Books

Book Reviews

Who really was John Soane? The man and manifesto behind the magnificent house museum

Former museum director Bruce Boucher’s room-by-room account of the architect’s collection takes far readers beyond the catalogue

Julius Bryant

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 using #TANbookclub

Maria Balshaw on the roles of museums today and what Tate’s sponsorship red line is

The Tate director discusses her new book about art institutions and their challenges in the 21st century

Ultimate reading lists

Booksreview

Five of the best art books hitting the shelves this autumn

Our literary editor Jacqueline Riding selects some of the tempting titles that are scheduled for publication over the coming months

Photographyinterview

Dark camera action: new photography book expands our understanding of the night

Night Fever features an international cohort of film and photography artists, including Malick Sidibé and Sohrab Hura

Book Clubinterview

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

Booksreview

Although it is a ‘sumptuous’ tome, this survey of contemporary public art from around the world baffles at times

The self-proclaimed atlas gives voice to works from often overlooked global-majority cultures but tends to favour mainstream over more challenging works

Booksreview

Exploring the cultural legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots

A collaborative book project takes a novel approach to examining the impact of the 16th-century Scottish monarch

Booksblog

The art lover’s summer reading list: from insider encounters with Damien Hirst to the changing face of Nigerian art

Make room in your suitcase for novelist Chibundu Onuzo’s must-read titles of the season

Booksreview

Take a romp through Ancient Rome’s great buildings with this handy (almost) pocket-sized book

Ostensibly a guide to the city's top 50 sites, a new publication by Paul Roberts offers far more

Booksreview

‘Viscerally real’: a Caravaggio painting provides inspiration for a newly translated novel

The Italian scholar Alessandro Giardino posits his theories about the Baroque artist’s Seven Works of Mercy in fictional form

Book Clubfeature

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”

An expert's guide to sculpture: five must-read books on the art of the three dimensional

All you ever wanted to know about the topic, from the latest experimentations in contemporary art to some lesser-known Surrealist sculpture—selected by the head of the Henry Moore Institute, Laurence Sillars

Booksreview

Taking a close look at classical architecture as a ‘living system’

Edward McParland's recent, wide-ranging book takes an idiosyncratic approach to classicism, examining its complexities and expressive forms

Booksreview

Understanding John James Audubon’s avian genius

Two contrasting studies shine a light on America’s most celebrated ornithological artist

Learn more about Korean art with these new books

The Korea Arts Management Service supports a wide range of publications aimed to increase and deepen knowledge of Korean art. Here are some books that have been recently published or are due to be released this year

In partnership withMinistry of Culture, Sports and Tourism & Korea Arts Management Service

The Week in Art podcast | Art Basel: fireworks and nuance, Lynn Barber on her artist interviews, Guillaume Lethière at the Clark

We find out what this year's fair says about the state of the art market. Plus, the veteran journalist Lynn Barber tells us about her encounters with artists and we discover a forgotten master of Neo-Classical art

Exploring the rise and fall of British architectural sculpture

A timely study examines the unique confluence of artists and architects in British buildings from the 1850s to the 1950s

Booksreview

A history of the time that artists (very briefly) ruled Russia

The dramatic twists and turns of the leading figures of the avant-garde during the Russian Revolution

Book Clubfeature

What it's like modelling naked for Lucian Freud when he's your father

Rose Boyt’s memoir explores the highs, lows and contradictions of sitting for the artist

Book Clubinterview

Tears, tantrums and Turner Prize titbits: Lynn Barber on the messy art of interviewing artists

In her latest book, the veteran UK journalist recalls her many encounters with artists such as Salvador Dalí, Howard Hodgkin and the Chapman brothers

An expert’s guide to Michelangelo: five must-read books on the Renaissance Old Master

All you ever wanted to know about Michelangelo, from a “masterly” catalogue of drawings to a collection of letters covering art, deliveries and the artist’s favourite wine—selected by the curator Grant Lewis

Diaryblog

Did Delacroix take a Liberty? New book discusses how 19th-century artist boobed

Sarah Thornton's new publication—Tits Up: What Our Beliefs About Breasts Reveal About Life, Love, Sex and Society—ponders on bosoms in (art) history

New encyclopaedia makes Africa’s distant past relevant to today and tomorrow

Project aims to help seasoned researchers unlearn biases and the next generation of archaeologists to find inspiration

Booksreview

Surrealist pioneer Eileen Agar's remarkable life

A new edition of her 1980s autobiography brings this vivacious and well-connected artist back to life

Wouldn't it be nice to see The Beach Boys: new show goes behind the scenes of seminal 1960s band

Exhibition at Iconic Images Gallery includes rarely seen works by top photographers from the period, as well as childhood pictures

Booksreview

‘Shamefully duped’: friend of convicted art fraudster Inigo Philbrick spills the beans in new memoir

In the warts-and all publication, Orlando Whitfield discusses his 15-year friendship with Philbrick while offering insights into the world of art dealing

Booksreview

From pews to power stations: a history of interwar British architecture that some feared might not be published

Gavin Stamp’s final book offers a fitting memorial to the architectural historian and Private Eye columnist