Books

Book Reviews

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 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

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

Ultimate reading lists

Book Clubfeature

The Voynich Manuscript revealed: five things you probably didn't know about the Medieval masterpiece

Scholars have speculated for centuries about the meaning behind the 15th-century codex and its peculiar illustrations

Booksreview

East meets West in Venice: the unlikely love affair between a Hermitage curator and a Cambridge don

A new volumes details a chance meeting that liberated art scholars Francis Haskell and Larissa Salmina in very different ways

Booksreview

A new ‘anti-biography’ rips apart the myth of Leonardo as a solitary genius

The new study of the Da Vinci brand uses historical context to debunk the artist’s cult status and present him as a man of his time

Book Clubfeature

Sex, beauty and the body: how Helen Chadwick shaped British contemporary art

The “provocative, punky, perverse” artist died far too young but her work’s influence endures, argues a new biography

Book Clubfeature

An expert's guide to artists' books: four must-read publications on the genre

All you ever wanted to know about artists' books on the eve of a major exhibition at London’s Warburg Institute—selected by the show's co-curator Arnaud Desjardin

Booksreview

Edward Gorey’s surreal back-of-the-envelope illustrations tell a moving story

The writer and artist’s delightful illustrated correspondence chronicle a long friendship

Booksreview

Former Sotheby's chairman recounts the birth of the London art market as we know it

James Stourton's new book explores changes from the power shift to the auction houses in the mid-20th century to the excesses of the 1980s and 90s

Booksreview

New book explores the complex history of Jewish country houses

A large-scale study of the stories behind these buildings, their architecture and collections

New book tells the story of a century of Middle Eastern art

Arab art expert Saeb Eigner explores the work of more than 250 Modern and contemporary artists spanning diverse art movements across 22 countries in the Middle East

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

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