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

Booksreview

The life story of Francesca Alexander—the American artist in tune with Italy—is told in new book

New biography of Boston-born Alexander, who made her name in Florence with her delicate illustrations of Italian folk ballads, brings her out of the shadow of her friendship with John Ruskin

Booksreview

Publication reveals there was more to photographer Weegee than his grim crime scene images

A comprehensive overview explores the “paradox” of Weegee’s work and how he went from taking tabloid photos of murder to making distorted celebrity portraits

Book Clubfeature

The trials and tribulations of putting together Lucian Freud’s catalogue raisonné

The forensically researched volume on the British artist's oil paintings offers a depth of scrutiny that he himself was famous for

Book Clubinterview

New book looks at the shaping of Modern art in the Middle East beyond politics and war

The Arab art specialist Saeb Eigner talks about his comprehensive new biography spanning from 1900 to today

An expert’s guide to Ruth Asawa: five must-read books on the Japanese American artist

All you ever wanted to know about Asawa, from a graphic novel biography to tales from her time at the celebrated Black Mountain College—selected by the curator Janet Bishop

Booksreview

Japan is opening its eyes to women photographers—and to the female gaze

Denied recognition and even credit for their work until recent times, Japan’s women photographers are challenging and subverting traditional assumptions about the female body

Bookspreview

On a San Francisco roof, an artist’s work is birthed by the night sky

Ala Ebtekar’s new cyanotypes for Arion Press were exposed using moon and starlight during a partial lunar eclipse

Booksreview

Biography of Peter Gregory reveals a modest ‘businessman’ who was a driving force in art publishing

Through his dedicated printing and patronage, Gregory was a champion of contemporary art and design

Booksreview

Review | ‘An utterly positive and dangerously irrelevant’ book written by the chief executive of Arts Council England

This journey through the UK’s publicly funded arts carefully averts its eyes from the many signs of crisis

Booksreview

A new monograph places the writing, painting and archive photographs of Aubrey Williams in thrilling conversation

The publication about the Guyanese-born artist includes diary entries and several works that have been photographed for the first time

Book Clubfeature

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

Book Clubinterview

‘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

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

Booksnews

New book celebrates William Butterfield, a master of High Victorian Gothic architecture

Nicholas Olsberg’s publication offers a learned analysis of the architect’s work, which includes Oxford’s Keble College and central London’s All Saints church

Booksreview

This new volume reveals the under-explored art of 18th-century cut and paste

Author David Pullins challenges the hierarchical distinctions between fine art and decorative art in French painting of the 1700s

Why newly appointed museum directors fail, and how to avoid it: Kaywin Feldman’s new book on leadership

The director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, offers sage advice on how non-profits can best manage personnel changes at the top

Book Clubfeature

‘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

Book Clubfeature

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

Booksreview

Mary Beale’s art of intimacy revealed in exhibition catalogue brimming with detail

A new study explores the portrait practice of Beale, the most famous of the early female professional painters in Britain

Booksreview

New book explores the art of three artists whose work is beset by demons

The author looks at the defining features and similarities of work by Hieronymus Bosch, Max Beckmann and William Kentridge

Booksreview

Compelling prose and lyrical turns in Sally Mann’s poignant and, at times, shocking memoir

The American South plays a crucial role in the photographer’s richly illustrated book

Booksreview

The stuff of nightmares: catalogue of Alfred Kubin’s work shines a light on his dark world

The macabre artist’s blood-soaked prints and drawings at the start of the 20th century foretold future wars

An expert’s guide to Brazilian Modernism: five must-read books on the subject

All you ever wanted to know about the topic, from its impact on global Modernist art to a novel capturing the “atmosphere of heady excitement”—selected by the curator Rebecca Bray

Book Clubfeature

‘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

Book Clubfeature

‘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