Vincent Namatjira, contributors include Lisa Slade and Nici Cumpston, Thames & Hudson, 256pp, £45 (hb)
Vincent Namatjira hit the headlines last year when he made an unflattering portrait of the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart who subsequently demanded that the work be removed from public display at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. “From the first page of this monograph, Vincent takes us on a journey through his artwork, contextualising his iconic series on Indigenous soldiers, Indigenous leaders, power and the [British] Royal Family, giving us an insight into his world view,” says a publisher’s statement. The publication coincides with a solo exhibition of Namatjira’s work at Ames Yavuz gallery in London (12 September-4 October). “[The artist] uses wit and caricature to interrogate the complex colonial narratives implicit in Australia’s relationship with Empire,” adds a gallery statement.
Narrative Threads: Palestinian Embroidery in Contemporary Art, Joanna Barakat, Saqi Books, 272pp, £35 (hb)
The author Joanna Barakat examines how “contemporary artists are shaping, maintaining, and innovating the symbolism associated with what is now commonly referred to as tatreez, the indigenous practice of Palestinian embroidery”. The book features the work of 24 established and emerging artists who reinterpret the motifs and imagery of tatreez across various media, including painting, sculpture, textiles, film, photography and street art. “Bringing together visual art, historical insight, and cultural critique, Narrative Threads redefines tatreez as a dynamic force in contemporary art,” Barakat says. Essays by the art historians Tina Sherwell, Wafa Ghnaim and Rachel Dedman place works in a historical and critical context.
Swing Low: The Harriet Tubman Memorial by Alison Saar is one of the sculptures in David Felsen's New York City Monuments of Black Americans: A History and Guide
New York City Monuments of Black Americans: A History and Guide, David Felsen, Arcadia Publishing, 208pp, $24.99 (pb)
“This is the history of how New York City got its monuments to Black Americans,” writes David Felsen, a history teacher based in New York, in the introduction to his book New York City Monuments of Black Americans. He goes on to write: “Who was the first Black American honoured, and when did it happen? Who were the artists, activists and civic leaders behind these monuments? Why did they get made?” Felsen tells The Art Newspaper: “Invisible Man [a sculpture honouring the author Ralph Ellison] matters because it's New York City's only representation of a Black literary figure and the only public memorial in the city by the great Black sculptor and graphic artist, Elizabeth Catlett.” The book goes on to take readers around the city, taking in important work such as Swing Low: The Harriet Tubman Memorial by Alison Saar (2008), which was the first monument of a Black American woman in New York City.
The Great Chinese Art Heist, Ralph Pezzullo, Pegasus Crime, 304pp, $29.95 (hb)
In The Great Chinese Art Heist, the author Ralph Pezzullo analyses a spate of Chinese art thefts in recent years including a break-in at Stockholm’s Drottningholm Palace in August 2010 when a number of rare Chinese porcelain vases were stolen (many of the items taken in the raids were looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace by Anglo-French troops around 1860). Pezzullo’s ambitious account goes back in time, looking to the Second Opium War and the plundering of the Old Summer Palace in the late 19th century, connecting these events to the recent heists. Pezzullo speculates that the Chinese government or triad gangs, among other parties, are responsible for the art thefts.
