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

Book Clubinterview

Q&A | Philip Guston’s daughter Musa Mayer on her new book and the uproar surrounding the artist’s postponed show

Although Guston's paintings of Klansmen “remain controversial today” they are also “deeply relevant”, she says

Book Clubfeature

Read what Jenny Saville, George Condo and Victoria Beckham have to say about their favourite Old Master paintings

Exclusive extracts from a new book bringing together texts by 62 cultural figures describing their preferred works in the Frick Collection

Book Clubfeature

The Nazi art dealer who supplied Hermann Göring and operated in a shadowy art underworld after the war

A new book by Jonathan Petropoulos explores Bruno Lohse’s devotion to Hitler’s number two

An expert's guide to Francis Bacon: five must-read books on the post-war painter

All you ever wanted to know about the artist, from a deep dive into his chaotic studio to accounts of his exploits in seedy Soho—selected by the art historian Michael Peppiatt

Book Clubpreview

A selection of 2021 art publications—Musa Mayer on her father, Philip Guston; Jean Dubuffet in the spotlight

A monograph on Catherine Opie, an analysis of museums in the 21st century and an overview of Joseph Beuys also make the grade

What was the best art book you read in 2020? The Art Newspaper team reveals its favourite publications

From the catalogue for a controversial Guston show to a four-volume tome on Leonardo Da Vinci—and some lighter reads too

Book Clubfeature

In Pictures | Artists' astrological images through the ages

A new book explores the long and changing history of how horoscopes were depicted, from 15th-century Bohemian scorpions to the abstract paintings of Hilma af Klint

What was the best art book you read in 2020? The art world’s biggest names give us their top tips

The directors of the Met, Tate Modern, British Museum, Centre Pompidou and more, as well as artists such as Tracey Emin, tell us all about their favourite book—just in time for Christmas shopping

Book Clubfeature

Extract | Why I made Love is the Message—Arthur Jafa describes the inspiration for his seminal film

In a recently published Cahiers d’Art monograph, the US artist speaks about responding to “a tsunami of footage of Black people getting killed”

Book Clubfeature

In Pictures | Andy Warhol's explicit drawings from the 1950s that he never got to publish

New book brings together hundreds of images of nude young men, which “are imbued with an emotional vulnerability that few of his later works exhibit”

Book Clubinterview

Benedikt Taschen: from selling comics in Cologne to hanging out with Hockney

As the Taschen publishing house turns 40, its founder talks about starting out in his parents’ kitchen and the importance of “planting seeds”

Book Clubfeature

Extract | How artist couple Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore resisted the Nazis with their ‘paper bullets’

New book outlines the campaign led by the gender-fluid artists on the island of Jersey during the Second World War

An expert’s guide to J.M.W. Turner: four must-read books on the British painter

All you ever wanted to know about Turner, from a “rollicking read” of a biography to a “picture book with a point”—selected by the Romantic period painting specialist David Blayney Brown

Book Clubfeature

In Pictures | The eve of a US presidential election through the eyes of William Eggleston

A newly republished book by the renowned Memphis photographer documents the Deep South in the run-up to the 1976 election

Book Clubfeature

Judge a book by its cover: Centre Pompidou looks at Henri Matisse through a literary lens for new show

One of the most expansive museum surveys on the French artist in 50 years will present his book and magazine designs—and even some of his own writing

Book Clubinterview

Q&A | ‘The looting was a chaotic free-for-all’: Dan Hicks on the pillaging of the Benin Bronzes and colonialism in museums

The curator and University of Oxford professor tells us about his new book, The Brutish Museums, which details how museums themselves were “used as a unique type of weapon”

Book Clubfeature

Extract | The Guerrilla Girls say ‘get mad and keep up the fight’

An exclusive excerpt and images from a new book chronicling 35 years of “creative complaining” by the US-based feminist art collective

What has the Goldsmiths CCA director Sarah McCrory been reading this year?

The curator's interests have ranged from artist interviews and books on race, to crime fiction and a biography revealing what Walter Gropius really thought of the English

An expert’s guide to Artemisia Gentileschi: five must-read books on the Italian artist

All you ever wanted to know about Artemisia, from the best biographies to a book about her place in early modern feminism—selected by Italian painting specialist Letizia Treves

Book Clubfeature

Ka-boom! How art history is embracing the comic book genre

Publishers looking for ways to draw in wider audiences to the lives and careers of famous artists are increasingly turning to graphic novels

Book Clubreview

New biography highlights how Philip Guston risked his art-world standing and livelihood

The book by Robert Storr delves into the American painter's dealings with Klansmen and how he wanted “to make paintings you couldn’t count money in front of”

An expert’s guide to Vincent van Gogh: five must-read books on the Dutch artist

All you ever needed to know about the artist, from the story of the ear incident to the definitive biography and best picture book—selected by Van Gogh specialist Martin Bailey

Can’t make it to the Met? Dive into a new book for an unconventional look at the museum's collection

Publication aims to open up 6,000 years of art history using objects as a springboard—but is it worth the effort?

Book Clubfeature

In Pictures | John Cage’s lifelong obsession with mushrooms

A new book looks at the artist and composer's love of all things mycological, including his fungi photograph collection and collaboration with illustrator Lois Long

What has the National Portrait Gallery’s Nicholas Cullinan been reading this summer?

The museum director has been delving into artist biographies, swotting up on black British history and is hoping to finally begin a well-known novel trilogy

Book Clubfeature

Misogyny and making art in the shadow of Jackson Pollock—how Lee Krasner was shut out of art history

New digital publication argues that the late US artist is the “unacknowledged equal” of her superstar husband

Book Clubfeature

In Pictures | Yayoi Kusama’s colourful life gets the graphic novel treatment

From naked performances in New York and her relationship with Joseph Cornell to hijacking the Venice Biennale, the Japanese artist is the subject of a new comic book by Elisa Macellari

Book Clubfeature

Why Jeff Koons is so difficult to please, the strange Venice Biennale selection process and which collector is a game changer

A new book by Matthew Israel gives an insider’s view of the art world over the course of a year

Book Clubinterview

Q&A | Vintage photo trove hidden in attic for decades revealed in new book

Alberto di Lenardo’s secret 8,000-strong archive has been distilled into a new publication by his granddaughter Carlotta, who tells us all about it

Book Clubfeature

Art, enlightenment and plenty of sex: life according to John Giorno

Some takeaways from the late US artist and poet’s new memoir Great Demon Kings