Books

Book Reviews

Books

New biography offers well-crafted story of Louise Bourgeois’s rich life

Knife-Woman is the fullest account to date of the life of one of the most influential artists of the last century

Christoph Irmscher

3 February 2026

In loco parentis: new study tells the story of Florence’s ‘thrown-away’ children

Sarah McBryde

3 February 2026

‘I had all kinds of altercations’: the photographer who captures humanity at close quarters

Rowland Bagnall

28 January 2026

Blonde ambition: book looks at the women who became Britain’s post-war cultural icons

Beth Williamson

23 January 2026

Book offers fresh perspectives on why Cubism came into being

Matthew Gale

6 January 2026

Holbein biography interrogates the artist's life and work from a different angle

Franny Moyle

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

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Book Club

How Martin Parr’s defining photobook made a splash 40 years ago

‘The Last Resort’, which will be republished later this year, is the subject of a new show at the late photographer’s foundation

Simon Bainbridge

3 February 2026

February Book Bag: from Tracey Emin’s conversations about painting to a catalogue of Lucian Freud’s drawings

Gareth Harris and Melissa Gronlund

3 February 2026

‘The good, the bad and the ugly’: a short history of how artists depict the female body

Dale Berning Sawa

6 January 2026

January Book Bag: from a book about Constable and the weather to a controversial Russian artist’s manifesto

Gareth Harris

6 January 2026

A taster of the British Museum's Hawaii show in three objects

Alice Christophe. With an introduction by Gareth Harris

6 January 2026

How an artist and a writer forged a frank friendship—and a book

Gareth Harris

Ultimate reading lists

Read all

6 January 2026

An expert’s guide to the Gothic: five must-read books on the topic

2 December 2025

An expert’s guide to late Pablo Picasso: five must-read books on the second half of his career

7 October 2025

An expert’s guide to Robert Rauschenberg: five must-read books on the US artist

1 September 2025

An expert’s guide to Indigenous Australian art: five must-read books on the subject

1 July 2025

An expert’s guide to Edvard Munch: five must-read books on the Norwegian Expressionist

3 June 2025

An expert’s guide to Postmodernism: five must-read books on the movement

4 May 2025

An expert's guide to artists' books: four must-read publications on the genre

1 April 2025

An expert’s guide to Ruth Asawa: five must-read books on the Japanese American artist

11 March 2025

An expert’s guide to Vanessa Bell: five must-read books on the Bloomsbury Group artist

4 February 2025

An expert’s guide to Anselm Kiefer: five must-read books on the German artist

Booksreview

New biography offers well-crafted story of Louise Bourgeois’s rich life

Knife-Woman is the fullest account to date of the life of one of the most influential artists of the last century

Christoph Irmscher

Book Clubblog

February Book Bag: from Tracey Emin’s conversations about painting to a catalogue of Lucian Freud’s drawings

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris and Melissa Gronlund

Book Reviewreview

In loco parentis: new study tells the story of Florence’s ‘thrown-away’ children

Europe’s first foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, is examined afresh in a new book

Sarah McBryde

Book Reviewreview

‘I had all kinds of altercations’: the photographer who captures humanity at close quarters

A book celebrating the intimate street photography of Mark Cohen

Rowland Bagnall

Book Clubfeature

‘The good, the bad and the ugly’: a short history of how artists depict the female body

The author Amy Dempsey talks about her new book exploring the tension between overexposure and invisibility

Dale Berning Sawa

Book Clubfeature

How Martin Parr’s defining photobook made a splash 40 years ago

‘The Last Resort’, which will be republished later this year, is the subject of a new show at the late photographer’s foundation

Simon Bainbridge

Booksreview

Blonde ambition: book looks at the women who became Britain’s post-war cultural icons

A sharp study of shifting attitudes to femininity in British culture after 1945, connected by a trend for "blondeness"

Beth Williamson

Booksreview

Book offers fresh perspectives on why Cubism came into being

A leading scholar of the movement argues that the aim of its key protagonists was a reinvention of reality

Matthew Gale

Singaporefeature

Singapore Art Week puts women artists from the region to the fore

A new book and a major exhibition are highlighting contemporary female artists from Singapore, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries

Lisa Movius

Booksreview

Holbein biography interrogates the artist's life and work from a different angle

The publication draws on inventories, correspondence and rediscovered works to reveal new theories

Franny Moyle

Book Clubblog

January Book Bag: from a book about Constable and the weather to a controversial Russian artist’s manifesto

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

A taster of the British Museum's Hawaii show in three objects

The curator Alice Christophe delves into the catalogue and picks out some key objects ahead of the exhibition in London

Alice Christophe. With an introduction by Gareth Harris

Bookspreview

Five new art books to look out for this spring, including key artist biographies and the tale of an artistic rivalry

Our books editor picks out some of the highlights of the months ahead

Jacqueline Riding

Booksreview

New book tells the tale of David's ‘Death of Marat’ through the eyes of a lifelong admirer

Art historian’s dissection of famous work is as much about the painting as his decades-long obsession with it

Tobias Carroll

Book Clubfeature

How an artist and a writer forged a frank friendship—and a book

The author Olivia Laing and the painter Chantal Joffe tell us about collaborating on a new book detailing their creative exchanges

Gareth Harris

Book Clubblog

An expert’s guide to the Gothic: five must-read books on the topic

The best recent publications about the subject, from a book following the rebuilding of Notre-Dame cathedral to a Batman comic set in Barcelona—selected by the museum director and curator Annabelle Ténèze

José da Silva

Booksreview

The dark side of collecting: book reveals ugly history of art’s great coveters

The civilised lustre of the great collectors could camouflage a lust that had more to do with greed than beauty

Tobias Grey

Booksreview

How taboo-breaker Robert Crumb’s surreal cartoons mock an absurd world—and himself

The father of the underground comic book is still an active artist, satirising the “inner hell that is part of American culture”

David D'Arcy

Adventures with Van Goghblog

‘Lust for Life’: The Van Gogh book designed to fit in pockets of US soldiers during the Second World War

The Armed Forces Edition novel is now rare, since it was "not to be made available for civilians"—we show you a copy

Martin Bailey

Adventures with Van Goghblog

Driving in Van Gogh’s footsteps: the 1907 book that imagined a dream art pilgrimage

Writer Octave Mirbeau, an early owner of a Sunflowers painting, titled his fictional travelogue "628-E8"—after his car’s own licence plate

Martin Bailey

Book Clubblog

December Book Bag: from a photographic record of a lost nightclub to the tale of an accidental art heist

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

French novel explores Van Gogh and Goya—through the eyes of a young girl

The book provides a fresh perspective on famous works, cruising through the last few centuries of Western art

Christoph Irmscher

Booksblog

The best art books of 2025, as picked by The Art Newspaper’s editors

The publications that delighted our literary team this year, from important exhibition catalogues and overdue surveys to personal reflections and playful illustrations

Jacqueline Riding, Gareth Harris and José da Silva

Book Clubfeature

The Rembrandt robber: five takeaways from an insider’s book on a notorious art thief

The security expert Anthony Amore provides insights into the curious case of Myles Connor, who stole Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn

Anthony Amore. With an introduction by Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

When Masha met Ragnar: Pussy Riot member’s life-changing encounter

In this extract from her new book, Maria "Masha" Alyokhina Alyokhina recalls her first meeting with the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson

Gareth Harris

Book Clubblog

An expert’s guide to late Pablo Picasso: five must-read books on the second half of his career

The best publications about the Spanish artist's twilight years chosen by the curators of Late Picasso

José da Silva

Book Reviewreview

Comrades in art: meet the artists who fought against fascism

This study of the first decade of the Artists International Association, set up in the years before the Second World War, focusses the group’s impact as well as its lesser-known figures

David Trigg

Booksreview

Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander navigates her country’s complex past—a new monograph tells her story

An art historian’s book on the Lahore-born artist does justice to both her beautiful paintings and the history that informs them

Cyrus Naji

Book Clubblog

November Book Bag: from a tome of Japanese printmakers to the first Nina Chanel Abney monograph

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun made simple: a lively and informed book for the sound-bite generation

The French portraitist has been repositioned for an entry-level audience

Franny Moyle

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