Books

Book Clubfeature

Opera singer Peter Brathwaite tells us why he reinterpreted Black portraiture using household items

In his book inspired by the Getty Museum Challenge, Brathwaite recreated portraits by artists such as Georges Trubert and Sonia Boyce

An expert's guide to Keith Haring: four must-read books on the popular US artist

All you ever wanted to know about Haring, from his personal journals to interviews with the likes of Roy Lichtenstein and Madonna—selected by the curator Sarah Loyer

Book Clubfeature

The story behind Sol LeWitt’s rarely seen wall drawings in a medieval tower

An extract from an essay by the art historian Rye Dag Holmboe explains how the US artist’s works ended up in the Umbrian city of Spoleto

Booksreview

The resurrection of Mary Magdalene? Two new books examine the elusive biblical figure

New books by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona and Philip C. Almond are part of another scholarly revival for Magdalene

Booksreview

Scurrilous, rude and joyful: the secret stories of tampered pennies told in new publication

Essays explore the myriad ways that coins have been inscribed with messages of protest, love and more

Booksreview

Isabella Stewart Gardner’s travel albums from her grand tour published in new book

Early influences on the collector and museum founder can be found among the images from around the world

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‘A threat to the country’: Pablo Picasso’s police files scoured for new book about his life as a foreigner in France

A new publication looks at the Spanish artist’s alienating experiences as a young man in Paris, including police harassment and stigmatisation as an anarchist

Booksreview

Empress Eugénie’s English ‘palace’ is brought to life in new book

A detailed examination of Farnborough Hill house and its remarkable contents

An expert’s guide to Jean-Michel Basquiat: four must-read books on the American artist

All you ever wanted to know about Basquiat, from his best quotes to an “intimate insight” from his family—selected by the curator Dieter Buchhart

Booksreview

A globe-trotting guide to contested sites, dubious historical restorations and harrowing heritage destruction

Book "Monumental Lies" is a searching exploration of the truths and untruths embodied in contested heritage

Booksreview

A lesson from the Tudors in art’s legitimising power

The material splendour of the Tudors is captured in a volume showing how it was wielded to reinforce monarchy’s authority

Booksreview

Book review | The tale of a magnificent boat with a violent colonial history

This account of the theft of a South Seas cultural treasure by German colonists in the late 1800s reveals a series of atrocities

Heinrich Campendonk, a little-known Blaue Reiter artist is brought to life in new book

New critical assessment of the vibrant works of the German artist who was exiled to the Netherlands in 1935

Book Clubfeature

From Hogarth to Hockney, artists struck by puppy love are celebrated in four recent canine-themed books

Ahead of a new show of dog portraits at London's Wallace Collection, we round-up some publishing treats for you to paw over

An expert’s guide to Hokusai: four must-read books on the Japanese artist

All you ever wanted to know about Hokusai, from a history of The Great Wave to a novel about the artist's daughter—selected by the curator Sarah E. Thompson

Booksreview

Russian empress Catherine the Great and her women artists: a complex tale of gender, art and patronage

Engaging, accessible and beautifully illustrated book provides a welcome and stimulating contribution to scholarship on 18th-century art

Book Clubfeature

Extract | When the Picasso was almost knocked off the wall during a blockbuster show

A new memoir by Patrick Bringley details what it was like to work as a guard at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Booksreview

More than reclining women: how Henry Moore mined a rich seam with his drawings of working men

New book uses artist's wartime commission in a coalmine to show his melancholy side and mildly left political strain,

Nigeria’s pivotal election: what's the future of art and culture in the country?

Plus, the Met: a guard’s memoir and Hubert Robert at Stockholm's Nationalmuseum

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Booksreview

Origins of US photographer William Eggleston’s trailblazing images go on display in new book

Ninety previously unseen photographs from the early 1970s reveal the foundations of his practice

Booksreview

A medieval tale of the jester, the priory and the hospital: book uncovers church's history for 900th anniversary

As Saint Bartholomew the Great celebrates nine centuries, a new volume explores how the church has, against the odds, remained at London’s heart

Booksnews

New artist book fair adds another dimension to Miami’s art calendar

The inaugural edition of Tropic Bound takes places in the city’s Design District, but its programming extends across town to highlight South Florida’s book-making scene

UK exhibition uncovers holy link between Henry VIII’s rival wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon

Both British queens owned the same prayerbook, curators at Hever Castle in England have found

Booksreview

Photographer documents thousands of churches 'in a manner only angels and spiders could achieve'

Remarkable photographs of thousands of church interiors in rural England and Wales have been brought together in this landmark publication

Book Clubfeature

‘That’s not enough’: Willem de Kooning’s advice to a young Wayne Thiebaud

An excerpt from one of Thiebaud’s final interviews, which features in the catalogue of a survey at the Fondation Beyeler, reveals how the US artist arrived at his signature style

What will museums of the future be like? Three key takeaways from a new book

András Szántó spoke to 21 architects about how museum architecture is shaping up, here are some of his findings

Book Clubinterview

Q&A: Jennifer Higgie on her new book about spiritualism and its importance to early Modernist women artists

The former editor of Frieze magazine says the idea that modernity had to be rational, cool and atheist was detrimental to art