Novels

A collection of quotes from Vincent van Gogh on art, love, nature, color, ambition, friendship, future, sorrow, and consolation. "I believe that at present we must paint nature's rich and magnificent aspects; we need good cheer and happiness, hope and...

An original and revealing portrait of the misunderstood French Post-Impressionist artist. Paul Gauguin’s legend as a transgressive genius arises as much from his biography as his aesthetically daring Polynesian paintings. Gauguin is chiefly known...

 The riveting hidden history of Claire McCardell, the most influential fashion designer you’ve never heard of. Claire McCardell forever changed fashion—and most importantly, the lives of women. She shattered cultural norms around women’s clothes,...

Leading specialist on Van Gogh Martin Bailey explains how and why Van Gogh created the iconic Sunflowers paintings. This is the story of one of the world’ s most iconic images. Martin Bailey explains why Van Gogh painted a series of sunflower still lifes...

A selection from the memoir of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, the renowned eighteenth-century French portraitist and one of the most important women painters in art history In her memoir, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun offers a candid and thoroughly...

This seminal 1929 surrealist novel by the painter Giorgio de Chirico merges the realms of dream and reality. In the artist’s only novel, de Chirico invites the reader into a world where language, time, space, and meaning are fluid, highlighting...

Written to inspire courage in those daunted by wartimes shortages, How to Cook a Wolf continues to rally cooks during times of plenty, reminding them that providing sustenance requires more than putting food on the table. M. F. K. Fisher knew that the...

First published in 1956, What Shall I Wear? is revolutionary, award-winning designer Claire McCardell’s collection of fashion wisdom and philosophy, and a vivacious guide to looking effortlessly stylish. This new edition of the sought-after classic...

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived...

Jackson Pollock, the towering American artist who was to revolutionize twentieth-century art with his “dripping” painting technique, grew up between the late 1920s and the late 1940s, the youngest of five boys born in the American West. Though often...

No German painter evokes such strong emotions as Caspar David Friedrich: his evening skies remain icons of longing, his mountain vistas testaments to the grandeur of nature.  He inspired Samuel Beckett to write Waiting for Godot and Walt...

Drawing on thousands of never-before-translated letters and unpublished sources, this biography reveals dramatic new information about the life and work of one of the late nineteenth century’s most important painters. Despite being mocked at the...

A magnificently illustrated oversized book that uses art to illuminate the lives of medieval women, from peasants to queens Medieval women ruled over kingdoms, abbeys, and households; produced stunning works of art and craft; and did the hard work that...

For as long as there’s been paint, there have been women painters – these are the painters you may not have heard of who have shaped the way we see. From artists at the forefront of the Dutch Golden Age to avant-garde radicals in Soviet Russia and...

 Explore the dynamic world of 1960s pop art through Lucy Lippard's insightful analysis of this groundbreaking international art movement. Surprising, questioning, challenging, enriching: the Pocket Perspectives series presents timeless works by...

 What is the purpose of art in a world on fire? Can it be a genuine form of political resistance? What is the purpose of art in a world on fire? In this exhilarating and deeply inspiring work, Amber Massie-Blomfield considers the work of artists,...

 A fascinating introduction to the world of Korean myth and legend. The myths of Korea may seem a complex and intriguing mix of ghosts, spirits, and superstition, but they form the bedrock of one of the most vibrant global cultures today. In the...

The Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic’s gripping account of the “Terrible Year” in Paris and its monumental impact on the rise of Impressionism From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and...

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...

The story of art as it’s never been told before, from the Renaissance to the present day, with more than 300 works of art. How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what...