Books

Booksreview

A hefty tome on the arts of the Austro-Hungarian belle époque

The extraordinary mitteleuropäische flourishing of all the arts from 1900 to 1914

Novelist Orhan Pamuk unveils photographs of Istanbul he took from his balcony

On show in Turkey this month, the images are an ode to the Nobel Prize-winning author’s hometown

Booksreview

Wish you were here: revolutionary postcards in Imperial Russia

Book collects pictorially subversive propaganda in a populist medium

Booksreview

The extraordinary cultural energy of 18th-century Venice

Art, music and architecture flourished in the Republic for the last time

Booksreview

Frida Kahlo's letters conceal nothing and reveal nothing

Kahlo’s communications with her mother are unsurprisingly banal

Complex, ingenious, emotional: the concluding volumes of Jasper Johns’s catalogues raisonnés

Two further volumes comprehensively cover the artist's drawings and monotypes

Booksreview

How to try to understand Jusepe de Ribera's many scenes of violence

The Spanish artist’s extraordinary paintings of tortured bodies and tormented souls

Booksreview

Clement Greenberg: still waiting for sympathetic treatment

On the 110th birthday of the great American critic, we delve into our archive and discover that writings about him are either too academic or too sensationalist

Booksreview

The architectural and imaginative influence of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock in Western building styles

This book accounts for building histories, designs and geographical spread of church inspired by the Jerusalem prototypes

Booksreview

Southeast Asian illuminated manuscripts

Book looks at Thai and Burmese historic texts from the British Library

Booksreview

First book on art collection of the draughtsman and cult figure Edward Gorey

Gorey inexplicably left his collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum

Booksreview

Philippe Costamagna’s combination of autobiography, anecdote and single discovery told in his own words

The memoirs of the Pontormo expert and director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Ajaccio

Edward Woodman: the light and space of a golden era

UK retrospective freeze-frames often ephemeral works from the 1980s and 1990s

Rothschild Bronzes definitely by Michelangelo, new book claims

Pair of nude males, acquired by the family in 1877, last sold at auction in 2002

Booksreview

Renaissance prints as sources of images for maiolica and bronze reliefs

The interactions of Renaissance drawing, printing and ceramics

Booksreview

The influence of Klimt in Central European art after the First World War

The adaptations and expansions of the Austrian painter in the nations of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire

Booksreview

What books in paintings mean

The significance of books in works of art

Bookspreview

A love letter to a grittier, punk-accented New York

Chris Stein, Blondie co-founder, presents a book of photographs from the 1970s and 80s

Bookspreview

Witches, cannibals and murderers: the stories behind some of the Musée d’Orsay’s most violent works of art

In his new book The Orsay Murder Club, the art historian Christos Markogiannakis examines the horrors of the Paris museum’s collection

Booksgallery

Seven cookbooks for art lovers

From Mondrian-inspired cakes to Dalí's Surreal concoctions, these books offer recipes for all (art) tastes

Booksreview

A monumental study of the heyday of Historicist painting

This comprehensive volume looks at a genre popular in 19th-century Europe but long scorned in the art world

Podcastspodcast

Gainsborough murder mystery. Plus, RoseLee Goldberg on performance art

We travel back to the 18th century and delve into the grisly family murders that helped Gainsborough gain fame. Plus, RoseLee Goldberg tell us all about her new book Performance Now: Live Art for the 21st century. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Booksreview

Jackson Pollock's art gets lost in academic theory in new book

This scholarly overview of the artist’s work is modishly opaque

Booksreview

Reputations redeemed by art: two books examine what made Charles I and II great collectors but bad rulers

Despite the failings of the Stuart kings, their art collections stand in their favour, as exhibitions in the UK this year have shown

Booksreview

Chicago’s art history, revised

Art in Chicago illuminates a rich and ultimately countercultural legacy