By Genre

A Japanese designer offers a compelling alternative way to engage with our possessions, our history, our environment, and each other. The Japanese phrase "hodo-hodo" originates in ancient times. When contemporary designer Taku Satoh applies it to his...

Good design is something we often recognize but can't express in words. This graphically delightful primer handily defines the seven characteristics of good design and shows why it matters. It is guaranteed to raise readers' Design IQ!This book by a...

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...

 A major figure in the Arte Povera movement of the late 1960s, the renowned Italian artist Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947) is known for his exploration of the relationship between art and the natural world in a body of work that includes sculpture,...

A gorgeous, large format volume that shows each hand-drawn illustration in stunning detail. The Architecture of Trees is the result of over twenty years of dedicated study by landscape architects Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi. This new edition...

Bestselling author and environmentalist Jonathan Drori follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg as he tells the stories of 80 magnificent trees from all over the globe. In Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori uses plant science to illuminate how...

A guide to going on dates with people to trees in Philadelphia, PA. What is our social relationship to plants? Can we create a feeling of belonging within a landscape? Tree Dates provide an opportunity to learn about and explore a connection to the land...

When watching a masterful sketcher, it seems that they create elaborate sketches with ease, tracing their pencils on the page and bringing to life rich and detailed drawings. After sweating away hours trying to create a simple sketch, you may find that...

A practical guide to plant-based remedies but also an inspiring and joyful ode to the world of plants. The Garden Apothecary shows us how to harvest and use commonly found plants, weeds and herbs to create our own healing home apothecaries. With...

In HOMAGE, Chris Scott tells the remarkable story of his family over  seven generations via comforting dishes and vivid narratives: From his enslaved ancestors to his great-grandfather, who migrated to  Pennsylvania after the Emancipation...

Drag is transformation, communication and, above all, exaggeration, where gender non–conformity is the plat du jour. Drag: The Complete Story observes this increasingly complex world by exploring drag's journey through the twentieth century. Corralled...

As graphic artist Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in which they eagerly approached both friends and strangers in their quiet Midwest town for interviews to...

The remarkable story of how Gilbert Baker and his friends created the iconic Rainbow Flag in 1978 Flags are brilliant and clever works of art and design, and they bring people together under a common banner. This colorful story follows a group of...

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...

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...

Judith Joy Ross: Photographs 1978–2015 is an illuminating retrospective that explores the life and career of a revered American photographer, illustrated by two hundred of her images, many never before seen or published. The work of Judith Joy Ross...

The Bauhaus, the school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919 and shut down by the Nazis in 1933, brought together artists, architects and designers—among them Anni and Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius,...

Pairing words of design wisdom with classic works, Essential Eames encapsulates the duo's achievements. Charles and Ray Eames are among the most influential designers of the 20th century. Enthusiastic and tireless experimenters, this beloved...

In the early 1960s Italian design legend Bruno Munari published his visual case studies on shapes: Circle, Square, and, a decade later, Triangle. Using examples from ancient Greece and Egypt, as well as works by Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, and...

This bestselling branding bible has provided graphic designers with an indispensable reference source for over a decade. Logo is now getting a revamp with the addition of over 300 new logos in this fully revised and updated edition.  This...

Since the mid-1970s, Barbara Kruger (born 1945) has been interrogating  consumer culture in works that often combine visual and written language. In her singular graphic style, Kruger probes aspects of identity, desire and consumerism that are...

In 1969, an exhibition opened at the Smithsonian Institution that redefined American art. Objects: USA  united a cohort of artists inventing new approaches to art-making by way of craft media. Subsequently touring to twenty-two museums across the...

Now in its 10th printing, this book truly has become “the bible” of pre-millennium skateboard decks. The author's industry insider status allows him to guide readers through the culture and experience the art and the mania of the skate world with...

In recent years, the beauty industry has shifted the conversation towards the individual in a way it hasn’t done before. While people, and women in particular, have historically been enticed into this industry to achieve rather rigid ideals set by...

In Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators, Kelly Walters collects twelve deeply personal interviews with graphic design educators of color who teach at colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. The book centers the unique narratives...

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...

A collection of essays that examine early American cultural, political, and social history through a material lens, exploring the meanings of objects ranging from artworks and domestic furnishings to Penn’s Treaty Tree. In this volume, scholars from...

Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey met in Paris while working together on Acne Paper. As a natural evolution of their widely respected work for this award-winning fashion publication, they were asked to consult on various projects and founded their own...

Interested in history and traditional pioneer kitchens, early cooking  methods, and original metals used in pots during the early years of  America, Sara became obsessed with the crafts of copper- and tin-smithing for kitchenware—specialty...

In Delaware society at the beginning of this period, to be a woman meant to engage in the activities performed by women, including diplomacy, rather than to be defined by biological sex. Among the Delaware, being a "woman" was therefore a...

Lenape Country is a sweeping narrative history of the multiethnic society of the Delaware Valley in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. After Swanendael, the Natives, Swedes, and Finns avoided war by focusing on trade and forging strategic...

Italian arts and culture have been a significant influence on Philadelphia dating back to Thomas Jefferson and colonial times.  Throughout the ensuing decades, Italian art and architecture styles flourished, and wealthy Philadelphians traveled to...

A highly illustrated examination of portraiture in China across media and millennia. Facing China  is an exploration of the portrait arts in China from the dynastic to the modern and contemporary, in painting, sculpture, photography, and...

This delightful little book pays homage to the cat through artfully curated Japanese poetry and prints. No one captures the graces and idiosyncrasies of cats quite like the painters, printmakers, and haiku masters of Japan. From the Edo to the Showa...

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...

Evoking the sensory richness and ambitions of the beloved French artist’s work through a multifaceted exploration of his art, career, and legacy. Cezanne presents a new examination of the work of Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) across media and genres,...

The first book to publish the entirety of Franz Kafka’s graphic output, including more than 100 newly discovered drawings. The year 2019 brought a sensational discovery: hundreds of drawings by the writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924) were found in a private...

How do homes serve as emblems of a moment, markers of the past, or articulations of future possibilities? The Spring 2020 issue of Aperture considers the meanings and forms of a home, and the relationships between architecture, design, and the domestic...

Michael Snow Photo-Centric focuses on a selection of the artist's photographic work from 1962 to the present. The book considers Snow's interest in late modernism's self-reflexivity and, specifically, his exploration of how the mechanics of photography...

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...

Founded in 2018, Tessera Arts Collective is a non-profit arts organization that supports Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander women (including queer, trans, femme) and non-binary abstract artists.  We elevate the work and practices...

Bringing together more than forty works from the United States and Europe, this exhibition examines Barbara Chase-Riboud’s artistic career, focusing primarily on her important Malcolm X sculptures. Five works from that series—among them the Museum’s...

Revolutionizing abstract painting with his grid systems of intersecting bands and lines, Sean Scully is widely regarded as the master of post-minimalist abstraction. In this retrospective exhibition, Scully revisits his early works from 1969 to 1974. It...

In recent years, the world has seen the rise of white nationalism in America and the tragic persistence of violence against African-Americans. Featuring works by more than 30 artists and writings by leading scholars and art historians, this book — and...

The paperback boxed set of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel in its original two-volume format, re-released to include a sixteen-page booklet designed by the artist. Acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about...

Faith Ringgold is a critically acclaimed and key figure of postwar American art, whose unique methods of visual storytelling have documented and advanced art historical, feminist, and civil rights  movements for more than half a century...

A compelling photographic history of the important moments of  progressive resistance—from the civil rights movement to the present—to  inspire the change-makers and activists of today. A powerful commemoration of notable moments of protest,...

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...

An Encyclopedia of Political Record Labels is a compendium of information about political music and radical cultural production. Focusing on vinyl records and the labels that released them, this groundbreaking book traces the parallel rise of social...

A full-color graphic history of global dissent and historical activism, celebrating the possibilities of collective resistance—with an introduction by Charlene Carruthers and a foreword by Rebecca Solnit.  Spanning nearly three thousand years of...

In this 1978 Caldecott Honor Book, award-winning author and illustrator David Macaulay explores the history and construction of castles in a richly illustrated resource for curious young readers. The word itself conjures up mystery, romance, intrigue,...

There has recently been a sharp increase in cases where corporations  have been sued by street and graffiti artists because their artworks had  been used and exploited without the artists' authorisation, for example in advertising campaigns, as...

 Afro-Atlantic Histories brings together a selection of more than 400 works and documents by more than 200 artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries that express and analyze the ebbs and flows between Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe...

These women changed art forever - told in colourful graphic novel form, this is the story of four pioneers of feminist art: Judy Chicago,  Faith Ringold, Ana Mendieta, and the Guerilla Girls. Each made their mark in their own powerful way. Judy...

In recent years, a young and active queer photography scene has emerged,  helped in large part by social media. Indulging their desire for self-presentation, affirmation, and reflection, many photographers  portray male homosexuality in...

A world without plants is a world without life, both literally and figuratively. Besides forming the very basis of human survival on Earth, they are also an important source of creative inspiration, ingenuity, and expression. From scientific explorers...

While birth often brings great joy, making babies  is a knotty enterprise. The designed objects that surround us when it  comes to menstruation, birth control, conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood vary as oddly, messily, and...

In 1939, the year before his death from a long illness and against a  backdrop of sociopolitical turmoil and the outbreak of World War II, Klee worked with a vigor and inventiveness that rivaled even the most productive periods of his youth. This...

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,...

Street  photography may look like luck, but you have to get out there and hone your craft if you want to shake up those luck vibes. Matt Stuart never goes out without his trusty Leica and, in a career spanning twenty years, has taken some of the...

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Emma Amos (1937 – 2020) was a distinguished painter and printmaker. She is best known for her bold and colorful mixed-media paintings that create visual tapestries in which she examines the intersection of race, class,...

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...

A wide-ranging retrospective that reveals a master printer’s own photographs to be technically brilliant work of remarkable breadth and complexity.This book presents the first in-depth survey of photographs by Richard Benson (1943–2017), who...

Philadelphia—where more than three centuries of history come alive—is not one but several cities and you can experience all of them if you know where to look. Tucked amid the glass-and-steel skyscrapers stand the brick-and-mortar buildings of the...

Once dismissed as a rusting industrial has-been—the “Next  Detroit”—Philadelphia has enjoyed an astonishing comeback in the 21st century. Over the past two decades, Inga Saffron has served as the  premier chronicler of the city’s physical...

AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Philadelphia offers 50 of the region's best hikes for all levels. Ideal for families, tourists, and locals alike, this easy-to-use guide will help hikers explore Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware year-round, from...

Polaroid Now celebrates new work created by contemporary artists working with Polaroid cameras and film today, and discusses the history, and evolution of the first instant imaging camera system that became a household name.This curated selection of...

Native America is a special issue about photography and Indigenous lives, guest edited by the artist Wendy Red Star. As debates around nationalism and borders in North America reach a fever pitch, Aperture magazine releases “Native America,” a special...

Communication Arts Typography Annual 11 features the award-winning projects from their 11th Annual Typography Competition, plus in-depth profiles of Prague-based photographer Bet Orten, Portland, Oregon–based design firm OMFGCO, Brooklyn-based...

In 1917, the newly formed Society of Independent Artists received an unusual submission for its inaugural exhibit in New York: a porcelain urinal signed with the name “R. Mutt.” The Society’s board members  agreed to accept it into the exhibition,...

With the amount of progress humankind has made in attitudes and achievements to-date, the time cannot be more apt than now to celebrate how far women have come in the creative industry today. DESIGN(H)ERS is a stunning showcase of up-and-coming talent...

For more than five decades, Lee Friedlander has repeatedly been drawn to the signs that inscribe the American landscape, from hand-lettered ads  to storefront windows to massive billboards. Incorporating these markings with precision and sly humor,...

Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative career handbook for designers that we've all been waiting for. Written collaboratively by a diverse team of authors, the book opens with critical essays that rethink design principles and practices...

The 'Masters of Photography' series is a new approach to photography how-to. Each volume is dedicated to the work of one key photographer who, through a series of bite-sized lessons and ideas, tells you everything you always wanted to know about their...

This collection charts the history of poster design, from the time when paper was first affordable in the 18th century, through developments in print technology, to the more subtle visual communication of the 21st century. Along the way, it showcases the...

Good design, like good storytelling, brings ideas to life. The latest book from award-winning writer Ellen Lupton is a playbook for creative thinking, showing designers how to use storytelling techniques to create satisfying graphics, products, services...

Here, from Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Paul Goldberger, is the first full-fledged critical biography of Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the most famous architect of our time. Goldberger follows Gehry from his humble  origins—the son of working-class...

The allure of color is time honored and undeniable, but its inspired use in product design is a relatively new development. More than a century ago the Bauhaus movement changed the use of color in design. After World War II, pigment-imbued molded...

Milton Glaser: Graphic Design, perhaps the most famous book of its kind, explores the early decades of America’s pre-eminent graphic artist. Glaser’s work ranges from the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster to book and record covers; from store and restaurant...

From legendary classics to anonymous objects that are indispensable in homes and offices, this one-of-a-kind collection of original patent documents celebrates the creative genius of designers, inventors, creators, innovators, and dreamers the world over...

What is an appropriate monument for the current city of Philadelphia?  That was the question posed by the curators, artists, scholars, and students who comprise the Philadelphia-based public art and history studio Monument Lab. And in 2017, along...

Few product designs have the staying power of creations by Dieter Rams.  Almost everything produced by the most influential designer of the twentieth century is today considered a classic. This new and revised edition...

For decades, anyone who cared about product design looked to the Braun label when choosing their appliances, radios, and other consumer items. Dieter Rams, the guiding force behind the Braun look, breaks down his design principles and processes in this...

Design for Children, a must-have book for all style-conscious  and design-savvy readers, documents the evolution of design for babies, toddlers, and beyond. The book spotlights more than 450 beautiful, creative, stylish, and clever examples of...

This a great book for pencil collectors, admirers, historians, artists, writers—anyone who gets excited about the new Palomino Blackwing, the Philadelphia Museum of Art exclusive Diana pencil for example, or a perfectly sharpened No. 2 Ticonderoga ...

How to Rule at Photography features 50 bite-size tips and tricks to help you improve your photo skills with your phone's camera. Creating brilliant photos with your phone isn't as hard as you might think, and the easy-to-follow advice in this book goes...

YES!! That poet and that poem!  This is a special edition of the poem "The Hill We Climb," read at the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, on January 20, 2021.On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and...

From the paperclip to the Eames Lounge Chair, the hundreds of everyday  objects included in The Design Book span the last five centuries and  shape our society in indelible ways. This extraordinary collection  includes classic pieces by...

Many scholars have called Linda Nochlin’s seminal essay on women artists the first real attempt at a feminist history of art. In her revolutionary essay, Nochlin refused to answer the question of why there had been no “great women...

Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects...

This text accompanies the first museum survey of the mature work of Warren Rohrer, one of the premiere abstract artists to work in Philadelphia in the 20th century, bringing together 32 large-scale paintings from the years 1972 to 1993. This selection...

A charmingly illustrated and inspiring book, Women in Art  highlights the achievements and stories of 50 notable women in the  arts. The artists range from well-known figures like painters Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe, to lesser-known...

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...

In the rural community of Gee’s Bend, African American women have been making quilts for generations. They use scraps of old overalls, aprons, and bleached cornmeal sacks—anything they can find. Their traditions have been passed down through...

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...

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 structures...

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...

Over the course of his artistic career, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) transformed not only his own style, but the course of art history. From early figurative and landscape painting, he went on to pioneer a  spiritual, emotive, rhythmic use of color...

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...