Books

Book Reviews

A new book looks at how Marcel Duchamp’s ‘impossible’ love for the sculptor Maria Martins changed his work

Duchamp’s decades-long relationship with the Brazilian artist had a profound impact on both their lives and art

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 story behind Grant Wood’s American Gothic and what made it go viral

The author of a new book on the famous painting tells us why even she was mistaken about who it portrayed

Ultimate reading lists

Book Clubinterview

Why Mary Cassatt was more than just a painter of the ‘modern Madonna’

The curator Mary G. Morton tells us about her new publication that paints the Impressionist artist in a new light

Booksreview

A collection of intimate interviews with the late Jo Spence provides further texture to her life and legacy

The transcribed recordings of the British photographer cover many aspects of her life and at times feel like eavesdropping

An expert’s guide to Pierre-Auguste Renoir: five must-read books on the French Impressionist

The best Renoir publications, from a study of his influential later period to an intimate portrayal by his film-maker son Jean—selected by the curator Christopher Riopelle

Californian Michelin-starred restaurant serves up book on the art of hospitality and farming

Famed for its Japanese-inspired menus and homegrown ingredients, SingleThread shares its wisdom on growing and preparing food

Booksreview

New book charts American artist’s lifelong devotion to the South Seas

Robert Lee Eskridge painted hundreds of images of Pacific Island life after landing in Tahiti a century ago

Toledo Museum of Art launches initiative to donate art books to African libraries

The Ohio institution has given books to the Koyo Kouoh Library at the Gihanga Institute of Contemporary Art in Rwanda, and to the Nubuke Foundation in Ghana

Booksreview

Two centuries since his death, Antonio Canova’s reputation is on the rise again as a new book of essays explores

The Italian sculptor divided opinion during his lifetime, accused by critics of failing to fully embrace Neo-Classicism

An expert’s guide to Frida Kahlo: five must-read books on the Mexican Surrealist

The best Kahlo publications, from an incisive art-historical study to a facsimile of the artist’s diary—selected by the Tate curator Beatriz García-Velasco

Book Clubinterview

Found objects and fall-outs: publication reveals new sides to Donald Judd and his work

Neil Levine, a historian and former friend of the artist, tells us about his publication, which offers a personal perspective on the Minimalist master

Book Clubfeature

‘I am such a lazybones’: new book reveals Claude Monet’s life through his letters

A collection of the artist’s correspondence provides fascinating new insights, from his domestic life to acquisition negotiations

Booksreview

Book examines the connection between auteur Federico Fellini and the last castrato

“Castrato Phantoms” explores the artistic legacy of a cruel historic practice that saw young boys mutilated in order to create distinctive singing voices in later life

Booksreview

New book offers feminist re-evaluation of Anne Vallayer-Coster, one of France’s great 18th-century artists

The study explores how Valleyer-Coster cultivated an elite clientele in a turbulent France while navigating the pressures placed on women artists

Booksreview

Royal Academy book looks at Richard Dadd beyond the themes of madness and murder

Jennifer Higgie’s new novel meanwhile takes a very different approach to the life and legacy of the English artist, who spent much of his life in psychiatric institutions

Booksreview

Meet Alan Dunn, the New Yorker cartoonist who put Modernism in its place

A new book explores how Alan Dunn poked fun at 20th-century American architecture over this five-decade cartooning career

Booksreview

New biography reveals the rich life of the ‘studiously self-effacing’ artist Anni Albers

Book showcases the ground-breaking textile works of the artist who, during her lifetime and since, was overlooked in favour of her husband, Josef Albers

Book Clubinterview

When Hockney met Betty: new book uncovers mysterious Beverly Hills Housewife in famous Los Angeles painting

Author James Cahill's account of the burgeoning 1960s LA art scene explores links between collector Betty Freeman and the late Yorkshire artist

Book Clubfeature

A bonanza of Bayeux Tapestry books to accompany the blockbuster British Museum exhibition

There is plenty to read about the medieval masterpiece as it returns to England for the first time in almost 1,000 years

Booksreview

Curator offers crucial perspective on Hong Kong’s burgeoning 1980s and 1990s art scene in new book

Oscar Ho Hing-kay outlines the growing visibility of boundary-breaking local artists and their responses to the 1997 handover to China

Booksreview

Essay collection explores how the West’s museums of plundered African artworks can be dismantled

Analysis documents how artists and filmmakers have reacted to colonialism and pillage in Africa

An expert’s guide to Anish Kapoor: five must-read books on the British-Indian artist

With a new show at London’s Hayward Gallery, an expert chooses books that delve into the established sculptor’s life and work over five decades

Book Clubinterview

Why I launched a new photobook imprint—veteran bookseller and publisher reveals next career move

Foxed Editions co-founded by Rudi Thoemmes focuses on overlooked parts of photographic history

Comment | I'm trying my hand at writing an art historical novel—it is the best training in looking I’ve ever set myself

After 20 years of writing non-fiction books, the art historian Bendor Grosvenor is working on a Stuart-era sleuthing novel

Booksreview

Artist Trevor Paglen’s new book offers timely take on technology’s hijacking of visual culture

The publication features a collection of essays about how two technological revolutions have transformed our relationship to images

Booksreview

Photographer Melonie Bennett’s debut monograph captures the ‘stupendousness‘ of family life

The photobook captures two decades of often hilarious, sometimes tragic moments

Five must-read books on Pan-Africanism and art

The best publications about the subject, from a collection of Surrealist writing to a survey of pioneering architects—selected by Elvira Dyangani Ose and Adom Getachew