Books

Through essays, photo-essays, and a conversation between Black designer Stephen Burks (b. 1969) and the late cultural critic bell hooks, this book contextualizes Burks’s wide-ranging work while exploring design’s influence on politics, society, and...

Building on a technique that has roots in European and American traditions, Black artists have turned to collage as a way to convey how the intersecting facets of their lives combine to make whole individuals. Artists have assembled pieces of paper,...

This book offers a long-overdue reassessment of the career of the Parisian-born artist Marie Laurencin (1883–1956), who moved seamlessly between the Cubist avant-garde and lesbian literary and artistic circles, as well as the realms fashion,...

The twenty-first century has seen a surge of interest in English art of the interwar years. High-profile exhibitions have attracted record-breaking visitor numbers and challenged received opinion. In The Real and the Romantic, Frances Spalding takes a...

Drawing in the Present Tense explores the variety of ways in which contemporary artists from around the world have come to approach drawing as the primary element of their practice. One which is autonomous: an end in itself, rather than a means to an end...

Perfect for students and casual and professional artists, with lots of great reference information for print collectors as well, this is the ultimate guide to the ins and outs of every variety of printmaking practiced today. In addition to in-depth...

By Felice Fischer and Kyoko Kinoshita Art of Japan presents one hundred highlights of Japanese art from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, dating from the Neolithic period to today. Among them are a temple and a teahouse, acquired in 1928,...

Explores ways to use colour in the home to varying degrees, taking the reader into the world of the vibrant, happy house. Joyful case studies of homes that range from lightly speckled to heavily doused in colour with interviews from the renowned...

Fascinated by Buddhist art and Asian spirituality, Alain Bordier has spent more than forty years building a unique collection of religious objects from the Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan). On display today at the Tibet Museum in the heart of the...

Among the most celebrated figures of modern art, Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) has been the subject of many exhibitions and publications, but none until now has examined in depth how the artist created his paintings and sculptures. Drawing on research...

The first in-depth examination of Matisse’s work in the 1930s, a key decade of creative innovation and renewal for this celebrated artist.In 1930, as Henri Matisse (1869–1954) embarked on The Dance, a monumental mural commissioned by the...

A visual and global chronicle of the triumphs, challenges, and impact of over 100 women in architecture, from early practitioners to contemporary leaders. Marion Mahony Griffin passed the architectural licensure exam in 1898 and created exquisite...

A groundbreaking insight into Gustave Courbet and his bold experiments in landscape painting. Between 1862 and 1866 Gustave Courbet embarked on a series of sensuous landscape paintings that would later inspire the likes of Monet, Pissarro, and Cézanne...

One of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century, Alice Neel's vibrant, expressionistic paintings revealed a breath-taking depth of emotion within her subjects. From works exploring loss and grief, to communist political art, Neel's work pushed...

Meet Vincent van Gogh, one of the most famed tragic figures of 19th‑century art. This lush tome collects all his 871 paintings, alongside writings and essays, charting the life and work of a master who continues to tower over art. Today, the works of...

Despite realizing that life is short and that we should enjoy it to  the fullest, it has become increasingly hard for people to find a moment  of peace in the restlessness and hubbub of the modern world.  Nevertheless, there is still...

From the iconic 1964 Olympics poster by Yusaku Kamekura to the psychedelic posters of Tadanori Yokoo, Japan has made its way to the forefront of impactful and effective graphic and poster design since its post-war days. Fast forwarding to the Reiwa era,...

Iconism is an inspirational reference for contemporary icon, pictogram and symbol design. Divided into three sections—Visual Identity, Wayfinding and Interactive Design—these ingenious and impactful styles from designers around the world highlight the...

With essays by Roberta Bernstein, Yve-Alain Bois, Jean-François Chevrier, John Elderfield, John Golding, Christopher Green, Jennie Hirsh, Joop M. Joosten, Anabelle Kienle, Albert Kostenevich, Carolyn Lanchner, Mark D. Mitchell, Joseph J. Rishel,...

In an increasingly digital world, the art of printing has become more precious than ever. Although screens continue to take over society and sustainable practices have improved the preservation of natural resources, many designers still thrive on...

Over the centuries our manipulation of the natural world has resulted in  an explosion of synthetic dye production and application globally. To gain insight into the history of how folk practices have been lost and technical processes found,...

Creating Connections features over 70 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and watercolors from the Rosenthal Collection of work by self-taught artists. This richly illustrated publication explores the mysterious connections we have with works of art and...

It is human nature to look to the past when seeking inspiration, particularly in art and related creative fields. Unlike other genres that can be attributed to a specific era or style, folk art is harder to define or categorize due to its special...

Infographics provide graphic visual representations of information or knowledge intended to present data quickly and concisely to a broad swath of users of different skills, abilities and backgrounds. Infographic Design explores the building blocks of...

A remarkable selection of American forest trees surveyed by François-André Michaux and Thomas Nuttall from The North American Sylva,  held in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden,  featuring illustrations by celebrated...

This book surveys the work of a new generation of Black artists, and also features the voices of a diverse group of curators who are on the cutting edge of contemporary art. As mission-driven collectors, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi have...

Foreword by Kathy Halbreich. lizabeth Carpenter (Editor). Hayden Herrera (Contributor) , Elizabeth Carpenter(Contributor), Victor Zamudio-Taylor(Contributor) Few artists have captured the public's imagination with the force of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo...

Friedlander's social landscape is a who's who of postwar American photography.  In the 1960s and '70s, Lee Friedlander (born 1934) developed his signature  approach to documenting the American “social landscape”: deadpan,...

From scrolls and sheets of papyrus to elaborate and expensive codices to the mass press-printed volumes as we know them today, books have come a long way since writing was first developed. Although digital technology has impacted how we consume...

Created in collaboration with the British Museum, this richly illustrated volume displays the arts, histories, and cultures of Southeast Asia from about 6,000 years ago to the twenty-first century, covering modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos,...

One hundred and fifty years ago, Vincent van Gogh fell under the enticing spell of Japanese printmaking while working in Paris. He bought over six hundred Japanese prints and displayed them in his studio as inspiration. Van Gogh admired the prints’...

Exquisite Dreams is the first full account of the art and life of Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012). Rather than only focusing on her well-known surrealist paintings, this book gives equal weight to Tanning’s lesser-known but equally powerful sculptures,...

Organized into chapters that explore the many ways to express dissent (RESIST!, VOTE!, STRIKE!, TEACH! and LOVE!), Strikethrough presents more than 120 signs, posters, publications and ephemera in vivid imagery and incisive prose. From the colorful...

At a time when almost everything can be digitally done up to perfection,  the smudges and smears by graphite can be refreshing to the eye and unapologetically human – touching viewers to the core. As a creative tool, it can also be the simplest and...

The story of art as it’s never been told before, from the Renaissance to the present day, with more than 300 works of art. How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what...

Walks to the Paradise Garden is the last unpublished manuscript of the late American poet, photographer, publisher, Black Mountain alumnus and bon viveur Jonathan Williams (1929–2008). This 352-page book chronicles Williams' road trips across the...

American Surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012) worked across painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation and writing over the course of seven decades, producing one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic oeuvres. Tanning’s work conjures...

Ornaments are omnipresent: they can be found on buildings, fabrics, jewelry, tiles, ceramics and wallpaper. Scorned at the outset of the modern age, ornament has long since returned to architecture and influences design drafts as much as tattoo motifs...

“I want my clothes to make you smile!”—Patrick Kelly" Patrick Kelly (1954–1990) was known for his bold, bright, and joyful fashion creations that resonated in the streets and nightclubs and on the runways of New York, Paris, and beyond. The first...

The Hidden Language of Symbols covers a wide-ranging selection of visual culture and art under one unified theme: symbols. Often not immediately apparent, our day-to-day lives abound with symbols of various kinds, from national emblems to emojis,...

Featuring a new package and an additional 60 pages of material, this revised edition of The Art of Feminism covers an even more impressive range of artworks, artists, movements, and perspectives. Since the debut of the original volume in 2018, The Art...

Pioneering Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander is one of the most influential artists working today. Sikander is widely celebrated for expanding and subverting miniature painting to explore gender roles and sexuality, cultural identity, racial...

This feminist retelling of the history of photography puts women in the picture—and, more importantly, behind the camera! In ten thematic, chronological sections, Tate Modern curator Emma Lewis explores the vital role women artists have played in...

An unprecedented look at the little-known paintings from Louise Bourgeois’s early years in New York that laid the groundwork for her sculptural practice. Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) is celebrated today for her sculptures. Less known are the paintings...

Edited by H. Richard Dietrich III and Deborah M. Rebuck with contributions by David L. Barquist, Edward S. Cooke Jr., Michael P. Dyer, Kathleen A. Foster, Morrison H. Heckscher, Philip C. Mead, Lisa Minardi, Deborah M. Rebuck, and William S. Reese This...

For almost fifty years, Senga Nengudi has shaped an œuvre that  inhabits a specific and unique place between sculpture, dance, and  performance. And that work has been widely recognized as groundbreaking.  Her iconic R.S.V.P...

This book accompanied an exhibition of the same name held at the  Philadelphia Museum of Art upon the completion of conservation of  Pontormo's famous portrait of Duke Alessandro de' Medici. Centering on that painting and Agnolo Bronzino's...

In a sustained exploration of the possibilities of abstraction, Sean Scully (b. 1945) has created a rich body of work throughout his 50-year career. Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas sets his entire output within a detailed biographical framework, closely...

Edited by Hyunsoo Woo; with essays by Insoo Cho, Hongkyung Kim, Woollim Kim, So-hyun Kwon, Dongsoo Moon, Unsok Song, and Hyunsoo Woo and a chronology by Rose E. Lee Treasures from Korea is the first major publication outside of Korea to survey the...

An intimate look at one of the most radical and groundbreaking printmakers of all time, the American Impressionist Mary Cassatt. This book examines the radical experimentation and innovation of one of the finest and most creative printmakers of the 19th...

Mary Cassatt's tender and profound paintings redefined portraiture and broke down barriers for women in art—both as artists and as subjects. This collection focuses on Cassatt's insightful portrayal of women and children living their everyday lives...

“These mirror images with their uncanny resemblances traverse space and time, spotlighting the black lives that have been silenced by the canon of western art, while also inviting us to interrogate the present.” —Times (UK) Since the beginning of the...

 'Race Is Everything’ explores the spurious but influential ideas of so-called racial science in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries, and how art was affected by it. David Bindman looks at race in general, but with...

Celebrating the magick of the natural realm, Volume IV of The Library of Esoterica, delves into the symbolism, ceremony, and our ritual relationships with the botanical world. A visual journey through our interdependent evolution with nature, Plant...

The Greek myths are timeless classics, whose scenes and figures have captivated us since ancient times. The gods and heroes of these legends hold up a mirror to the human condition, embodying universal characteristics and truths – whether it be the...

Kiss My Genders celebrates more than 30 international artists whose work explores and challenges traditional gender categories. The book features works from the late 1960s through to the present, and focuses on artists who draw on their own experiences...

The most influential architectural essays written since the Renaissance, copiously illustrated and neatly organized chronologically and by country. Discover the theories behind the structures in which we live, work, and play. From Alberti and Palladio to...

Long out of print, this seminal collection of essays and photographs by artist, theorist and filmmaker, Allan Sekula was originally published by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1984. Sekula sought to portray the inextricable bond between...

Storied Stone weaves together memories and scholarship to offer an illuminating  perspective on one of the most striking museum spaces. While visiting Madurai,  Tamil Nadu, in 1913, the Philadelphian Adeline Pepper Gibson purchased over sixty...

To explore the Tarot is to explore ourselves, to be reminded of the  universality of our longing for meaning, for purpose and for a  connection to the divine. This 600-year-old tradition reflects not only a  history of seekers, but our...

Edited by Carlos Basualdo with essays by Carlos Basualdo, Olena Chervonik, Richard Fletcher, Emily Greenwood, and Nicola Del Roscio This revelatory publication provides a comprehensive and multifaceted account of Cy Twombly’s masterpiece Fifty Days at...

This comprehensive yet highly browsable reference offers concise definitions, clear line drawings, and photographs of the elements and features that make up American furniture of all types. Written by an expert furniture maker and woodworker with...

In 1879, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro collaborated to found a periodical that would feature their prints. For much of their careers, this unlikely trio of artists used the medium of printmaking to inspire and challenge each other, and...

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017—revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was “fresh, unpretentious and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)—critics lauded it...

Barbara Chase-Riboud has led a remarkable life. After graduating from Yale’s School of Design and Architecture, she moved to Europe and spent decades traveling the world and living at the center of artistic, literary, and political circles. She became a...

An  intimate look at the life and career of the Dada hero known for the  unique joy of her work across mediums, authored by her great-niece and  buttressed with archival material.  Even when  performing at Zurich’s Cabaret...

For just over a decade, from 1956 to 1967, a collection of dilapidated former sail-making warehouses clustered at the lower edge of Manhattan became the quiet epicenter of the art world. Coenties Slip, a dead-end street near the water, was home to a...

In 2018, just a few weeks after his father’s death, Dean Rader made a pilgrimage to the Gagosian Gallery in New York to see a retrospective of Cy Twombly’s work, In Beauty It is Finished: Drawings 1951-2008. The exhibit led to a poem that would become...

Historic Philadelphia has long yielded archaeological treasures from its past. Excavations required by the National Historic Preservation Act have recovered pottery shards, pots, plates, coins, bones, and other artifacts relating to early life in the...

Ideas are not born alone. They come from a process to a large extent organized  and rational but sometimes unconscious and magical. In this book we can enjoy and learn from the creative processes of great graphic designers  and creative voices...

Organized as an inventive abecedarium, On the Necessity of Gardening tells the story of the garden as a rich source of inspiration. Over the centuries, artists, writers, poets and thinkers from Capability Brown to Derek Jarman have each described,...

Printing Design for Graphic Designers is a reference book that showcases  design projects from all over the world and focuses on the processes  that were used to print them. The book opens with a thorough  introduction of printing history,...

African American history has produced countless exceptional heroes, leaders, and role models. The graphic novel, BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered!, tells  the inspiring stories of 14 important Black Philadelphians, such as opera singer Marian...

For generations, Black artists from the American South have forged a unique art tradition. Working in near isolation from established practices, they have created masterpieces in clay, driftwood, roots, soil, and recycled and cast-off objects that...

Barns are iconic features of the American landscape.  Among the wide variety of American barns, the Pennsylvania barn holds a special place in the agricultural traditions of North America. Combining features found in Alpine Switzerland and the...

The Backyard Birdwatcher’s Bible is that rare type of book, one that is as packed with information as it is pleasing to look at. An elegant aesthetic is paired with practical tips on identifying, attracting, and caring for backyard birds, as well as...

Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley (Author), Peggy A. Olley (Author) with an essay by Jeffrey A. Cohen This handsome book explores in depth a group of stunning painted and gilded furniture designed by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, best known for...

Jack Lindsey(Author) with essays by Edward C. Carter ll, Richard S. Dunn, and Richard Saunders Focusing on Philadelphia's prominent role in the history of Colonial America, this exhibition catalogue surveys the decorative and fine arts produced during...

Elegant. Refined. Exclusionary. Interrupted. The foundations of the fine art world are shaking. Beyoncé and Jay-Z break the internet by blending modern Black culture with fine art in their iconic music video filmed in the Louvre. Kehinde Wiley powerfully...

For serious readers and dabblers alike, the acclaimed author of the Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells offers the essential book for working with supernatural beings. Spirits permeate every corner of our culture, and the Encyclopedia of Spirits explains who...

An absorbing group biography revealing how exiles from war-torn France brought surrealism to America, sparking the movement that became abstract expressionism. In 1957 the American artist Robert Motherwell made an unexpected claim: "I have only known...

In The Guardians of Art, DC-based collector Dani Levinas brings  together 34 of the most outstanding names in contemporary art  collecting, embracing a diverse range of characters who talk with him  about the motivations behind their drive...

Artist, critic and poet Eve Wood has a ribald sense of humor and for decades has had a distinctive presence in the Southern California art world. This is her first monograph, featuring a collection of off-beat, imaginative color studies populated with...

Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese laborers began to settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of...

Active from the late 1700s through the early twentieth century, the Peale family was America’s first artistic dynasty. This overview of the art of the Peales presents more than 160 works in a variety of media from the renowned collection of the...

John Ittmann (Editor), Cordula Grewe (Editorial Consultant) From the 1770s through the 1840s, German, Austrian, and Swiss artists used the medium of printmaking to create works that synthesized poetry, literature, music, and the visual arts in new and...

Cabinets of curiosities fascinated people of the 16th and 17th  centuries. They offered a glimpse into a world full of natural wonders and treasures that aimed to reflect the order of the universe. This volume takes us through the world’s most...

‘Big Type’ explores graphic design and identity work where the emphasis is on typography. The visual landscape in which today’s designers are contributing to is very cluttered and the digital world alone is so vast, that sometimes it...

A critical look at the renegade spirit that permeates Japanese prints and the posters of fin-de-siècle Paris. Both the Edo period (1603–1868) in Japan and the late nineteenth century in France witnessed a multitude of challenges to the status quo from...

One of the most renowned landscape architects in practice today, Laurie Olin has created designs for the grounds of the Washington Monument, the  National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, and Bryant Park in New York  City. His recent projects...

Sonia Delaunay was a true pioneer of modernist abstraction; breaking with the figurative vocabulary that subordinated color to subject matter, she placed dynamic color interaction at the core of her vision, whether expressed through painting, book...

Discover one of the most admired artists in history: Johannes Vermeer. Complete with crisp reproductions, details, and insightful essays, this monograph spans his entire repertoire, illuminating the artist’s outstanding ability not only to bear witness...

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of Italian painting, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial: violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the...

In this volume, Jens Müller traces 130 years of graphic design,  designers, and developments from the late 19th century through the economic boom after World War II until today. Year-by-year spreads are combined with in-depth features on dozens of...

The Japanese woodblock print is a phenomenon with no Western equivalent. Breathtaking landscapes exist alongside blush-inducing erotica, ghosts and demons torment the living, and sumo wrestlers and kabuki actors are rock stars. This condensed edition...

Jasper Johns (b. 1930) is one of the most influential artists living today . Over the past 65 years, he has produced a radical and varied body of work marked by constant reinvention. Inspired by the artist’s long-standing fascination with mirroring and...

More than 300 photographs by Lewis W. Hine, whose trailblazing documentary images of early 20th-century working conditions helped to transform United States labor laws.  This book covers all eras of Hine’s work, including his pictures of  child...

Covering the oldest and most traditional ways to make pots, Handbuilt is a beginner's guide to hand building with clay – no pottery wheel required. This book will teach you the building blocks to working with clay and how to apply a professional finish...

Buddhist Myths is an accessible, engaging, and highly informative exploration of the fascinating mythology underlying one of the world's oldest and most influential religions. Practiced today by more than 500 million adherents, Buddhism emerged from...

King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table examines the fact and the fiction behind Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Guinevere, and Galahad, among others, as well as the quest for the Holy Grail. King Arthur most probably never existed yet he is one of...