Books
Master of the putti: instructive book explores Albrecht Dürer's obsession with the little cherubs
Survey including 91 illustrations shows how the artist used the winged gods prolifically in his work
Fernand Khnopff and the art of introspection—exhaustive book offers last word on Belgian Symbolist
The outcome of decades of research, this meticulously produced volume gives insight into artist's full oeuvre
A crisis hits the art market once a decade. What is different this time? Christie's president Dirk Boll assesses the impact of the pandemic
As his new book is published, the auction house chief compares coronavirus fallout to previous economic disasters
Attribution of a Venus discovered in a French scrapyard is highly contested—this book defends the ascription
This weighty tome looks at the life and work of the Italian sculptor Giambologna but focuses on the contested bronze
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
Two books have different takes on the question: just what is Islamic Art?
One title, based on a recent exhibition, and another with an academic bent present divergent interpretations, from the context of workmanship and religion
Six of the best catalogues raisonnés
From Leonardo to Bacon, take your pick from a selection of essential texts on leading artists
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
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”
Three books about Lucian Freud's life and work offer insights that do not always paint a pretty picture
Eccentricity and singled-mindedness were part of the great painter's character, but he had many unappealing traits
Lucian Freud the anti-hero: book relaying artist's philandering and impetuous behaviour is heavy on incident, light on insight
Second and last instalment of this two-part biography on the painter’s life fails to satisfy—but it does supply valuable first-hand records
From picture frames to cloakrooms: what makes a successful museum
A new book by the designer Dinah Casson takes readers behind the scenes
A new kind of museum is emerging—here's what the future holds
International museum leaders are confronting manifold challenges in the wake of Covid-19 and innovating in six principal ways, writes András Szántó
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”
Prize-winning Gainsborough publication shines light on lives of painter's female sitters
New book, which reveals how the Old Masters influenced the 18th-century British artist, has won the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History
Divine People: first biography of Ambrose McEvoy reveals how portrait artist became a darling of London and New York society a century ago
The typescript of Eric Chilston's book, based on primary sources and eye-witness accounts, was rediscovered in 2018 after being thought lost for nearly 40 years
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”
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
Yayoi Kusama on 2020: ‘O demons of unwonted fate. We will stand and face you’
New publication—described as “most personal book to date”—will focus on artist’s use of language
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
From the archive | how MacDonald Gill's lettering provides an egalitarian monument to the British and Commonwealth fallen of two world wars
The first biography of ‘Max’ Gill reveals the versatile talent of an artist who was a master of lettering and murals and a standout mapmaker-artist
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
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
From how insurance pay outs work to when to get your art appraised: a must have how-to book for collectors
This updated art market manual by Mary Rozell merits a place on any bookshelf
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”
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
Artemisia and Frida: great art, turbulent lives
We take a tour of the Artemisia Gentileschi show in London with curator Letizia Treves and explore a new biography of Frida Kahlo with its author, Hettie Judah
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
Bryan Robertson: an engrossing book on a brilliant—but forgotten—maverick curator
This is the first publication about the man who put London's Whitechapel Gallery on the international map, but never gained the recognition he deserved
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