Monographs

An intimate collection of Vincent van Gogh’s portraits and self- portraits—perhaps the work for which he is best known. Despite his posthumous fame as a painter of flowers, still lifes, gardens, landscapes, and city scenes, Vincent van Gogh himself...

This comics biography of one of the greatest sculptors who ever lived is brought to life by a collaboration with the Rodin Museum and includes a preface by its director. It views the artist's story through the eyes of the three women who shared his life,...

In 1930, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the collection of  medieval and Renaissance sculpture and decorative arts assembled by  Edmond Foulc (1828–1916). Foulc’s beautiful Paris residence was an important gathering place for...

Our nation's history fits neatly in the palm of your hand.  This palm sized leather bound book is a 192 page edition containing the complete United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and every constitutional amendment to the present day. Also...

Cats, cats, and more cats! Expressive or aloof, affectionate or enigmatic, cats have complicated characters that make them compelling artists' muses. Artful Cats explores the quirky and charming relationships of artists with their cats in 130 rarely seen...

In the late eighteenth century, mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner devised a standardized color scheme that allowed him to describe even the subtlest of chromatic differences with consistent terminology. His scheme was then adapted by an Edinburgh...

A beautifully produced book for art lovers and nature enthusiasts illuminating van Gogh’s belief that painting should “celebrate the finest qualities of nature” Vincent van Gogh felt a profound empathy with the natural environment and...

A beautifully produced gift book for gardeners and art lovers everywhere: a selection of Vincent van Gogh’s garden and flower paintings and drawings. Vincent van Gogh never owned a garden, but throughout his career he painted and drew outdoor...

Edited by Michael R. Taylor, with essays by Michael R. Taylor, Kim S. Theriault, Jody Patterson, et al;  Arshile Gorky (Armenian American, c. 1904–1948) was one of the central figures in American art's shift toward abstraction during the first half...

Ever since his self-proclamation as part of the “New York Five,”  Richard Meier has risen through one top commission after another to the dizzy heights of architectural stardom. From Madison Square Garden to Shenzhen, China, his sleek, luminously...

Discover the audacious futurism of Zaha Hadid. As the first woman to win both the Pritzker Prize for architecture and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal,  Hadid broke the rules and re-defined the game, despite some saying her  designs were unbuildable...

The creative duo Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser Eames transformed the visual character of America. Though best known for their furniture, the husband and wife team were also forerunners in architecture, textile design, photography, and film.   The...

Acclaimed as the “father of skyscrapers,” the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to...

Mies van der Rohe’s philosophy was one of underlying truth in pure forms and proportions. With the help of contemporary technological and material developments, he sought a stripped-down purity to architecture, showcased by the likes of the Seagram...

Even in his unrealized projects, Le Corbusier redefined modern living, synthesizing functionalism, expressionism, and expansive urban thinking from Switzerland to Chandigarh, India. This book provides a succinct  introduction to his trailblazing...

In 1956, TIME magazine called him one of the defining “form-givers of the 20th century.”  Today, Marcel Breuer remains a locus classicus of modernism for architects and designers alike.  From his landmark tubular furniture to “binuclear”...

A hairless, ghostly figure on a bridge. The sky orange-red above him.  His hands raised to his ears, his mouth wide in a haunting wail. In painting The Scream, Edvard Munch created Mona Lisa for our times. The shriek of his iconic figure...

Only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently assigned to Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) but in their fantastical visions they have secured his place as one of the most cult artists in history.  500 years on from his...

Meet Gerhard Richter, the German artist who redefined painting. Between abstract works and photography-based paintings, Richter pushes the medium’s boundaries and reminds us of its urgency and importance in a world of digital images. This introduction to...

From majestic desertscapes to magnified lilies and irises, survey the unique and luminous oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe, a seminal figure in modern American art and radical pioneer of abstraction. This book  follows the artist through her pioneering...

Painter, and Marxist activist, Diego Rivera was not just the husband of Frida Kahlo.  He is renowned as much for his active politics as for his monumental mural paintings. This introduction explores his unique and visionary renderings of a modern...

Few artists tried as hard as Claude Monet (1840–1926) to capture light itself on canvas. The painter of whom Cézanne said “only  an eye, but my God what an eye!” he stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting...

The Bauhaus, the legendary school in Dessau, Germany, transformed  architecture and design around the world. This book broke new ground when first published in 1991 by introducing psychoanalysis, geometry, early childhood education, and popular...

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...

It was a dappled and daubed harbor scene that gave Impressionism its  name. When Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet was exhibited in April  1874, critics seized upon the work’s title and its loose stylistic rendering of light and motion...

Artist and prominent early American Charles Willson Peale  (1741-1827) willed his passions to his equally remarkable children, nieces, and nephew. This engaging pictorial study reveals in-depth these two generations of artists, naturalists, and...

The Japanese woodblock print is a phenomenon with no Western equivalent,  one where breathtaking landscapes exist alongside blush-inducing  erotica; where demons and otherworldly creatures torment the living; and  where sumo wrestlers,...

Before Easter After documents a defining period in Smith’s career through Goldsmith’s probing and empathetic lens. Riding on the critical success of Horses, Smith released the uncompromising Radio Ethiopia and, just two years later, Easter—her  most...

In 1919, the state art school in Weimar was reopened as the Bauhaus,  under the direction of Walter Gropius and with a radical new teaching  approach. Four years later, the first Bauhaus exhibition was held,  presenting the school’s novel...

Eliot Porter masterfully created color photographs of the New England woods to pair with the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Both Porter and Thoreau, although they lived a century apart, worked endlessly to  preserve nature and protect it from man...

The Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums encompasses over 2,500 of the world’s rarest pigments. Museum director Edward Forbes started the collection at the turn of the 20th century, in order to preserve...

The traditional “knight in shining armor” has become a staple figure in popular culture and the images of bloody battlefields, bustling feasting halls, and courtly tournaments have been creatively interpreted many times in film and fiction...

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...

If anyone can teach readers how to pursue the life and work of an artist, it is the twenty-two amazing artists included in Truth Bomb.This colorful compilation of pioneering and established women artists from around the world motivates and empowers...

The most comprehensive and best-illustrated history of watercolor painting ever published! As an artistic medium, watercolor is so widely practiced, and so  widely beloved, that it can be startling to reflect on its humble origins. For hundreds of...

Throughout history, artists and citizens have turned to protest art as a means of demonstrating social and political discontent. From the earliest broadsheets in the 1500s to engravings, photo-lithographs, prints, posters, murals, graffiti, and political...

Enjoy a rare glimpse into the actions of a working artist. Beginning in 1970, Anni Albers filled her graph-paper notebook regularly until 1980. This previously unpublished document of her working process contains intricate drawings for her large body of...

In a compact, reader-friendly format, this volume traces a spectacular history of queer life and creativity in the modern age. It traces the rich visual legacy of art's relationship to Queer culture, from the emergence of homosexuality as an identity in...

Imagine life in Edo, Tokyo, from the 17th-19th century. In the early modern period there were many Ukiyo-e shops which sold woodblock prints displaying then-current styles and fashions much like our fashion photography and magazines today. Each Ukiyo-e...

While it is considered by many artists to be a pure and simplistic form of expression, abstract art is also often thought of as vague or exceedingly theoretical. This new installment in the Art Essentials  series demystifies the concept and history...

Cats were illustrated in manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages, often in exquisite detail and frequently accompanied by their natural prey, mice. Medieval cats were viewed as treasured pets, as fearsome mousers, as canny characters in fables, as...

This volume chronicles the career of Italian artist Marisa Merz (1926–2019), focusing on figurative works in a variety of media—drawings, unfired clay sculptures, copper and nylon weavings, objects transmuted in wax.  Authors: Ester...

Pierre-Auguste Renoir put people into the center of his painting. His compositions showed people embracing the pleasures of life, dancing, and  enjoying outings in Paris. He created special atmospheres full of  summer warmth and lightness,...

Street art is a phenomenon and subculture movement that reaches from the darkest urban backstreets to the most glamorous international art  fairs. Despite having earned a place in the canon of twentieth-century  art history, its qualifications...

It is often forgotten just how provocative and unsettling impressionist canvases seemed when they were first exhibited in 1874. Critics,  professional artists, and gallery visitors alike were shocked to  encounter the unorthodox paintings on...

Pop Art refers to a post-war movement connecting art with  popular culture. Billboard signs, comic books, and movie stars were just  some of the subjects chosen by pop artists, such as Andy Warhol, Roy  Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and...

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...

Modern Art guides the reader through individual movements  from Impressionism to Conceptual Art, situated within five broader  chronological eras. Starting with Impressionism in 1860, art historian  Amy Dempsey explains the essentials of...

Take an intimate promenade through Paris with some 500 images from Eugène Atget. Down main streets and side streets, through courtyards, arcades, and the city’s 20 arrondissements, we find a unique portrait of a beloved city and the making...

The Story of Art, one of the most famous and popular books on art ever written, has been a world bestseller for over half a century.  Attracted by the simplicity and clarity of his writing, readers of all ages and backgrounds have found in Professor...

Surrealism was launched as a literary and artistic movement by French  poet Andre Breton in 1924, and by the time of his death in 1966 it had  become one of the most popular and recognizable art movements of the  twentieth century...

Iconography, or the study of symbols—be they animals, artifacts, plants,  geometric shapes, or gestures—is an essential aspect of interpreting  art. One of the most consistent features of human society throughout  time has been the use of...

Art lovers can list history’s most important art objects, but what many  don’t know are the dramatic, funny, and sometimes bizarre stories behind  these most famous works. Spanning the last 500 years of art history,  this book revisits...

The perfect gift book for people who see faces everywhere. A funky, funny, gift book with a twist. The psychological impulse to discern faces in random patterns on inanimate objects is known as pareidolia. It has brought us the Virgin Mary on a cheese...

Our lives are filled with objects. Everyday things used in everyday settings, they are our constant companions. As such, writes Soetsu Yanagi, they should be made with care and built to last, treated with respect and even affection. They should be...

This captivating collection of Vincent van Gogh’s letters opens a window into the mind of one of history’s greatest artists. Giving rare insight into his complicated relationships with family, friends, and other fellow artists, the letters...

This comprehensive reconstruction and interpretation of Louise and Walter Arensberg’s groundbreaking collection of modern and pre-Columbian art takes readers room by room, wall by wall, object by object through the couple’s Los Angeles home...

"The subject impresses by its simplicity: a solitary traveler and his lean hound making way in hilly dunes, a remnant of a tumble-down fence and almost formless clouds." Jacob van Ruisdael's landscapes are lonely, distant views with only the occasional...

In examining his entire oeuvre, the book celebrates the artist's ongoing  love affair with everyday life-domestic, natural, and architectural.  Found throughout Wyeth's work, these objects form patterns that  illuminate core themes and...

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 monumental oeuvre spanning more than forty years, Penone has  explored and expanded our understanding of what constitutes sculpture  through the interplay between the human body, nature, and art. His work  represents a poetic...

This lavishly illustrated and super-condensed history of world art is  the perfect gift for any art lover. A pocket-sized book bursting with  900 illustrations, it takes the reader from the beginnings of art in  prehistory to the...

The  contemporary art world has been challenged and invigorated by outsider  art--works by self-taught practitioners who, by definition, have little  to do with mainstream art production, but are nonetheless actively  engaged with the...

The first artist to "take a line for a walk"!  Paul Klee: Life and Work, draws on a wealth of  new resources including the Klee family’s archives, much of which is  published here for the first time. Life and work are truly...

Cy Twombly's first visit to Italy as a  young man ignited a lifelong passion for classical culture that is  everywhere present in his art. Taking on myths and heroes as personal  guides, he created a psychologically complex dialogue with...

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...

James Castle (1899-1977) was an American artist who found inspiration in  the detritus of everyday life, primarily in the materials he collected  from his family’s home such as envelopes, packaging, advertisements and  matchbooks. Working...

An irreverent book of radically honest advice by renowned fashion arbiter and legendary window dresser Simon Doonan. Through  his unconventional wisdom and singular storytelling, Simon Doonan is  the ideal instructor to help readers find - and...

"Our Philadelphia, as is all our history, is made of these moments:  photographs and stories. And in our effort to find and delineate these  moments we also recognized that we approached a sense of place. Circling  ever closer to a shared...

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s David Lebe (b. 1948) pushed the boundaries of photography, creating nuanced and visually complex images using innovative techniques. Often enhancing his prints with hand-coloring, Lebe made experimental pinhole photographs,...

This important publication offers the  first in-depth exploration of contemporary artist Bruce Nauman's  monumental works Contrapposto Studies, I through VII and Contrapposto  Studies, i through vii of 2015/2016. The book surveys Nauman's...

From the moment of their unveiling at the National Portrait Gallery in  early 2018, the portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama have become two  of the most beloved artworks of our time. Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of  President Obama and Amy...

Almost Lost Arts features the stories of 20 artisans who have devoted their lives to preserving traditional techniques.  From globe makers and book menders to cassette tape manufacturers and  neon sign makers, the profiled artisans represent a...

The complex oeuvre of the American artist Cy Twombly (1928-2011)  comprises a time period of around six decades, during which it never  lost any of its expressive power. Twombly was one of the most productive  artists in the history of...

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...

American Furniture, 1650–1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the first publication dedicated to one of the finest collections of its type in the country. Best known for furniture by artisans from Philadelphia and southeastern...

The publication will feature new, unpublished material related to the concept, filming, post-production, and installation of a new work by artist Rachel Rose (American, b. 1986). This new work, jointly commissioned and acquired by the Philadelphia Museum...

By Anne Monahan West Chester, PA's own Horace Pippin was arguably the most successful African American artist of his day. Pippin (1888–1946) taught himself to paint in the 1930s and quickly  earned international renown for depictions of World War I,...

Louise Bourgeois' tapestry and needlepoint work deals with reparation in  both a literal and metaphorical sense. In many of the works, fragmented  tapestries are pieced together and repaired to create new sculptural  forms. The recurring...

When Swedish artist Hilma af Klint died in 1944 at the age of 81, she  left behind more than 1,000 paintings and works on paper that she had  kept largely private during her lifetime. Believing the world was not  yet ready for her art, she...

This first installment in Skira and Jack Shainman Gallery's five-volume  publication project on Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017) presents for the  first time the artist's works on paper. These images—of flowers and  plants, bananas, a...

Of all the riches of the sixteenth-century European  nobleman, none spoke more powerfully of his heroism, wealth, and taste  than his armor, clothing, and weapons. Drawing on the Victoria and  Albert Museum’s popular arms and armor...

In 1119, a  small band of knights seeking a purpose in the violent aftermath of the First Crusade set up a new religious order in Jerusalem, which was now  in Christian hands. These were the first Knights Templar, elite warriors who swore vows...

For more than one thousand years, Christians and  Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most  notorious period of conflict between the two religions...

This is the fascinating story William Marshal who negotiated the  brutal realities of medieval warfare and the conflicting demands of  chivalric ideals, and who against the odds defeated the joint French and  rebel forces in arguably the...

The amazing tales of the knight Theuerdank and his companion  Ehrenhold constitute the last great epic verse of the late Middle Ages.  The courageous knight’s journey to woo his future wife, Mary of  Burgundy, and his triumph in battles...

The knight is the supreme warrior of the Middle Ages. Fully armored and mounted on a magnificent charger, he seems invincible. Honor and  glory await him as, guided by the chivalric code, he fights with lance  and sword. This carefully...

A visual and literary feast, The History of Chivalry and Armour is a study of medieval knights in all their grandeur, fully displaying their instruments of siege, ornaments, and entertainments. Reproduced from a rare nineteenth-century masterpiece, here...

This engaging book offers an introduction to and overview of armor in  Europe from the Middle Ages through the 17th century, focusing in  particular on the 16th century when plate armor reached its peak of  stylistic beauty and functional...

This volume offers an intriguing glimpse into the world of late medieval  martial arts, from wrestling to fencing with the longsword to the  subtle tricks that could be employed when jousting on horseback. Using  superb details of lively...

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec recorded unforgettable images of belle-époque  Paris in his paintings, lithographs, and posters. The posters created by  the painter and graphic designer for the Moulin Rouge club in  Montmartre remain extremely...

The father of impressionists, Camille Pissarro, was groundbreaking for  the modern age. Whether it was painting or graphics, impressionism or  pointillism, portraits or the worker genre—his work was extraordinarily  versatile and full of...

The work of Piet Mondrian is highly eclectic: from impressionist  landscapes to cubism and abstracts, in the final years of his working  life. This volume, enriched with images, provides a fascinating analysis  of the Dutch artist’s...

Art Nouveau, elegant ornamentation, and sensual women. Hardly any other  artist proved a greater virtuoso in this style than Alphonse Mucha.  Discover not only the most beautiful of the Czech artist’s posters, but  also many of...

An eccentric exhibitionist, Egon Schiele documented the discord of his  time in furious paintings of people and self-portraits. Schiele’s  artistic universe is ready to be rediscovered with these many  illustrations of drawings,...

The artistic work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) is  considered a milestone of international modernism and the climax of  German Expressionism. This volume documents the development of the  multi-faceted oeuvre from the epoch-making...

Claude Monet’s extensive work is revealed in numerous images. He was a  painter who like no other moved perception to the center of his artistic  activities. Nature became his own studio. This resulted in fascinating landscapes of different...

His Great Wave off Kanagawa is the most famous work in  East Asian art. Hokusai, a self-confessed eccentric and obsessive,  created with his pictures of the floating world a veritable encyclopedia  of Japanese daily life and thus became a...

Hiroshige is one of the most important artists of the Japanese woodblock  print and is considered a master of “ukiyo-e,” the “pictures of the  floating world.” His evocative illustrations show mainly landscapes and  scenes from the capital...

"The Lady in Gold" was not his only painting!  Gustav Klimt, the most controversial artist of his time, enjoys incomparable  popularity to date. This book offers a fascinating insight into the  extensive work of this remarkable artist...