Books

Book Reviews

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 Lopez2 days ago

13 August 2026

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

Rowland Bagnall

11 August 2026

New novel on Gertrude Stein paints a partial picture

Rachel Kubrick

4 August 2026

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

Constanza Ontiveros Valdés

7 July 2026

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

Beth Williamson

7 July 2026

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

David D'Arcy

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

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 Harrisabout 22 hours ago

12 August 2026

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

Gareth Harris

12 August 2026

Five must-read books on Pan-Africanism and art

José da Silva

12 August 2026

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

Gareth Harris

7 July 2026

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

Gareth Harris

7 July 2026

How novelists continue to be inspired by artists

Chloë Ashby

Ultimate reading lists

Read all

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

1 September 2025

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

Booksreview

about 2 hours ago

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

about 21 hours ago

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

about 21 hours ago

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

about 22 hours ago

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

1 day ago

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

2 days ago

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

Booksnews

‘It's a work of art’: rare, cloth-bound first edition of Wuthering Heights to be auctioned at Christie’s

The book, estimated at up to £600,000, is the first original edition to appear at auction in more than a century

Maev Kennedy

Book Clubblog

June Book Bag: from the street art of JR to a behind-the-scenes look at the Venice Biennale

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Booksreview

Constable, an artist for all seasons: a rich study reveals how his art and life were shaped by the weather's yearly cycles

The 250th anniversary of John Constable’s birth has seen a flurry of publications about the great painter and his work

Anne Lyles

Booksreview

Mystery, controversy and the butterfly’s sting: James McNeill Whistler book aims to dispel the fog around his legacy

The unashamedly partisan book by Daniel E. Sutherland also looks at the science behind Whistler’s nocturnes

Christoph Irmscher

Book Clubfeature

Mapplethorpe nudes, the NEA and the birth of America’s culture wars

We speak to the writer Isaac Butler about his book revisiting the battles over censorship and public funding in the US during the 1980s and 1990s

Dan Schindel

Book Clubfeature

How Andy Warhol’s textile and fashion work influenced his art

Three key takeaways from a new book that looks at the artist's designs for shop awnings, advertising illustrations, screen-printed clothes and more

Gareth Harris

Book Clubblog

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

The best Abramović publications, from an intimate memoir to a collection of the artist’s aphorisms—selected by the curator Shai Baitel

José da Silva

Booksreview

Book reveals how Chintz—India’s precious textile pattern—became a precolonial global export

The little understood art form is explored in the collected essays of 12 leading scholars

Cyrus Naji

Booksreview

A hated portrait and a forged masterpiece: two new thrillers with paintings at their centre

Oscar de Muriel is inspired by a real Frida Kahlo painting, while Lynda la Plante invents a Jean-Michel Basquiat forgery

Georgina Adam

Booksreview

Shoot and branch: new photography book highlights the enduring majesty of trees

"Trees of Great Britain and Ireland" offers a handsome insight into early 20th-century botanical photography

Rowland Bagnall

Booksreview

The Egyptian Modernist Inji Efflatoun gains international exposure with new biographical collection

The book on the late artist, who was imprisoned for her feminist and socialist beliefs, includes several essays and rarely seen images

Melissa Gronlund

Booksreview

Pleasure, parody and propaganda: rethinking the art of illustration in a new history of the genre

From a ninth-century Chinese frontispiece to Marxist magazine covers, this rich tome explores the power of illustration and the ways in which we read such images

Christoph Irmscher

Book Clubblog

May Book Bag: from a guide on entering the art world to a publication about artists influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Our round-up of the latest art publications

Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

‘A remarkably tenacious motif’: the many faces of Marilyn Monroe revealed in new book and show

Different artists’ takes on the film star are explored ahead of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London

Gareth Harris

Book Clubfeature

How the adoption of canvas in Venice changed the way artists painted

Four key takeaways from a new book about the innovative use of canvas in 16th-century Italy

J.S. Marcus

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