Books

Book Reviews

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

2 December 2025

French novel explores art as seen through the eyes of a young girl

Christoph Irmscher

28 November 2025

Comrades in art: meet the artists who fought against fascism

David Trigg

18 November 2025

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

Cyrus Naji

11 November 2025

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

Franny Moyle

4 November 2025

The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s brief but dazzling life, as told by an art-world insider

Georgina Adam

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

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

3 December 2025

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

Gareth Harris

2 December 2025

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

Jacqueline Riding, Gareth Harris and José da Silva

2 December 2025

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

Gareth Harris

2 December 2025

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

José da Silva

11 November 2025

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

Gareth Harris

Ultimate reading lists

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2 December 2025

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

8 January 2025

An expert’s guide to Brazilian Modernism: five must-read books on the subject

Book Clubblog

1 day ago

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 art as seen through the eyes of a young girl

The book provides a fresh—and refreshing—perspectives on famous works by the likes of Georgia O’Keeffe, Van Gogh and Goya

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 the Spanish artist’s career

The best publications about Picasso's later years, from an esteemed biography to a book about his animal drawings—selected by the curators Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer

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

Book Clubfeature

‘Make a lot of bad work for as long as possible’: new book brings you top tips from artists

In Lydia Figes’s publication more than 50 successful artists share their wisdom on everything from defining success to dealing with galleries

Gareth Harris

Insta’ gratificationblog

How art social media accounts are being turned into books

Having lots of followers on Instagram does not guarantee a publishing deal but it helps

Aimee Dawson

Booksreview

The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s brief but dazzling life, as told by an art-world insider

A former Christie’s president examines the meteoric rise of the “radiant child”, and his legacy following his untimely death

Georgina Adam

Book Reviewreview

Inside Albert Barnes’ extraordinary collection—born from a tough-talking business brain and an egalitarian ethos

A new book delve's in to collection of the physician and chemist, who paid for medical school by winning boxing matches

David D'Arcy

Book Clubblog

October Book Bag: from a myth-busting Chaïm Soutine biography to an anthology of Palestinian artists and writers

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

A new publication explores how Renaissance Europe viewed and thought about skin

The detailed survey seeks to rethink how people understood, and gave meaning to, the body and its portrayal in the period

Sarah McBryde

Booksreview

Martin Parr steps out from behind the camera lens in informal autobiography

An intimate and chatty biography gives the artist space to reflect on his career in photography and the practice’s evolution

Rowland Bagnall

Book Clubblog

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

The best publications to learn all about Rauschenberg, from his own “humorous and profound” writings to a book about his fruitful relationships with other artists—selected by the curator Michelle White

José da Silva

Book Clubinterview

‘Ideas move through migration’: Charlotte Mullins tells us why she has taken a fresh look at art from the British Isles

The author's new publication charts the history of the UK and Ireland from the last Ice Age to today

Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

New book looks at how the movies shaped the way we think about artists

We speak to the author of a publication that dissects the way artists from Van Gogh to Frida Kahlo have been immortalised on the silver screen

Andrew Pulver

Booksreview

In a new biography, Vanessa Bell is cast as the Bloomsbury Group's leading light—and as central to 20th-century visual culture

This evocative tale makes a compelling case Bell, who made inroads as an artist and designer at a time when this was rare for women

Tobias Carroll

The Week in Artpodcast

Museums and ethics, Fra Angelico in Florence, Cornelia Parker’s PsychoBarn—podcast

Unpacking the issues facing cultural institutions today, plus chats about a Renaissance blockbuster and a ”cut-up” architectural installation in Basel

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Alexander Morrison and Philippa Kelly

Booksfeature

Larry Gagosian on his latest acquisition, a bookstore in the Hamptons

The world’s most powerful art dealer hopes BookHampton will remain a community gathering place

Sophia Herring

Lawnews

Trial of Gérard Lhéritier, once dubbed ‘the king of manuscripts’, gets underway in Paris

Lhéritier was charged with fraud by French authorities in 2015, and his company, Aristophil, has since been liquidated

Vincent Noce

Book Clubfeature

What is art for? A brush with… publication reveals artists’ favourite things

We speak to Ben Luke about his book drawn from The Art Newspaper podcast, which includes 25 insightful interviews with key figures such as Doris Salcedo and Ragnar Kjartansson

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

The 19th-century heiress whose avid collecting was just part of a rich, scholarly life

The exceptional legacy of Lady Charlotte Schreiber, best known for her scholarly collecting of ceramics, is explored in a new biography

Charlotte Gere

Booksreview

Euan Uglow monograph offers a fresh perspective through memoirs, papers and contributions

The book also includes myriad accounts of the British artist's inspirational teaching techniques

Beth Williamson

Book Clubfeature

Cameras, creativity and kids: Sally Mann on her ‘kind of how-to book’ that mixes memoir with advice for artists

The US photographer, whose images of her naked children sparked controversy, reflects on her life and practice

Chloë Ashby

Book Clubblog

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

The best publications to learn all about the topic, from a concise overview to a ‘stunning illustrated publication’—selected by the curator Kelli Cole and the academic Jennifer Green

José da Silva

Booksreview

A tome accompanying the Lahore Biennale is a celebration of authenticity

This comprehensive reader on the second edition in 2020 considers how the independent-minded institution is placing Pakistan’s artists in an international context as well as helping them thrive in a complex political environment

Cyrus Naji

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