Books

Bill Traylor (ca. 1853–1949) came to art-making on his own and found his creative voice without guidance; today he is remembered as a renowned American artist. Traylor was born into slavery on an Alabama plantation, and his experiences spanned multiple...

Teach children their first colors with Mudpuppy’s Andy Warhol Colors board book featuring the artist’s bright and colorful artwork. A beautiful, artful board book for children and parents alike.    Author/illustrator: Andy Warhol Board...

Photography has a complex relationship to art. This volume uses an innovative framework to help readers appreciate photography as its own modern art form. In his unique and insightful approach, professor of photography David Bate presents iconic...

Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs of People is one of the best photography books to read if you want to learn how to take good pictures of people. This straight–talking guide will give you top portrait photography tips and is ideal for...

Designer, artist, and educator Mitch Goldstein's experience as student and teacher gives guidance and inspiration to help students get the most out of design school. Life  as a design student is filled with questions. Rochester Institute of...

Discover 300 pages of color inspiration with 450 as rich as they are surprising, combinations inspired by 150 destinations. Reflecting the diversity and beauty of our animal world. This book is a great combination to the volume 1, still with CMYK and...

This 340-page book offers 450 colour combinations inspired by 150 destinations. The talents of the Papier Tigre studio have selected one happy colour combination per destination to inspire you. In this beautiful book, you will find: -450 colour harmonies...

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...

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...

Exploring the art and life of this important American artist whose work bridged the gaps between abstraction, feminism, and Blackness Howardena Pindell: Reclaiming Abstraction is a fascinating examination of the multifaceted career of artist, activist,...

'Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul.' Vincent van Gogh saw nature and art as inseparably linked. In The Healing Power...

Claude Monet’s Vétheuil in Winter (1878-79), painted during the artist’s first winter in the village, depicts his new home on the Seine, seen from the opposite bank of the river. Monet’s two and a half years in Vétheuil, a small farming community...

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,...

Explore Hieronymus Bosch's fantastic illustrations of the afterlife and other religious concepts and narratives. Although Bosch's known works amount to no more than two dozen paintings and a handful of drawings, the artist had an enormous impact on...

An elegant introduction to Egon Schiele’s career, this book untangles the mysteries and misunderstandings behind his genius. Egon Schiele left an enormous artistic legacy that is all the more powerful for the brevity of his career. Isabel Kuhl’s lively...

Discover the motifs, masterpieces, and driving forces behind the artist Pablo Picasso. Picasso was arguably the most influential artist of the 20th century. Over the course of a career that spanned seven decades--and included thousands of paintings,...

Discover the life and work of Frida Kahlo in this introduction to the iconic Mexican artist. Although her body of work is relatively small, Frida Kahlo has inspired adoration and admiration that few other artists have attained. This accessible and...

This introduction to the work of the 16th-century master portraitist Hans Holbein reveals the impressive and surprising scope of his career. 16th-century Europe was a time of unprecedented economic expansion, cross-cultural trade, religious upheaval,...

Get a glimpse into the life and work of painter, sculptor, and printmaker Edgar Degas, who is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism. Best known for his depictions of young dancers on the stage and in the studio, Degas was an accomplished...

This revelatory examination of the Surrealist master updates prevailing theories about Magritte’s life and beliefs, and offers a surprising new assessment of an artist who strived for anonymity rather than fame. Throughout his career, Magritte subverted...

The story of Klimt’s astonishing artistic career is told in this beautifully produced collection of reproductions, photographs and drawings with an accompanying text that places the artist in a unique historical moment and reflects his fierce appetite...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Monet makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Monet’s dazzling depictions of flowers, sunsets, fields, and oceans, in which line and shape are suggested...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Botticelli makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. The Florentine painter Botticelli personifies the Golden Age of the early Renaissance. Best known for The...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Vincent van Gogh makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Tracing the arc of van Gogh's career, this volume presents his portraits and self-portraits,...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Dürer makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. This monograph explores Dürer's entire life and oeuvre by focusing on the most important of his works. It follows...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Caravaggio makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. This monograph explores Caravaggio's entire life and career by focusing on the most important of his works...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Pieter Bruegel makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. A Renaissance painter and printmaker best known for his landscapes and peasant scenes; Bruegel’s...

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...

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...

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...

From his earliest pointillist-influenced paintings to this mature and playful paper cut-outs; from enormous, ebullient murals to reverent stained glass--Henri Matisse was renowned for his dramatic use of color and fluid draftsmanship. Thirty of Matisse's...

Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods and Fairmount is among its most famous.  But you know it for the Parkway and the museums.  Did you know it is also home to a ghostly history?  Eastern State Penitentiary has had countless reports of...

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...

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...

A compelling examination of French sculptor Auguste Rodin from the perspective of his enthusiastic American audience. This exhibition catalogue explores the American reception of French artist Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), from 1893, when his first work...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning history that transforms a single event in 1722 into an unparalleled portrait of early America.  In the winter of 1722, on the eve of a major conference between the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee (also known as the...

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...

An illustrated guide to the fantastic world of Japanese myths: retelling the stories and exploring how Japanese mythology has changed over time, as new gods, heroes, and spirits have entered the  canon. While people around the world love Japan’s...

It's a freestanding globe! This read-aloud introduction to geography for young children folds back and creates a globe. Children are invited to identify and experience the Earth's amazing geography through rhyming verse and lush illustrations: from...

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...

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...

Though she was widely known for her supernatural fictions, Lee hasn’t gained the recognition she so clearly deserves for her contributions in the fields of aesthetics, philosophy of empathy, and art criticism. An early follower of Walter Pater, her work...

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...

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...

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...

Through a carefully curated selection of quotations, images and interviews, Artists on Art  reveals what matters most to the masters. You'll discover how the  giants of the different artistic genres developed their distinctive  visual...

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...

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...

Many people would love to learn to draw for pleasure, but don't know where to start. Being faced with a blank page can be daunting - even for a professional artist. In Sketchbook Challenge, illustrator Molly Egan shares prompts and ideas to get you...

This volume in National Museum Series of International Communication ·Ancient Chinese Cultural Relics Collected in the Overseas Museums features the Philadelphia Museum of Art's outstanding collection of Chinese art. The goal of the program is to...

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...

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...

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...

In this remarkable, inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a brilliant case for why art matters, especially in the turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century. Funny Weather brings together a career’s...

John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in...

For Marc Chagall (1887–1985), painting was an intricate tapestry of dreams, tales, and traditions. His instantly recognizable visual language carved out a unique early 20th-century niche, often identified as one of the earliest expressions of psychic...

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...

Offers a unique personal perspective on the journey of collecting  American art and antiques Start with House, Finish with a Collection is the story of how a couple's use of American art and antiques evolved  from furnishing a house into a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Shimmering, pulsating color masses characterize the Abstract Expressionist masterpieces of Mark Rothko. Like no other artist in his generation, Rothko developed his own stylistic vocabulary, creating ceiling-high canvases that were to be experienced as...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Looking at pictures can be an exciting or moving experience, but some pictures—often the most rewarding—require some explanation before they can be fully understood. Delving into the origins, designs, and themes  of over one hundred...

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...

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...

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...

One of our customer favorites, Drawn from Life is finally back in print! This ideally shaped and sized book offers bite-size lessons that will help anyone master the classic practice of life drawing. Over 100 pieces of art by contemporary artists...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

Fables, folklore, and fantasy—this compendium of all things alchemical  and mystical gathers centuries of esoteric mythology in the form of  writings, drawings, paintings, and prints. From early Christian mystics  to the illustrations of...

Fall under the spell of Gustav Klimt. A century after his death, the Viennese artist still startles with his unabashed eroticism, dazzling surfaces, and artistic experimentation. Master of 19th-century Viennese art and pioneer of the Secessionist...

A dazzling reprint of Hiroshige's views of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), one of the masterpieces of the ukiyo-e woodblock tradition and a paradigm of the Japonisme that inspired Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau artists, from Vincent van Gogh...

In a fleeting 14-year period between two world wars, Germany’s  Bauhaus school of art and design changed the face of modernity. With  utopian ideas for the future, the school developed a pioneering fusion  of fine art, craftsmanship, and...

Arranged alphabetically, this biographical encyclopedia features  every major photographer of the 20th century alongside her or his most  significant monographs.  From the earliest representatives of  classical Modernism right up to...

In 367 exquisite plates, this treasure of botanical literature records the flowers of the palatial grounds at Eichstätt,  Bavaria, once some of the most beautiful gardens in history. The  illustrations are organized by season and, following the...

One of the most accomplished human beings who ever lived, Leonardo da  Vinci remains the quintessential Renaissance genius. Creator of the  world’s most famous paintings, this scientist, artist, philosopher,  inventor, builder, and...

Most art historians agree that the modern art adventure first  developed in the 1860s in Paris. A circle of painters, whom we now know  as Impressionists, began painting pictures with rapid, loose brushwork.  They turned to everyday street...

Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)  was one of the century’s greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics—and was  rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the  first to apply the insights...

By Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober Set against the backdrop of well-known works by the artist, Pablo  Picasso, rhyming text explores the expressions and activities of a variety of people, from a young girl catching a dove to a serious boy steering a...