Book Club
The Art Newspaper’s Book Club shines a light on art books in their myriad forms and brings you exclusive extracts, interviews and recommendations from leading art world figures. Sign up to our monthly newsletter
Last photograph of Lucian Freud’s stolen Francis Bacon portrait published for first time
Image taken at Neue Nationalgalerie moments before the 1988 theft features in a new book of the artist’s copper paintings
October Book Bag: from a history of colour to how portraits of ‘murderous autocrats’ have shaped art
Our roundup of the latest art publications
How the Beano encouraged generations of artists to break the rules
We asked eight artists about the comic's influence ahead of a new exhibition exploring the publication's history and featuring contemporary art with that "Beano sensibility"
An expert’s guide to Albrecht Dürer: five must-read books on the Renaissance artist
All you ever wanted to know about Dürer, from the Old Master’s own accounts of his achievements and mishaps, to a recent creative take on his travels—selected by the art historian Susan Foister
In Pictures | How Gianfranco Gorgoni captured the mysticism of the Land Art movement
More than 150 rarely-seen photographs chronicle the history of seminal earthworks in the landscape
In Pictures | Behind the scenes of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work wrapping the Arc de Triomphe
A new book looks at the detailed preparations and 60 years of planning behind the work being unveiled in Paris
‘Caravaggio was a major-league asshole’: the long tradition of scandal in art
According to Noah Charney’s new book, infamy in the art world—be it contrived drama to drum up publicity or genuine artistic rivalry—is as old as art itself
Extract | How the colours in ancient Pompeian frescoes ‘spoke’ to Mark Rothko
A new book by the art historian Ben Street attempts to demystify how we look at art and argues for reacting instinctively to what we see
September’s book bag: US land protests, English country houses and a feminist history of photography
Our roundup of the latest art publications
An expert’s guide to Titian: five must-read books on the Venetian Old Master
All you ever wanted to know about Titian, from a biography fit for a king to an overlooked lecture essay from 1990—selected by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum curator Nathaniel Silver
Extract | How Mayor Rudy Giuliani went from ‘patting on the back’ to trying to pull the plug on Sensation show
Two decades after one of the most controversial exhibitions of recent times, Arnold Lehman, the former director of the Brooklyn Museum, reveals all in a new book
The best art books for summer—as recommended by curators, directors and dealers
As we enter the final weeks of the season, check out these riveting reads, from “the best novel about painting” to a book with no words at all
August’s book bag: from Polaroids and chats with trailblazing women artists to new insights into Indigenous Australian treasures
Our roundup of the latest art publications
Extract | A rare pamphlet from a historic Black art exhibition by the Spiral collective
The text accompanied the group's only show and is now one of several texts about Black art brought together in a new book The Soul of Nation Reader
An expert’s guide to Sophie Taeuber-Arp: five must-read books on the Swiss artist
All you ever wanted to know about Taeuber-Arp, from a children’s book full of inspiring projects to a publication exploring the dynamics of artist couples—selected by the Tate curator Natalia Sidlina
July’s book bag: from paranormal American art to a history of Stuart architecture
A roundup of the latest art publications
The best art books to dive into this summer—as recommended by artists
Whether you are lying on a beach or next to a paddling pool, sit back and let your mind soak up these inspiring reads
Extract | William Blake’s famous flop of an exhibition and the critic who described him as ‘an unfortunate lunatic’
A new book by John Higgs paints a picture of the mixed reviews that the 18th-century artist received and touches upon the “Holy Grail of his lost works”
An expert’s guide to Nam June Paik: five must-read books on the Korean-American artist
All you ever wanted to know about Paik, from a “deep dive” into a single work to the best biography—selected by the curators Rudolf Frieling and Andrea Nitsche-Krupp
In Pictures | Barkley L. Hendricks unseen photographs gathered in new publication
The US artist’s images are joined by an extract from the book looking at how aspects of his painting and photography overlapped
June’s book bag: from Peter Blake’s collages to artists’ solutions to the climate emergency
A roundup of the latest art publications
In Pictures | Kara Walker's private archive of works on paper published in new book
The publication is released ahead of an exhibition of the US artist's works at the Kunstmuseum Basel this summer
In Pictures | Gio Ponti’s greatest designs, from chairs to churches
A new book looks at the life and work of the Italian architect and designer, famed for his Pirelli Tower and Superleggera chairs
May’s book bag: how Napoleon's plunder ended up at the Louvre, Edmund de Waal's latest book, and a 9kg tome of Chinese art
A roundup of the latest art publications
An expert’s guide to Barbara Hepworth: five must-read books on the British sculptor
All you ever wanted to know about Hepworth, from a pictorial autobiography to a collection of her poems, notes and transcripts—selected by the curator and biographer Eleanor Clayton
Sackler family: three takeaways from a new book about the dynasty’s rise and fall
The publication claims Nan Goldin may have been tailed by investigators and reveals how the Met lost out to the Smithsonian thanks to a lack of flattery from its director
Q&A | How a new John Craxton biography began its life in a Soho bar following a funeral
The writer Ian Collins says that after his chance meeting with the British artist his “life changed forever”
The American who brought Modern masterpieces to Iran
A new memoir by curator Donna Stein reveals the story behind the creation of a Western art collection for the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in the 1970s
Will the real Isabel Rawsthorne please stand up?
A new biography by Carol Jacobi explores the artist’s role in bringing the Paris scene to London and considers how frequent name changes and reinventions muddied her legacy
April’s book bag: how four lesbians shaped Modernism, why we love to hate biennials, and a photographic history of African women
A roundup of the latest art publications