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Those interested in art history, art collecting, and the lives of artists will not be able to put this down.
PREMIUM
Julie Manet
With beautiful illustrations and an accessible writing style, this book is recommended for readers interested in 19th-century French art as well as women’s history.
As a collection of women architects’ biographies, this is a worthwhile book for architecture collections. As an effort to reframe women’s impact, contributions, and participation in the profession of architecture, it is essential for collections that cover architecture or design.
An in-depth look at creating natural tablescapes; recommended for enthusiasts of the outdoors or of entertaining.
PREMIUM
Wreath-Making for All Occasions
Crafters with an interest in both home décor and eco-friendly projects will find much to enjoy in this nicely assembled collection.
PREMIUM
What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Mysterious Portrait
Art lovers and history buffs will enjoy this fast-paced, entertaining romp from the Renaissance to the present day, focusing on one painting by one of the world’s most famous, intriguing, and mysterious artists.
Like Bearden’s art, Gilmore’s biography pulses with energy and will resonate with readers of Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.
Recommended for readers interested in the cultural climate of the 20th century and artists outside the mainstream.
This carefully organized exposition is light on the sensational and, while not strictly scholarly, contains heady discussion on many facets of this captivating topic that apparently is here to stay. The discussion moves from academic to casual and vice versa in sometimes distracting ways, but those looking for a multidisciplinary approach may not mind the occasional large dose of philosophical fascination.
PREMIUM
The Ceramics Bible
An essential resource for arts and crafts collections; suitable for ceramicists at all levels of experience.
PREMIUM
Mickalene Thomas
This is an important and accessible work and will be relished by followers of contemporary art.
Revising the traditional view of fashion history as a parade of (mostly male) genius designers, Block highlights the stylish customers, along with enterprising female dressmakers and businesswomen, whose tastes shaped the look of the Gilded Age.
PREMIUM
Faith Ringgold: American People
Will appeal to those interested in artistic inclusivity and artistic expression, especially through textile art.
PREMIUM
Patented: 1,000 Design Patents
A unique reference; will be useful to historians and designers and fascinating to browsers.
Ultimately inconclusive on the question of artistic independence from Europe, this interesting time capsule of the American pop art elite is a rewarding deep dive into primary sources, packed with felicitous biographical content.
PREMIUM
Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style
Album covers, advertising images, and portrait photographs of iconic Black cultural figures illustrate variations on cool Black Ivy style in this photo-filled homage.
PREMIUM
Sandfuture
The subject matter might have narrow appeal, but general readers can gather inspiration or motivation from reading about Yamasaki’s and Beal’s rigorous work; in this way, this book recalls art historian Douglas Crimp’s Before Pictures, another mélange of memoir and theory.
More than simply an amusing look at the possible stories behind architectural drawings. Although it may take more than a cursory glance to recognize the fictional approach in the texts, this book encourages readers to visualize the larger and more nuanced context for a genre of drawing often seen as purely documentary.
This work is proof that a crafts book doesn’t have to be filled with Instagram-worthy photos or patterns and instructions to inspire and educate. It’s a snapshot (and an honest appraisal) of the current moment in the crafting world and a celebration of the creativity and ingenuity of BIPOC crafters. This has the potential to reach outside the crafting sphere and into the wider conversation about social justice. Highly recommended.
It’s easy to understand why Mikey and Diva Dan became YouTube sensations; their love of crochet shines throughout this book, and their delightful stories will charm readers. This lively, fun collection is a must for their fans, and is likely to bring additional crochet enthusiasts into their crowd.
The level of depth and detail that can be created in Sumi-e paintings is astonishing, and Koike’s book is a master class from a noted expert.
A beautifully designed, abundantly illustrated book that probes the dynamic intersection of art, popular and consumer cultures, and technology in the work of this important 21st-century artist.
PREMIUM
Gothic: An Illustrated History
A work of exceptional originality and fresh insight, with sparkling prose.
A perfect balance of text and illustration on a subject and symbol that continues to fuel the American imagination.
This engaging and accessible book is recommended for anyone interested in women artists, but readers will need to have another reference source nearby, as images are limited to one or two reproductions per artist.
This work empowers readers with theory, historical precedent, and practical information, while encouraging everyone to “amplify other voices and disrupt patterns of inequity.” Don’t pass on this singular resource.
Accessible and non-scholarly in tone yet comprehensively sourced, this book will serve as a source of enlightenment and inspiration for a wide audience.
Although some of these images have been previously seen, showcased for the first time here are the superbly clear, detailed prints made from the digital scans of all the negatives, with their astonishing immediacy. Includes an in-depth essay about Genthe’s movements through the city and insightful scholarship about the social fabric of San Francisco of that era.
Filled with great photos, inspiring stories, and infectious enthusiasm for the sport and life of surfing.
This book will most likely not interest photographers, but will be a quick browse for many casual readers who want to recall our recent, collective past.
Readers of Dellheim’s book will learn more about the history of modern art and European cultural history during times of upheaval and turmoil. Those who enjoy history and art history will enjoy this deep dive.
PREMIUM
Georgia O’Keeffe
For those who can’t travel to Madrid, Paris, or Basel to see the O’Keeffe retrospective, this beautifully designed volume will satisfy. Also for readers who want to learn about O’Keeffe’s technique, studio practice, mentors, and the art world around her; soak in her particular response to nature; or merely spend time with the soothing qualities of her oeuvre.
From their chubby-cheeked “Gibson Girl” childhood through their sunlit dotage, the Brutons were exemplars of many aspects of California history and, in recent years, overlooked. Good’s book corrects this.
An engaging read, avoiding hagiography. This biography of a mercurial rogue has something to amuse or annoy most aficionados.
With its introductory overview of Les Nabis, written in clear, readable language, this book is recommended for readers who know little about the subject as well as those who are passionate about 19th-century French art and culture.
With its particular focus on a diverse, international group of contemporary artists, this monograph will serve large public libraries, academic libraries, and museum libraries that support art programs.
Recommended for readers who already have some knowledge of the Italian Renaissance and want to learn more.
Based on deep research in Knoll’s papers at the Smithsonian, the Cranbrook Institute, and the Knoll Associates Archives, this close look at Knoll’s career makes its case soundly.
PREMIUM
How Photography Became Contemporary Art: Inside an Artistic Revolution from Pop to the Digital Age
A must-read for photography enthusiasts; Grundberg’s personal recollections will also appeal to readers interested in the late 20th-century New York art scene. This is an important text on the history of photography.
With this compact trove of contemporary photographs juxtaposed with Van Gogh’s artworks, homes, and friendly commentary, the intensity of the artist’s life will go down more easily. Van Gogh fans will enjoy walking in his footsteps, and it will surely inform new audiences as well.
Although it will be a welcome addition to library shelves, it doesn’t provide readers with more than a straightforward guide to knitting socks and the patterns.
Ford does an excellent job of demystifying the complex process of pottery making. This would be a great resource for beginning students and even experienced potters looking for fresh ideas, or to brush up on skills.
PREMIUM
Carrie Mae Weems
This is a well-researched, intriguing monograph about Weems that will be helpful to anyone researching her art and interesting to any reader who wants to think about the function and construction of beauty within society.
PREMIUM
The Van Gogh Sisters
Buy where fine art, feminism, group biographies of women, or biographies like Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith’s Van Gogh: The Life are popular.
PREMIUM
Hip-Hop Architecture
This challenging inquiry into an unusual pairing of creative pursuits is likely to appeal to students of either architecture or hip-hop.
This readable title will appeal to readers interested in the art of the Brandywine School or Revolutionary War history.
PREMIUM
Henri Matisse
While this is a good overview of Matisse’s work, readers will need to come into it with a solid visual knowledge of the artist’s output, or have nearby another reference with color images of Matisse’s artworks.
Possibly too academic for a popular collection, but will complement academic libraries or those with strong arts and social sciences collections. Readers interested in 20th-century culture who have some grounding in contemporary art theory will enjoy this beautifully produced book.
PREMIUM
Gainsborough in London
While it is a scholarly work, this accessible and fastidiously researched book will appeal to readers interested in Gainsborough or the cultural life of Georgian England.
PREMIUM
Fotoclubismo: Brazilian Modernist Photography and the Foto-Cine Clube Bandeirante, 1946–1964
For serious students of Brazilian and Latin American mid-20th-century art.
PREMIUM
Mid-Century Modernism and the American Body: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Power in Design
With its scholarly style and specialized focus, this text is suitable for an academic audience. Wilson meticulously applies the critical method to the marketing of an influential and persistent style, making this book essential reading for students of sociology as well as design.
PREMIUM
Fashion Criticism: An Anthology
Reprints of lesser-known essays (Campbell’s “What Happened to the Afro?”), plus essays that use a variety of approaches, from glamorous description (Long’s “Feminine Fashions”), to social theory (Sontag’s “Looking with Avedon”), make this a solid primer on cultural criticism and fashion journalism.
Whether or not readers believe in the supernatural, they’ll be impressed by the erudition of these texts and the wide range of beautifully presented artworks.
This book offers lots of peeks into the art world throughout history. It’s an in-depth look at varied time periods and artists, which readers interested in gossip, drama, or art history will enjoy.
An excellent selection for readers who want an easy entry to art appreciation. It’s perfect for readers who wonder why an artwork is significant or why an artist would choose a particular subject. This book is compelling, yet simple enough that it would be appropriate for a general library collection.
Although it’s fascinating as a history, Webb’s body of work is artistically underwhelming; it resembles a really good Life magazine photo-essay, but it lacks the éclat of photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson or Malick Sidibé. This narrative of Webb’s photos and their creation will engage primarily readers who are already interested in the medium and the message.
With observations on urbanism that are more inspiring than those in the late, peripatetic architect Michael Sorkin’s Twenty Minutes in Manhattan, this text benefits from monochromatic photographs and delicate, understated, textural pencil sketches, which will inspire design students to express their ideas more abstractly. For all architecture libraries.
PREMIUM
Chanel Eternal Instant
Given the price of this book, and its narrow focus, this title is recommended primarily for watch aficionados and collectors.
PREMIUM
Luchita Hurtado
An informative and intimate introduction to the artist. Readers should also seek out Luchita Hurtado: I Live I Die I Will Be Reborn, a catalogue of a retrospective exhibition organized by the Serpentine Galleries in 2019.
This volume does not focus on Chanel’s biography or her collaboration with the Nazi regime in wartime; for that, see Hal Vaughan’s Sleeping with the Enemy and other biographies of the designer. Rather, it spotlights Chanel’s creations and how she marketed her style and created a brand. This excellent volume is recommended for readers interested in fashion history and French fashion in general.
While some may disagree with the author’s assumption about audience appreciation of Frankenthaler’s oeuvre, this book will appeal to those interested in the developmental years of a 1950s artist, and her creative process.
PREMIUM
The Rose in Fashion: Ravishing
This richly illustrated book contains fascinating specialized information. Recommended for readers interested in the cultural history of flowers as well as a singular slice of fashion history.
An archetype of the “public intellectual” bearing enormous, transformative importance, thoroughly considered in word and image.
This volume presents an engaging concept that should appeal to readers interested both in portrait photography and in the lives of artists. For some, a high-level browse will be all they need. For others, this title will only whet their appetite. They’ll need to go elsewhere to pursue the topic in greater depth.
Dasal takes all the best and most interesting parts of art history and puts them into a fun, easy read. This is perfect for art history beginners and experts alike.
With this engrossing biography, readers will come away with a greater appreciation of Avedon’s artistic strengths and achievements, as well as the complex man behind the camera.
PREMIUM
About Time: Fashion and Duration
For readers interested in new interpretations of the history of fashion.
PREMIUM
Grayson Perry
Perry is a singular artist with an unusual perspective of the world around him. This updated edition of a 2009 volume is a very thorough study of one particular artist but it may have a limited audience.
PREMIUM
Degas at the Opera
For lovers of the theatrical world of 19th-century Paris and Degas as its most important artistic documentarian, this catalog serves as an important resource.
PREMIUM
Kara Walker: Hyundai Commission
With color in-process images as well as photos of the final installation, and essays by novelist Zadie Smith and Tate curator Clara Kim, this title is recommended for readers interested in art that explores issues of race, slavery, and history.
PREMIUM
Albrecht Dürer
Both exhibition catalog and academic endeavor, this will be enjoyed by scholars and Dürer aficionados alike.
Scholarly in tone and ambitious in scope, this book is recommended to readers interested in the fashion and history of the World War II period.
Intriguing interpretations of Evans’s photos and work process, for both specialists and general readers.
PREMIUM
Photo/Brut
Since photo-based work is often not emphasized in the history of art brut, this is a must-view for fans and scholars of the genre. The collection also provides a new lens with which to view the field of photography.
This title will engage readers of costume scholarship as well as historians focused on the turn of the century. There is much to learn from the well-researched text, and the book is easy to browse for its rich images that exemplify the time period.
Written in a warm and inviting tone that is both inspirational and aspirational, this is an excellent introduction for artists of all levels to the rewarding medium of watercolor.
PREMIUM
Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse
As much a history of ballet as an exploration of the connections between ballerinas and fashion, this is recommended for readers interested in the crossover of both subjects.
PREMIUM
Sean Godsell: Houses
With no other title on the architect in print, this volume will inspire students appreciative of Godsell’s eclectic, cross-fertilized minimalism and is therefore essential for all collections that support design curricula.
An important contribution to a re-imagining of American history, this book of black-and-white photographs will appeal to art lovers, history buffs, and social activists. Essays from curators, writers, and artists provide further insight into this inspired collection.
PREMIUM
Horace Pippin, American Modern
This comprehensive study of Pippin absorbs previous scholarship but is perhaps the most thorough and inclusive analysis of a luminary and true original, briefly at center stage.
Former governor Jerry Brown’s foreword sets the tone for this body of work, which expresses tragic loss coupled with inspiration and fresh perspectives for the future. Beautifully designed and amply illustrated, this accessible catalog will be welcomed by art enthusiasts beyond California’s borders.
An excellent introduction both to the work of a fine cultural critic and to the creative figures discussed.
PREMIUM
Bestowing Beauty: Masterpieces from Persian Lands—Selections from the Hossein Afshar Collection
Art lovers and scholars alike will delight in this visually and intellectually stimulating collection of Persian art.
This title will reintroduce Halpert, who was well known in her time, to readers. A good accompaniment to Lindsay Pollock’s The Girl with the Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert and the Making of the Modern Art Gallery.
PREMIUM
James Tissot
With beautiful color plates, a detailed chronology of Tissot’s life, and short, accessible essays, this is recommended for general readers interested in 19th–century painting, as well as the specialist looking for new and more detailed information on the artist.
A portrait artist who never painted her own portrait now has one in the words of her biographer. This is a treat for anyone interested in women in the arts, the social and cultural history of the late 19th–early 20th century, and the researcher’s role in recording these.
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