rome), provides a concise compilation of fundamental concepts guiding how we think about beauty. The book explores a range of different civilisations including Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Ancient China, Pre-Columbian culture and India.

BOOK 3 :

“Classical Age & Confrontations”, coordinated by Georges Vigarello, shows the incredible diversity we have inherited, packed with rivalries and conflict stemming from the need to come to terms with otherness, which can so often bring out the best – and the worst – in people.

BOOK 4 :

“Modernity & Globalisation”, coordinated by Marc Nouschi (French Ministry of Culture), describes key changes that are irrevocably transforming the sociological and psychological search for beauty. The book depicts the rise of the beauty industry and how it attempts to offer new answers to these questions.

BOOK 5 :

“Future & Projections”, coordinated by Françoise Gaillard (philosopher, Université Paris VII and Columbia University, New York). As the virtual age changes our outlook on beauty, raising new questions over biological reality and human aesthetics, contributions from artists, essayists and philosophers attempt to shed light on new sources of beauty.