Books

Book Reviews

Who really was John Soane? The man and manifesto behind the magnificent house museum

Former museum director Bruce Boucher’s room-by-room account of the architect’s collection takes far readers beyond the catalogue

Julius Bryant

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 using #TANbookclub

‘The artist the critics love to hate’: the colourful life of sports star painter and Playboy illustrator LeRoy Neiman

We speak to the author of a new biography that reassesses the legacy of the “hustler” artist who rubbed shoulders with celebrities

Ultimate reading lists

Booksreview

In an epic new volume, Chris Killip captures an English community in the grip of industrial decline

Never straying from the documentary tradition, the image maker explores the gradual erosion of traditional forms of labour

Booksreview

The liberated lens: a chronicle of African cinema and photography

A new book celebrates the pioneering artists who took control of the post-colonial agenda

In Pictures | Artist billboards across America tell a story of US politics today

Ahead of the November presidential election, a new book by the For Freedoms organisation brings together the topical and political posters that it has commissioned since 2016

An expert’s guide to Helen Frankenthaler: five must-read books on the Abstract Expressionist

All you ever wanted to know about Frankenthaler, from a seminal monograph to the story of the bohemian world that forged her—selected by the curator and writer Douglas Dreishpoon

Booksreview

'Understanding our things in action': innovative book gives new life to objects owned by 18th-century artists

We rarely consider the everyday items owned by artists—this volumes' authors aim to change that

The life and art of Mabel Nicholson: new volume tells of the career catastrophe of domestic bliss

How lovingly raising her artistic family cost an artist of “tensile strength” her own fame

Glenn Ligon in Cambridge, new Gauguin biography, Teresa Margolles’s Fourth Plinth commission — podcast

The American artist on his interventions at the Fitzwilliam Museum, a chat about a new publication exploring Gauguin’s complex character, and the details on a new London sculpture paying tribute to trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming communities

Van Gogh blockbuster, the birth of Impressionism, Juan Pablo Echeverri — podcast

A tour of the National Gallery’s landmark exhibition with our Van Gogh expert Martin Bailey, plus a new book zoning in on the Impressionists’ “Terrible Year” and a highlight from Museum Folkwang’s hair-themed show

Booksreview

Two publications show how, in Caspar David Friedrich's world, mankind is puny against nature’s power

The German artist's work is pored over in two hefty tomes, one a smart overview, the other a comprehensive guide

Book Clubfeature

My five-year-old could do that! The impact of childhood on the work of artists

A new book gathers together anecdotes from artists' early years and looks at how these formative experiences shaped their careers

An expert's guide to Impressionism: five must-read books on the art movement

All you ever wanted to know about the subject, from tomes on how society shaped Impressionism to a deep dive into how the paintings were actually made—selected by curators Kimberly Jones and Mary Morton

Booksreview

'Go, thou, and do likewise': a field guide to Britain’s stone circles delivers both scholarship and romance

An authoritative and engaging read for fans of the UK's mute monoliths—be they academic or sentimental

Booksreview

Five of the best art books hitting the shelves this autumn

Our literary editor Jacqueline Riding selects some of the tempting titles that are scheduled for publication over the coming months

Photographyinterview

Dark camera action: new photography book expands our understanding of the night

Night Fever features an international cohort of film and photography artists, including Malick Sidibé and Sohrab Hura

Book Clubinterview

The world’s oldest printed book and rare ancient manuscripts from the Mogao caves in China to go on show in London

We speak to the British Library exhibition curator Melodie Doumy about the Diamond Sutra and other treasures from the Library Cave

Booksreview

Although it is a ‘sumptuous’ tome, this survey of contemporary public art from around the world baffles at times

The self-proclaimed atlas gives voice to works from often overlooked global-majority cultures but tends to favour mainstream over more challenging works

Booksreview

Exploring the cultural legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots

A collaborative book project takes a novel approach to examining the impact of the 16th-century Scottish monarch

Booksblog

The art lover’s summer reading list: from insider encounters with Damien Hirst to the changing face of Nigerian art

Make room in your suitcase for novelist Chibundu Onuzo’s must-read titles of the season

Booksreview

Take a romp through Ancient Rome’s great buildings with this handy (almost) pocket-sized book

Ostensibly a guide to the city's top 50 sites, a new publication by Paul Roberts offers far more

Booksreview

‘Viscerally real’: a Caravaggio painting provides inspiration for a newly translated novel

The Italian scholar Alessandro Giardino posits his theories about the Baroque artist’s Seven Works of Mercy in fictional form

Book Clubinterview

Maria Balshaw on the roles of museums today and what Tate’s sponsorship red line is

The Tate director discusses her new book about art institutions and their challenges in the 21st century

Book Clubfeature

Katherine Parr: power, patronage and the first full-length portrait of an English queen

In this exclusive extract from a new book about Henry VIII’s six wives, the art historian Suzannah Lipscomb writes about “perhaps the greatest artistic patron of them all”

An expert's guide to sculpture: five must-read books on the art of the three dimensional

All you ever wanted to know about the topic, from the latest experimentations in contemporary art to some lesser-known Surrealist sculpture—selected by the head of the Henry Moore Institute, Laurence Sillars

Booksreview

Taking a close look at classical architecture as a ‘living system’

Edward McParland's recent, wide-ranging book takes an idiosyncratic approach to classicism, examining its complexities and expressive forms

Booksreview

Understanding John James Audubon’s avian genius

Two contrasting studies shine a light on America’s most celebrated ornithological artist