Book Club
The Art Newspaper’s Book Club shines a light on art books in their myriad forms and brings you exclusive extracts, interviews and recommendations from leading art world figures. Sign up to our monthly newsletter above
An expert’s guide to Vanessa Bell: five must-read books on the Bloomsbury Group artist
All you ever wanted to know about Bell, from a comprehensive biography to a controversial memoir by her daughter—selected by Charleston’s head of collections Darren Clarke
March Book Bag: from a compilation of artist love stories to a polemic questioning morality in art
Our round-up of the latest art publications
Tacita Dean on why she has made a book about her night in a museum with Cy Twombly’s art
The British artist has published a new book of detailed photographs of her hero’s work
‘He could be grotesquely, wildly intemperate’: biographer Blake Gopnik tells us about the great collector Albert C. Barnes
A new biography on the renowned businessman, who amassed one of the most important collections of Modern art in the US, looks at what made him tick
‘I thought I would be trampled to death’: travelling with Gilbert & George to put on a show in 1990s Beijing
An exclusive extract from a new book by James Birch who helped organise exhibitions for the artist duo in Communist Russia and China
Ultimate reading lists
Interviews with writers
Tacita Dean on why she has made a book about her night in a museum with Cy Twombly’s art
The British artist has published a new book of detailed photographs of her hero’s work
‘He could be grotesquely, wildly intemperate’: biographer Blake Gopnik tells us about the great collector Albert C. Barnes
A new biography on the renowned businessman, who amassed one of the most important collections of Modern art in the US, looks at what made him tick
Don McCullin on swapping war zones for museums and why his ‘printing days are over’
The revered photojournalist has turned his focus to ancient statues for a new photography book
‘The painter in me did not die’: novelist Orhan Pamuk turns his hand to art
Notebooks filled with the Turkish author's drawings reflect events spanning the past decade
The world’s oldest printed book and rare ancient manuscripts from the Mogao caves in China to go on show in London
We speak to the British Library exhibition curator Melodie Doumy about the Diamond Sutra and other treasures from the Library Cave
Features
‘The painter in me did not die’: novelist Orhan Pamuk turns his hand to art
Notebooks filled with the Turkish author's drawings reflect events spanning the past decade
How a Persian manuscript was swapped for a Willem de Kooning owned by the Iranian government
Oliver Hoare's memoir details the story of the ambitious exchange of an Iranian masterpiece for a painting by the Abstract Expressionist
‘The artist the critics love to hate’: the colourful life of sports star painter and Playboy illustrator LeRoy Neiman
We speak to the author of a new biography that reassesses the legacy of the “hustler” artist who rubbed shoulders with celebrities
What is the art world reading?
Some of our favourite books of 2024—picked by The Art Newspaper’s books team
Our literary editors share what has delighted them this year, from art-themed novels to edifying histories
The top art books of 2023—chosen by The Art Newspaper’s book team
There is something for every art lover among our pick of the publications—from a forgotten 17th-century painter to a lively history of dyes
Nine artists recommend their favourite books for summer
From dystopian biography and intelligent plants to “monstrous mothers” and the underwater world, avid readers share their top tips
The top art books of 2022—chosen by The Art Newspaper's books team
Struggling for Christmas gifts? Take a look at the publications we enjoyed over the past year—from an exploration of art and motherhood to an interrogation of the culture wars
Book extracts
‘I thought I would be trampled to death’: travelling with Gilbert & George to put on a show in 1990s Beijing
An exclusive extract from a new book by James Birch who helped organise exhibitions for the artist duo in Communist Russia and China
‘An impossible stillness that artists have chased’: Alvaro Barrington on Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ
In this exclusive extract from a new book, the London-based artist explains why Piero’s painting is his favourite in the National Gallery collection
‘He laughed like a madman’: when Édouard Manet decided to touch up one of Berthe Morisot's paintings
An extract from a new book by Sebastian Smee—about the Impressionists during the Siege of Paris and Paris Commune—brings to life the peculiar episode of artistic intervention
Katherine Parr: power, patronage and the first full-length portrait of an English queen
In this exclusive extract from a new book about Henry VIII’s six wives, the art historian Suzannah Lipscomb writes about “perhaps the greatest artistic patron of them all”
‘Have you ever been sat on before?’ What it's like taking part in a (surprisingly) private view
An exclusive extract from a new book by Bianca Bosker that lifts the lid on the secret life of the art world
In Pictures
In Pictures | Artist billboards across America tell a story of US politics today
Ahead of the November presidential election, a new book by the For Freedoms organisation brings together the topical and political posters that it has commissioned since 2016
In Pictures | Ukraine before the 2022 Russian invasion, from holidaymakers in Odesa to the frontlines of Mariupol
Mark Neville’s new photobook—of images taken over the past six years—is a call to action that has been sent to hundreds of politicians and other influential people around the world
In Pictures | How Gianfranco Gorgoni captured the mysticism of the Land Art movement
More than 150 rarely-seen photographs chronicle the history of seminal earthworks in the landscape
In Pictures | Behind the scenes of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work wrapping the Arc de Triomphe
A new book looks at the detailed preparations and 60 years of planning behind the work being unveiled in Paris
In Pictures | Barkley L. Hendricks unseen photographs gathered in new publication
The US artist’s images are joined by an extract from the book looking at how aspects of his painting and photography overlapped
