Culture & Society

An insightful overview of how Millet influenced and inspired many modernist artists that followed him Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) was one of the most important artists of the Barbizon School. Through his publicly exhibited works and their...

A revised edition of Whitney Chadwick’s seminal work on the women artists who shaped the Surrealist art movement. This pioneering book stands as the most comprehensive treatment of the lives, ideas, and art works of the remarkable group of women who were...

Bound in a gorgeous cloth cover, this is the first overview in 20 years on Wolfgang Paalen, international ambassador for surrealism, abstract expressionist precursor and creator of the “fumage” technique The extraordinary German Austrian Mexican painter,...

Based on the original 1863 edition, this presentation of Goya's 80 etchings decries the consequences of war through his bleak, gruesome and unflinching imagery Following his tenure as court painter for the Spanish royal family, Francisco de Goya's art...

Breton’s late treatise on magic and art appears for the first time in English, complete with citations, commentaries and a bibliography What is “Magic Art”? In 1953, André Breton, founder of the Surrealist movement, was invited by a prestigious French...

A lively history of the Surrealists, both known and unknown, by one of the last surviving members of the movement—artist and bestselling author Desmond Morris. Surrealism did not begin as an art movement but as a philosophical strategy, a way of life,...

An absorbing group biography revealing how exiles from war-torn France brought surrealism to America, sparking the movement that became abstract expressionism. In 1957 the American artist Robert Motherwell made an unexpected claim: "I have only known...

A concise compendium of the lives and work of the 101 most significant surrealists by one of the last surviving members of the movement, bestselling author and artist Desmond Morris, who knew several of the key participants personally. 2024 marks the...

 A new and innovative approach to the fascinating story of queer artists throughout art history. Part of the bestselling The Short Story series. The Short Story of Queer Art offers a fuller picture of the history of art - from the barriers broken...

A close look at the creative production of the United States Shaker communities and their influence on designers and artists past and present Established in the 18th century, the Shakers were a Christian community that embraced principles of social...

Walter Gropius outlines the guiding principles of Bauhaus living, from household utensils to textiles and ceramics The Bauhaus sought to unite life, craftsmanship and art under one coherent ethos and aesthetic. In New Works from Bauhaus Workshops—the...

The De Stijl protagonist’s elucidation of the basics of neoplasticism Painter, writer, architect, typographer, art theorist and leader of the De Stijl movement, Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931) was one of the great modernist polymaths, and in this volume of...

The Short Story of Women Artists tells the full history – from the breakthroughs that women have made in pushing for parity with male artists, to the important contributions made to otherwise male-dominated artistic movements, and the forgotten and...

The Short Story of Photography is a new and innovative introduction to the subject of photography. Simply constructed, the book explores 50 key photographs from the first experiments in the early 19th century to digital photography. The design of the...

In 1874, a group of artists held their first groundbreaking exhibition in Paris. With their vibrant, loose brushwork and focus on capturing fleeting moments of light and colour, the Impressionists revolutionised the art world. Critics initially had...

Told through the lives of three remarkable artists devoted to the pursuit of liberty, an illuminating new history of the ideals that fired the American Revolution. The war that we now call the American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with...

The story of the wildest experiments in early photography and the wild people who undertook them. Today it’s routine to take photos from an aeroplane window, use a camera under the sea or gaze at an X-ray. But the innovations more than a century...

From Game Boy to Gucci American advertising in the naughty 1990s From the Los Angeles riots to the Columbine High School massacre, Americans witnessed events and purchased items that reflected the best and worst of the decade. Bill Clinton’s presidency...

 A vibrant exploration of the world's newest language—where it came from, how it works and where it's going. We are surrounded by emoji. They appear in politics, movies, drug deals, our sex lives and more. But emoji’s impact has never been explored...

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...