Books

A real mirror of 20th century creation, Chess Design presents an exceptional documentation on chess games made by artists, designers, architects, and craftsmen: chessboards themselves, but also artist's drawings, execution plans and photographs of...

Spark your child’s creativity and curiosity with this delightfully curated counting book featuring some of the world’s most iconic paintings. In this collection, your child will discover artwork by Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh,...

Learn the alphabet through animals and fine art! Spark  your child’s creativity and curiosity with this delightfully curated  alphabet book featuring some of the world’s most popular animals and  iconic paintings. In this...

Spark your child’s creativity and curiosity with this delightfully  curated colors book featuring some of the world’s most iconic artworks. In  this collection, explore unique palette combinations and revolutionary color choices...

Repair your favorite socks with style, add flair with personalized patches, and turn ripped jeans into an embroidered masterpiece. For beginner and experienced makers, Lily Fulop's guide to mending and upcycling is your colorful companion to ditching...

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...

How do you find time in your busy day to get creative? Why, with 15-Minute Art Drawing, of course! Explore the pure joy of coloring pencils and markers with fifty 15-minute projects that encourage you to explore drawing in a relaxing, free and fun...

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...

Philadelphia: City of Homes is  an affectionate homage to Philadelphia by architect David Traub, which  reveals his deep and intimate knowledge of the city’s streets and  buildings. His third book about Philadelphia’s architecture and...

Learn to identify birds in Pennsylvania and make birdwatching even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your...

"Writing haikus began as a meditation on grounding myself in my surroundings as I traveled across the country." Kavanaugh creates stream-of-subconscious inspired poetry on demand for the general public as Dream Poet For Hire. Equipped with a Smith-Corona...

3D Art is in a transformative moment. It can now be created, promoted, bought and sold all within the boundaries of digital space. This dynamic art movement is enabled by new tools and is limited only by the imagination of its creators. Artists working...

Told from the perspective of a young girl learning to weave, Woven of the World is a lyrical meditation on the ancient art of weaving and what this beautiful craft can teach us. As rhythmic as the swish of a loom, and as vibrant as a skein of brightly...

Today we think of ukiyo-e— “the pictures of the floating world”—as masterpieces of Japanese art, highly prized throughout the world. Yet it is often said that ukiyo-e were little appreciated in their own time and were even used as packing material for...

"Creeeeak!" goes the screen door to self-taught artist Elijah Pierce's barbershop art studio. A young boy walks in for an ordinary haircut and walks out having discovered a lifetime of art. Mr. Pierce's wood carvings are in every corner of the small...

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...

A user-friendly guide that traces the Founding Father’s footsteps through historic Philadelphia. Includes visitor information, walking tours, and helpful maps. This unique, user-friendly guide follows Benjamin Franklin's footsteps through Philadelphia...

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...

In 1953, Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura designed a now-classic Japanese house and garden that he called Shofuso. It was built in Nagoya, Japan, and shipped to New York in 1954, where it was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and then relocated to...

During the 1980s, the Memphis group, founded by Ettore Sottsass, revolutionized the European design scene, radically reinventing the language of form and color and challenging the status quo of functionalist design. Memphis was preceded in 1976 by the...

The first and only monograph on the extraordinary work of multidisciplinary and experiential Dutch artist duo DRIFT DRIFT was established in Amsterdam in 2007 by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph  Nauta. In their installations and interactive sculptures,...

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,...

As F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the mad glories of the 1920s on the printed page, Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980) captured them on canvas. A seductive Garbo-esque beauty with an irresistible force of personality, this refugee of the Russian Revolution...

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...

'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...

A fresh exploration of the work of iconic American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) through the lens of conflict, a recurring theme in his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates Homer’s art⁠—from emblematic images of the Civil...

In The Space Between, a generative period in Korean art between the traditional and the contemporary is illuminated comprehensively for the first time. After the centuries-long Joseon dynasty came 35 uninterrupted years of the Japanese colonial period...

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...

The first book to feature Jacob Lawrence’s Nigeria series, this richly illustrated volume also highlights Africa’s place as a global center of modernist art and culture. This revelatory book shines a light on the understudied but important influence of...

Nose picking? Nail biting? Wiping dirty hands on clothes? Before you call them "bad manners," consider the compelling reasons that may be behind these behaviors. For instance, jumping on the bed is great practice for when the road becomes a trampoline!...

Isamu Noguchi is one of the most important sculptors of all time. His Akari lamps changed the way modern buildings light their space. But before he was important, he was a kid. This is his story. Noguchi was a Japanese American artist who gave the world...

A richly illustrated guide to the Ottoman Empire, 100 years since its dissolution, unravelling its complex cultural legacy and profound impact on Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. At its height, the Ottoman Empire spread from Yemen to the gates...

In her eighteenth-century medical recipe manuscript, the  Philadelphia healer Elizabeth Coates Paschall asserted her ingenuity and authority with the bold strokes of her pen. Paschall developed an extensive healing practice, consulted medical texts,...

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...

This XL edition traces the extraordinary depth and breadth of Michelangelo’s work and his ascent to the elite of the Renaissance and art history. Ten richly illustrated chapters cover the artist’s paintings, sculptures, and architecture, with special...

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...

“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...

Handy hands. What a unique tool! Explore the hand from a range of expected and unexpected aspects. Did you know that sign language varies from country to country? Have you ever wondered why some of us are left-handed while others are...

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...

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...

This publication is dedicated solely to the early and canonical body of work by American artist Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953). The 20 photographs and 14 text panels that make up Kitchen Table Series tell a story of one woman’s life, as conducted in the...

This handsome volume invites readers on an intimate stroll through centuries of jewelry, botany, drawing, prints, video-game imagery and scientific illustrations, offering a primer on the beauty and ingenuity of nature as reflected in art. Five...

Mirrors have it tough: They feel like they are not doing a good job. because whenever people stare at them they (almost) always say bad things. Who would have thought, that the mirrors out there, well, they take it personally. One plucky little mirror...

An introduction to easy gardening so you can grow everywhere and anywhere. Whether you live in the city or the countryside, there are plenty of places you can plant and grow. For a new generation of green fingers there are different ways to bring nature...

A rare  photographic river trip revealing the once-celebrated but now-hidden  industrial landscapes of Pennsylvania that helped shape the nation. The Schuylkill River flows more than 130 miles from the mountains of the Pennsylvania Coal Region...

A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train. More than 365 images chart Smith’s singular aesthetic -- inspired by her wildly popular Instagram. In 2018, without any...

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,...

The Artist likes to paint one picture before breakfast. When the world is quiet. In a small red boat, he sits surveying the world around him, paying special attention to the sunlight, reflections, and the birds, of course. Always the birds. He’s not...

Owen Davey uses bold illustration to detail the professions, hobbies, and pastimes that keep grown-ups busy throughout the day. Have you ever dreamed of being a secret agent or a gardener, soccer player or singer, astronaut or pirate? Do you know what...

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...

Explore the vibrant work of artist Marc Chagall in this lively introduction and discover how his unique narrative style embraced Jewish culture and folklore. Marc Chagall's remarkable oeuvre spans a variety of media, from painting, ceramics, and stained...

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 Vermeer makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. A 17th-century Dutch painter who lived his entire life in Delft, Vermeer is renowned for his masterly use of...

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...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Jan van Eyck makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. A 15th-century Flemish painter who spent most of his life in Bruges, Van Eyck was revered for his...

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Paul Cézanne makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Widely regarded as the bridging link between late 19th-century Impressionism and Cubism, Cézanne's work is...

Spark your child's imagination and get creative by making maze patterns, tessellating patterns, mosaics and even multi-colored marbling patterns using this enthusiastically written, jam-packed activity book! The easy to follow instructions will help your...

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...

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...

An authoritative visual history of India, one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant cultures, drawing on South Asian art and artifacts from prehistory to the present. India: A History in Objects presents a beautiful collection of material culture from...

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...

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...

Mina Loy was born in London in 1882, became American, and lived  variously in New York, Europe, and finally, Aspen until she died in  1966. Flamboyant and unapologetically avant-garde, she was a poet,  painter, novelist, essayist,...

Here, from China, is a gorgeous story about generosity and gratitude, adapted from a traditional Buddhist tale by Kailin Duan. Her illustration style evokes artwork contemporary to the story's origins more than a thousand years ago, found in the famous...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Award-winning journalist Natalie Pompilio guides you through 30 unique walking tours in this comprehensive guidebook. Go beyond the obvious with self-guided tours that showcase famed fare as well as vintage boutiques, high-end shopping destinations,...

This exhibition publication is available with 3 different covers. 2 of the 3 are exclusive to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Only the covers vary; the interior content for all 3 covers is the same.  A groundbreaking look at the drawings of Giuseppe...

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...

Sashiko literally means little stabs and is a type of Japanese embroidery used to strengthen material or clothing. The elegant textile art of sashiko is celebrated in this picture book about the embroidery style's origins as a way to strengthen the...

Discover a whole new world of dragons in this beautifully illustrated book on the scaliest of magical creatures. From every detail of their wings to the history of their treasure, you'll learn about famous dragons from around the world. The latest...

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...

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 goddess Guanyin began in India as the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, originally a male deity. He gradually became indigenized as a female deity in China over the span of nearly a millennium. By the Ming (1358–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) periods, Guanyin...

A lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its ever-expanding influence on global popular culture through the concept of yokai. Monsters, ghosts, fantastic beings, and supernatural phenomena of all sorts haunt the folklore and popular culture of...

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...

Ringgold's most formative and influential political works are gathered in this beautifully designed clothbound volume. Alongside reproductions of key works made between 1967 and 1981, Faith Ringgold: Politics / Power provides an overview of Ringgold's...

The Amish are known for their canning practices, which are essential to  communities of large families and even larger gardens. Written by Amish  writer Laura Anne Lapp, Amish Butters & Salsas offers sixty classic recipes for all varieties...

Ossman & Steel’s Guide to Health or Household Instructor  (its original title) is a collection of spells, remedies, and charms.  The book draws from the old Pennsylvania Dutch and German powwow healing  practices that in turn...

 An A-to-Z compilation of traditional gardening skills and heirloom plants, nostalgically illustrated with wood block art. Modern life is a cornucopia of technological wonders. But is something  precious being lost? A tangible bond with our...

Made at a swimming hole in Philadelphia where bathing is illegal, the  Devil’s Pool photographs recognize the human need to revel in our  physical selves and commune with the natural world. The Devil’s Pool photographs explore a swimming hole...

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...