Books

Book Reviews

New book offers feminist re-evaluation of Anne Vallayer-Coster, one of France’s great 18th-century artists

The study explores how Valleyer-Coster cultivated an elite clientele in a turbulent France while navigating the pressures placed on women artists

J. Cabelle Ahn

8 October 2026

‘I am such a lazybones’: New book reveals Claude Monet’s life through his letters

Gareth Harris

6 October 2026

Book examines the connection between auteur Federico Fellini and the last castrato

Tobias Carroll

30 September 2026

Royal Academy book looks at Richard Dadd beyond the themes of madness and murder

Tara Anne Dalbow

30 September 2026

Meet Alan Dunn, the New Yorker cartoonist who put Modernism in its place

Keith Miller

28 September 2026

New biography reveals the rich life of the ‘studiously self-effacing’ artist Anni Albers

Christoph Irmscher

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

‘I am such a lazybones’: New book reveals Claude Monet’s life through his letters

A collection of the artist’s correspondence provides fascinating new insights, from his domestic life to acquisition negotiations

Gareth Harrisabout 11 hours ago

1 September 2026

September Book Bag: from Don McCullin’s powerful Vietnam images to a behind-the-scenes dive into Paula Rego’s studio

Gareth Harris

1 September 2026

When Hockney met Betty: new book uncovers mysterious Beverly Hills Housewife in famous Los Angeles painting

Gareth Harris

1 September 2026

A bonanza of Bayeux Tapestry books to accompany the blockbuster British Museum exhibition

Gareth Harris

31 August 2026

An expert’s guide to Anish Kapoor: five must-read books

José da Silva

31 August 2026

Why I launched a new photobook imprint—veteran bookseller and publisher reveals next career move

Simon Bainbridge

Ultimate reading lists

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31 August 2026

An expert’s guide to Anish Kapoor: five must-read books

12 August 2026

Five must-read books on Pan-Africanism and art

7 July 2026

An expert’s guide to Gustave Courbet: five must-read books on the French painter

2 June 2026

An expert’s guide to Marina Abramović: five must-read books on the performance artist

5 May 2026

An expert's guide to Tracey Emin: five must-read books on the British artist

2 April 2026

An expert's guide to Alexander Calder: six must-read books on the US sculptor

3 March 2026

An expert's guide to John Constable: five must-read books on the British painter

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

Book Clubreview

about 11 hours ago

‘I am such a lazybones’: New book reveals Claude Monet’s life through his letters

A collection of the artist’s correspondence provides fascinating new insights, from his domestic life to acquisition negotiations

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

Book examines the connection between auteur Federico Fellini and the last castrato

“Castrato Phantoms” explores the artistic legacy of a cruel historic practice that saw young boys mutilated in order to create distinctive singing voices in later life

Tobias Carroll

Booksreview

New book offers feminist re-evaluation of Anne Vallayer-Coster, one of France’s great 18th-century artists

The study explores how Valleyer-Coster cultivated an elite clientele in a turbulent France while navigating the pressures placed on women artists

J. Cabelle Ahn

Booksreview

Royal Academy book looks at Richard Dadd beyond the themes of madness and murder

Jennifer Higgie’s new novel meanwhile takes a very different approach to the life and legacy of the English artist, who spent much of his life in psychiatric institutions

Tara Anne Dalbow

Booksreview

Meet Alan Dunn, the New Yorker cartoonist who put Modernism in its place

A new book explores how Alan Dunn poked fun at 20th-century American architecture over this five-decade cartooning career

Keith Miller

Booksreview

New biography reveals the rich life of the ‘studiously self-effacing’ artist Anni Albers

Book showcases the ground-breaking textile works of the artist who, during her lifetime and since, was overlooked in favour of her husband, Josef Albers

Christoph Irmscher

Book Clubblog

September Book Bag: from Don McCullin’s powerful Vietnam images to a behind-the-scenes dive into Paula Rego’s studio

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Book Clubinterview

When Hockney met Betty: new book uncovers mysterious Beverly Hills Housewife in famous Los Angeles painting

Author James Cahill's account of the burgeoning 1960s LA art scene explores links between collector Betty Freeman and the late Yorkshire artist

Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

A bonanza of Bayeux Tapestry books to accompany the blockbuster British Museum exhibition

There is plenty to read about the medieval masterpiece as it returns to England for the first time in almost 1,000 years

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

Curator offers crucial perspective on Hong Kong’s burgeoning 1980s and 1990s art scene in new book

Oscar Ho Hing-kay outlines the growing visibility of boundary-breaking local artists and their responses to the 1997 handover to China

Daniel Szehin Ho

Booksreview

Essay collection explores how the West’s museums of plundered African artworks can be dismantled

Analysis documents how artists and filmmakers have reacted to colonialism and pillage in Africa

Tobias Carroll

Book Clubblog

An expert’s guide to Anish Kapoor: five must-read books

With a new show at London’s Hayward Gallery, an expert chooses books that delve into the established sculptor’s life and work over five decades

José da Silva

Book Clubinterview

Why I launched a new photobook imprint—veteran bookseller and publisher reveals next career move

Foxed Editions co-founded by Rudi Thoemmes focuses on overlooked parts of photographic history

Simon Bainbridge

Diary of an art historianblog

Comment | I'm trying my hand at writing an art historical novel—it is the best training in looking I’ve ever set myself

After 20 years of writing non-fiction books, the art historian Bendor Grosvenor is working on a Stuart-era sleuthing novel

Bendor Grosvenor

Booksreview

Artist Trevor Paglen’s new book offers timely take on technology’s hijacking of visual culture

The publication features a collection of essays about how two technological revolutions have transformed our relationship to images

Nick Hackworth

Booksreview

Photographer Melonie Bennett’s debut monograph captures the ‘stupendousness‘ of family life

The photobook captures two decades of often hilarious, sometimes tragic moments

Rowland Bagnall

Book Clubblog

August Book Bag: from a collection of ‘sizzling’ portraits to a survey of little-known US museums

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Book Clubblog

Five must-read books on Pan-Africanism and art

The best publications about the subject, from a collection of Surrealist writing to a survey of pioneering architects—selected by Elvira Dyangani Ose and Adom Getachew

José da Silva

Book Clubfeature

What’s it like organising the Venice Biennale? Former curators dish the dirt

Robert Storr speaks about his tenure in this exclusive extract from Massimiliano Gioni’s new book of interviews with biennale artistic directors

Gareth Harris

Book Clubinterview

The author of a new book on Lavinia Fontana’s erotic art reveals all

The Italian scholar Enrico Maria dal Pozzolo tells us about new discoveries and why the Bolognese painter was an innovator in her field

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

A gripping account of the hunt for the treasure-laden San José shipwreck

A new book details the obsessive quest to find the sunken ship and, following its discovery, the various claims to the ship's billion dollar cargo

Ruth Lopez

Booksreview

New novel on Gertrude Stein paints a partial picture

A fictionalised account of an essayist’s exploration of the writer tells us more about contemporary women than the star quality of its protagonist

Rachel Kubrick

Booksreview

‘Art Cure’ book analyses the healing powers of the arts

An exploration of scientific studies on art and health, short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction

Constanza Ontiveros Valdés

Book Clubblog

July Book Bag: from a selection of US folk art to a closer look at the work of YBA Gary Hume

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

A new biography looks at how Michael Andrews shifted from slow burner to innovative creator

The School of London artist, equally at home in Soho society and rural Scotland, was also a noted painter of celebrities

Beth Williamson

Booksreview

Joseph Beuys was ambitious, ‘perhaps to the point of megalomania’, says a new book about the German artist

A new reading of the life and work of Beuys is no hagiography, seeing Beuys as someone who was fiercely determined and created myths about himself

David D'Arcy

Booksblog

Our books editor dips into some recent art-historical fiction

Topics covered in the publications range from a Renaissance sculptress and Baroque Rome to 1930s Manchester and Frida Kahlo

Jacqueline Riding

Book Clubfeature

How novelists continue to be inspired by artists

Several books out this summer use art as a springboard—we speak to some of their authors

Chloë Ashby

Book Clubinterview

The worst of us: a philosopher’s guide to the world’s most depraved art

The academic Daisy Dixon discusses her new book investigating the art that has provoked outrage over the centuries

Gareth Harris

Book Clubblog

An expert’s guide to Gustave Courbet: five must-read books on the French painter

The best Courbet publications, from a comprehensive monograph to a look at how he was “a skilful media strategist”—selected by the curators Sonja Pizonka and Anna Brohm

José da Silva

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