Books

Book Reviews

Beetlejuice and beyond: the origins of Tim Burton’s world of gothic romance and its enduring influence

Catalogue accompanying exhibition at London’s Design Museum explores the US film-maker’s unique aesthetic

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

‘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

Ultimate reading lists

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

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‘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

Booksreview

New book views glacier paintings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham through the eyes of poets and glaciologists

Recent publication is the first comprehensive account of works inspired by a visit to Switzerland in 1949

From sfumato to selfies—can art history explain the Instagram phenomenon?

In his new book Koenraad Jonckheere argues that the way we view images on the social media platform is rooted in the past

Booksreview

A literary homage to Peggy Guggenheim that falls short

Historical fiction on the famed bohemian collector brings her relationships to life but leaves out much of what she actually achieved

Carsten Höller, Takashi Murakami, sounds of the US-Mexico border — podcast

Höller discusses his new book of games, Murakami chats AI and the television series Shōgun, and two artists talk about a new sound installation at Dia’s New York City space

Full colour: celebrating 15 years of street art in Miami’s Wynwood

A new book reveals the exuberant and varied work created by numerous artists that has been key to the rejuvenation of the district north of the city’s downtown

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

Booksreview

Intense repartee: a collection of letters that the critic John Berger exchanged with his artist son

The correspondence between John and Yves Berger is both moving and enlightening

An expert’s guide to the Venetian Renaissance: five must-read books on the period

All you ever wanted to know about the subject, from the story of Carpaccio and Bellini's narrative painting to a Venice guide for little explorers—selected by the curators Annette Hojer and Christine Follmann

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Magnum’s opus of America: a new photography compendium reveals the many sides of the US

The publication’s co-editor Peter van Agtmael chooses seven key images from legendary agency’s new book

Booksreview

Two books explore Piet Mondrian's journey into abstraction—and his posthumous influence on 1960s fashion

How, two decades after his death, did Mondrian become a brand icon, and make a lasting contribution to the “youthquake”?

Booksreview

This newly translated volume compiles the photographic traces of a libidinous love affair

Author Annie Ernaux and journalist Marc Marie’s collaborative memoir documents a passionate yet haunted relationship

Booksreview

The arts should be recognised as a key part of what it means to be human, argues a new publication

An urgent treatise on the decommodification of culture by the professor of cultural economy Justin O’Connor

Booksreview

How Korean feminist art developed alongside the country’s move to democracy is explored in new book

An exploration of the driving force of so-called “K-feminism” and the connection between art and politics in Korea

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‘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

Five must-read art history books for the under-fives

All you ever wanted to know about art (if you are little), from a cat that wanders round Tate Modern at night to why Louise Bourgeois made giant spiders—selected by The Art Newspaper's Anna Brady

Booksreview

Dealer’s memoir offers a wild ride through the 1960s New York art scene

Michael Findlay reveals his art world beginnings as a lucky 18-year-old Scot in the Big Apple

Booksreview

How American artist Charles J. Connick’s poetically reimagined Medieval stained glass

A new book shows how Connick harnessed the ancient medium as ‘a potent means of contemporary visual expression’

Booksreview

A sensitive portrait of collector Isabella Stewart Gardner—Boston's millionaire Bohémienne

A biography of Gardner captures her extraordinary life story with empathy

Booksreview

A new monograph highlights Jamaican-born sculptor Ronald Moody as one of Britain's most important Modernists

Moody defied family expectations to pursue his art, and is now celebrated in an exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield

Frieze, UK critics The White Pube, Giuseppe Penone and Arte Povera — podcast

We find out how the London fair went this year, speak to Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad about their new book and to Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev about her new show at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris

Booksreview

In an epic new volume, Chris Killip captures an English community in the grip of industrial decline

Never straying from the documentary tradition, the image maker explores the gradual erosion of traditional forms of labour

Booksreview

The liberated lens: a chronicle of African cinema and photography

A new book celebrates the pioneering artists who took control of the post-colonial agenda