Books

Book Club

The Art Newspaper’s Book Club shines a light on art books in their myriad forms and brings you exclusive extracts, interviews, picture galleries and recommendations from leading art world figures. Sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social media

How Martin Parr’s defining photobook made a splash 40 years ago

‘The Last Resort’, which will be republished later this year, is the subject of a new show at the late photographer’s foundation

Ultimate reading lists

2 days ago

In loco parentis: new study tells the story of Florence’s ‘thrown-away’ children

Europe’s first foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, is examined afresh in a new book

Book Clubfeature
2 days ago

‘The good, the bad and the ugly’: a short history of how artists depict the female body

The author Amy Dempsey talks about her new book exploring the tension between overexposure and invisibility

Book Clubfeature
2 days ago

How Martin Parr’s defining photobook made a splash 40 years ago

‘The Last Resort’, which will be republished later this year, is the subject of a new show at the late photographer’s foundation

Booksreview

Blonde ambition: book looks at the women who became Britain’s post-war cultural icons

A sharp study of shifting attitudes to femininity in British culture after 1945, connected by a trend for "blondeness"

Booksreview

Book offers fresh perspectives on why Cubism came into being

A leading scholar of the movement argues that the aim of its key protagonists was a reinvention of reality

Singaporefeature

Singapore Art Week puts women artists from the region to the fore

A new book and a major exhibition are highlighting contemporary female artists from Singapore, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries

Booksreview

Holbein biography interrogates the artist's life and work from a different angle

The publication draws on inventories, correspondence and rediscovered works to reveal new theories

Book Clubfeature

A taster of the British Museum's Hawaii show in three objects

The curator Alice Christophe delves into the catalogue and picks out some key objects ahead of the exhibition in London

Alice Christophe. With an introduction by Gareth Harris
Booksreview

New book tells the tale of David's ‘Death of Marat’ through the eyes of a lifelong admirer

Art historian’s dissection of famous work is as much about the painting as his decades-long obsession with it

Book Clubfeature

How an artist and a writer forged a frank friendship—and a book

The author Olivia Laing and the painter Chantal Joffe tell us about collaborating on a new book detailing their creative exchanges

An expert’s guide to the Gothic: five must-read books on the topic

The best recent publications about the subject, from a book following the rebuilding of Notre-Dame cathedral to a Batman comic set in Barcelona—selected by the museum director and curator Annabelle Ténèze

Booksreview

The dark side of collecting: book reveals ugly history of art’s great coveters

The civilised lustre of the great collectors could camouflage a lust that had more to do with greed than beauty

Booksreview

How taboo-breaker Robert Crumb’s surreal cartoons mock an absurd world—and himself

The father of the underground comic book is still an active artist, satirising the “inner hell that is part of American culture”

‘Lust for Life’: The Van Gogh book designed to fit in pockets of US soldiers during the Second World War

The Armed Forces Edition novel is now rare, since it was "not to be made available for civilians"—we show you a copy

Driving in Van Gogh’s footsteps: the 1907 book that imagined a dream art pilgrimage

Writer Octave Mirbeau, an early owner of a Sunflowers painting, titled his fictional travelogue "628-E8"—after his car’s own licence plate

Booksreview

French novel explores Van Gogh and Goya—through the eyes of a young girl

The book provides a fresh perspective on famous works, cruising through the last few centuries of Western art

Booksblog

The best art books of 2025, as picked by The Art Newspaper’s editors

The publications that delighted our literary team this year, from important exhibition catalogues and overdue surveys to personal reflections and playful illustrations

Book Clubfeature

The Rembrandt robber: five takeaways from an insider’s book on a notorious art thief

The security expert Anthony Amore provides insights into the curious case of Myles Connor, who stole Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn

Anthony Amore. With an introduction by Gareth Harris
Book Clubfeature

When Masha met Ragnar: Pussy Riot member’s life-changing encounter

In this extract from her new book, Maria "Masha" Alyokhina Alyokhina recalls her first meeting with the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson

An expert’s guide to late Pablo Picasso: five must-read books on the second half of his career

The best publications about the Spanish artist's twilight years chosen by the curators of Late Picasso

Comrades in art: meet the artists who fought against fascism

This study of the first decade of the Artists International Association, set up in the years before the Second World War, focusses the group’s impact as well as its lesser-known figures

Booksreview

Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander navigates her country’s complex past—a new monograph tells her story

An art historian’s book on the Lahore-born artist does justice to both her beautiful paintings and the history that informs them

Booksreview

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun made simple: a lively and informed book for the sound-bite generation

The French portraitist has been repositioned for an entry-level audience

Book Clubfeature

‘Make a lot of bad work for as long as possible’: new book brings you top tips from artists

In Lydia Figes’s publication more than 50 successful artists share their wisdom on everything from defining success to dealing with galleries