Books

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Berthe Morisot won over the Impressionists with her talent and became the first woman of the group alongside Monet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, and Sisley. Likewise, she was heralded by the greatest writers of her time; in this tribute to her, an anthology...

Feminist Designer brings together a constellation of voices and perspectives to examine the intersection of design and feminist theory. For decades, the feminist refrain within design has hinged on the representation and inclusion of women in the field...

Vine of the Soul is an exceptional photographic essay accompanied by detailed descriptions of the Amazonians' use of medicinal and other sacred plant substances. Over 160 documentary photos, some of the most significant ever taken on the subject, bring...

A meditation on suffering, resilience, creativity, and grace. In 1942 Missouri Pettway, newly suffering the loss of her husband, pieced together a quilt out of his old, worn work clothes. Nearly six decades later her daughter Arlonzia Pettway,...

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...

This pioneering book stands as the most comprehensive treatment of the lives, ideas, and art works of the remarkable group of women who were an essential part of the Surrealist movement. Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, and Dorothea Tanning, among many...

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...

Today, people carry powerful computers in our pockets and call them “phones.” A generation ago, people were amazed that the processing power of a mainframe computer could be contained in a beige box on a desk. This book is a celebration of...

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...

Pivotal in modern art's move towards abstraction, Piet Mondrian's oeuvre is extraordinarily versatile and complex. Not only did he paint and draw, he also wrote extensively about his thoughts and theories on art and life. Moving from traditional Dutch...

Paul Cezanne’s incomparable, architectonic rendering of light and color provided the foundation of his reputation as a forerunner of modernism. Which specific locations left such vivid impressions on this scion of a provincial banker’s family? What and...

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553) created around 500 works during his lifetime. With his portraits of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchton, and in his position as court painter to Frederick the Wise, Cranach quickly became one of the most sought-after...

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...

"Wild spinach about 7 feet tall and fully mature.  Well-fed wild spinach is well-branched and produces a huge quantity of  seeds when mature. The leaves are still edible at this stage but are  reduced in quality, taking on a somewhat...

Master naturalist Nancy Lawson takes readers on a fascinating tour of the vibrant web of nature outside our back door—where animals and plants perceive and communicate using marvelous sensory abilities we are only beginning to understand. Organized into...

 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...

Beginning with pre-liberation and the years before the Stonewall uprising, spanning across the 1970s and 1980s and through to the new millennium, Queer X Design celebrates the inventive and subversive designs that have powered the resilient and...

Marital status was a fundamental legal and cultural feature of women's identity in the eighteenth century. Free women who were not married could own property and make wills, contracts, and court appearances,  rights that the law of coverture...

Art museums have played a vital role in our culture, drawing on Enlightenment ideals in shaping ideas, advancing learning, fostering community, and providing spaces of beauty and permanence. In this thoughtful and often personal volume, Daniel H. Weiss...

The Lenape tribe, also known as the Delaware Nation, lived for centuries on the land that English colonists later called New Jersey. But once America gained its independence, they were forced to move further west: to Indiana, then Missouri, and finally...

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...

Peter Paul Rubens was the most inventive and prolific northern European artist of his age. This book discusses his life and work in relation to three interrelated themes: spirit, ingenuity, and genius. It argues that Rubens and his reception were pivotal...

Today most of us enjoy the work of famed Renaissance artist Michelangelo by perusing art books or strolling along the galleries of a museum—and the luckier of us have had a chance to see his extraordinary frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel...

This incisive and illuminating biography follows the three themes that shaped the life of Leonardo da Vinci and, through him, forever changed Western art and imagination: nature, art, and self-fashioning. Nature and art helped form Leonardo. He spent...

Jan van Eyck (1390–1441) was one of the most inventive and influential artists in the entire European tradition. The realism of his paintings continues to astound observers more than six centuries on, even though our world is saturated by high-resolution...

For all those who thought digital heralded the end of an era: illustration is alive and kicking, and new tools have given the art renewed vigor and the illustrator greater stamina. Steven Heller & Julius Wiedemann present a snapshot of “the new...

In this vivid account, Ana Debenedetti reexamines the life and work of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli through a novel lens: his business acumen. Focusing on the organization of Botticelli’s workshop and the commercial strategies he devised to make...

The Italian Renaissance birthed the modern sense of self, and no artist from the period compares with Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) in terms of the almost obsessive interest he displayed in his own life. Dürer’s works are filled with personal details from...

The Italian sculptor known as Donatello helped to forge a new kind of art—one that came to define the Renaissance. His work was progressive, challenging, and even controversial. Using a variety of novel sculptural techniques and innovative...

A guide to going on dates with people to visit trees in Philadelphia, PA.  There are 25 more tree-dates out there! What is our social relationship to plants? Can we create a feeling of belonging within a landscape? Tree Dates provide an opportunity...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

By Jennifer A. Thompson with contributions by Joseph J. Rishel and Eileen Owens Featuring ninety highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s stellar collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, this handsome volume includes iconic works...

George Eastman’s career developed in a particularly American way. The founder of Kodak progressed from a delivery boy to one of the most important industrialists in American history, and a crucial innovator in photographic history. Eastman died in 1932,...

One of the founders of the Impressionist movement while also one of its most ruthless critics, too bohemian for the bourgeois and too bourgeois for the artists, Edgar Degas was a man of paradoxes. A loner, he only loved one woman without ever courting...

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...

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...

Eating wild edibles is in our genes, and it can be healthy fun! It’s seasonal, sufficient, varied, and provides plenty of nutrients. It yields the satisfaction born of food independence and competence. There’s no packaging, no labeling, no advertising,...

We know that they prayed, sang, and wore long robes, but what was it really like to be a monk? Though monastic living may seem unimaginable to us moderns, it has relevance for today. This book illuminates the day-to-day of medieval European monasticism,...

Medieval people are often portrayed as having poor hygiene and table manners—licking their knives or throwing chicken bones on the floor. In the Middle Ages, however, such behavior was not tolerated. Medieval society cherished order in nearly every facet...

Trace the history of rock and roll with this playful journey through the decades, artists and styles that make this such a diverse and beloved art form. For children and parents alike, this colorful and lovingly illustrated book travels from the 1950s...

Featuring over five hundred masterpieces from around the world, this revised and expanded guide is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This updated version of the museum's handbook presents more...

A pocket-sized resource for identifying the native trees, commonly encountered exotics, and popular ornamentals of the Philadelphia metropolitan area and adjacent counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Each of the 118 tree-identification...

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...

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...

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...

By Lisa Roberts At four months old Mr. Waffles was rescued from a shelter by a family who collects contemporary design. Luckily for everyone involved - Mr. Waffles Loves Design! Take a tour through a history of design with this very smart and curious cat...

An illustrated history of games, their history and the people who played them, from antiquity to the present. Author: Helen Constantino Fioratti Softcover Publisher: Edizioni Polistampa 2014 174 pages, 9.5" x 6.5" ISBN: 9788859613282

This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. A Fragile Freedom  investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the...

The  ultimate insider's guide to Philadelphia for locals and experienced  travelers• Features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides• Part of the international 111 Places/111  Shops series with over...

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...

Taiga (1723–1776) and his wife, Tokuyama Gyokuran (1727–1784), were preeminent artists in eighteenth-century Japan. This landmark book—the only comprehensive survey available in English—focuses on the lives and times of these artists and accompanies the...

The best way to experience Philadelphia is by hiking it! Get outdoors with local author and hiking expert Lori Litchman. This full-color guide helps you locate and access the top hikes within 60 miles of Philly. A perfect blend of popular routes and...

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...

Once admired as “a little Rome” on the banks of the Rhône, the town of Arles in the south of France had been a place of significance long before the painter Vincent van Gogh arrived in February of 1888. Aware of Arles’s history as a haven for poets, van...

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...

Through the exceptional permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this book looks at arms and armor as art—from warfare to war games, from hunting to the pursuit of glory. The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s holdings of arms and...

Edited by Dilys E. Blum with essays by Dilys E. Blum and Mary Schoeser, and a contribution by Julie Schafler Dale This is the first publication to consider art to wear, also known as wearable art, as a discrete American movement that mirrored the...

By Hiromi Kinoshita This richly illustrated catalogue of highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s wide-ranging collection of Chinese art, spanning antiquity to the present day, includes such gems as Ming gold vessels and imperial court robes, a...

A taxonomy we didn’t know we needed for identifying and cataloging stray shopping carts by artist and photographer Julian Montague. Abandoned shopping carts are everywhere, and yet we know so little about them. Where do they come from? Why are they...

The story of art is not always the story of art-historical 'isms' and complex academic debate. The real history is often the story of some very simple firsts - the first time an artist painted themselves, the first time someone painted a smile, the first...

Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of...

The revered tradition of botanical illustration dates back to the Renaissance. It emerged from the desire to catalog nature in its unpredictable splendor, and the process demanded the most precise and talented of artists. With a remarkable skill that...

In just two decades, Raphael Santi painted his way to legendary greatness. This essential introduction to the artist we know simply as Raphael presents the mastery of figures, forms, and space hat secured his place not only alongside Michelangelo and...

Ian Lynam's The Impossibility of Silence is a book for artists,  photographers and designers interested in approaching writing about  their vocation and culture. Drawing upon decades of experience as a  writer, designer, artist and...

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world,” ukiyo-e was a particular woodblock print genre of art that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries...

While anchoring his practice in the traditions of antiquity and the Renaissance, Auguste Rodin paved the way for modern sculpture. From a very early stage, he was interested in movement, the expression of the body, chance effects, and the incomplete...

In 1941, Professor Richard Evan Schultes took a leave from Harvard and disappeared into the Amazon, where he spent the next twelve years mapping uncharted rivers and living among dozens of Indian tribes. In the 1970s, he sent two prize students, Tim...

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...

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...

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...