Best Books of 2023: The Latest Art Books You Can’t Miss

From Beeple to Vermeer, from Yves Saint Laurent to Van Gogh, a selection of the most fascinating works of art this year

1

Yves Saint Laurent Museum MarrakechStudio KO

Published by Phaidon, now available

This elegant new work in the form of a diary, written by the founders of Studio KO. The architecture studio responsible for the design of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech, with operations mainly in France and Morocco. It took them 1,423 days to design and build the legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent museum, and this book chronicles the project from inception to its unveiling.

This book is dedicated to Pierre Bergé, the partner of Yves Saint Laurent, and aims to pay tribute to the creative cooperation between Bergé and Studio KO. The book records in detail that Bergé first invited Studio KO to participate in the project until 2017 The opening of the museum a month after his death.The book includes sketches, plans and archive photos, as well as anecdotes shared by friends of Saint Laurent, including Betty Catroux and Catherine Deneuve.

2

Richard Misrach: Notations by Darius Sims

Published by Radius Books on March 1, 2022

Richard Misrach was instrumental in the revival of large-scale color photography in the 1970s and is regarded as one of the most influential photographers of our time. Known for his captivating images of the American landscape, his work examines humanity’s relationship with nature. Since 2006, Misraki has fully switched to digital cameras to explore the aesthetic possibilities of negative images.

Written by Darius Himes, International Head of Photography at Christie’s, this large volume of landscapes features 92 of Misraki’s latest photographs, including landscapes and seascapes presented in an inverse color spectrum.

Mislaki draws inspiration from the work of photographer Ansel Adams, who likened a photographic negative to a musical

score that can be interpreted in countless ways, and avant-garde composer John Cage, who In his Notations, published in 1969, he compiled multiple scores into two-dimensional artwork.

This book records familiar content in a novel way, the content is wonderful and moving, and it is worth reading carefully.

3

Nicolas Party by Stefan Akan, Stefan Benz, Ali Suboteny and Melissa Hyde

Published by Phaidon on February 3, 2022

Swiss painter Nicolas Party (Nicolas Party) is one of the young stars of the contemporary art scene. His painting “Landscape” was sold at Christie’s in November 2021 for $3,270,000, breaking the artist’s auction record. Now, the 41-year-old artist’s first major monograph is out, describing his early emergence as a graffiti artist and his successful adoption of soft pastels in 2013. Soft pastels are not popular in the 21st century, but Patti has made a name for herself with the masterful skill with which she works with the medium.

 

In these richly coloured, dreamlike landscapes, portraits and still lifes, he captures the essence of his subjects in playful ways, emphasizing their physical and emotional resonance. Containing more than 200 illustrations, the book is co-authored by Stéphane Aquin, director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which will also host a major exhibition of Patty’s work. In addition, Akan will also analyze why Patty will continue to flourish in the next few years.

4

El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture by Okui Enwezor and Chika Ok Aguru

Published by Damiani on April 19, 2022

El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture, featuring essays by leading historians Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, explores Ghana’s most important The sense of story and original romanticism pursued by artist El Anatsui. Through sculptures, installations and paintings, Anerzuo contemplates Africa’s legacy of colonialism and ongoing environmental crisis.

After immigrating to Nigeria in the 1970s, Anerzuo joined the influential Nsukka group, which worked to fuse indigenous art with modern art. He is good at using recycled materials in innovative ways, from driftwood to old milk jugs, and more recently bottle caps to create wall sculptures, the shiny appearance seems to show infinite movement. “El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture” just reviews the story of this important figure in African contemporary art.

5

I Am Sparkling: N.V. Parekh and His Portrait Studio Clients, Mombasa, Kenya 1940-1980 by Isolde Burmeyer

Published by Damiani on April 19, 2022

This is the first book to introduce the legendary Indian photographer N.V. Parekh, revealing his bold approach to studio portrait photography, reviewing his clients with various backgrounds, and the unique era, region and cultural environment that created him. Parekh opened his studio in Mombasa in 1942, attracting people of all ages from East Africa and around the world, who came from different backgrounds but also wanted to express themselves in innovative ways.

The volume, by Isolde Brielmaier, includes a rare collection of Pareque photographs bought by the Italian poet and artist Sarenco in 2001. The book also includes detailed interviews with clients, mostly women. In addition, the work invites artist Wangechi Mutu to write the preface, and Burmeyer also carefully analyzes Parekh’s creative background, which will definitely attract readers to learn more about this little-known important photographer. Biography and photography.

6

The Real and the Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars by Frances Spalding

Published by Thames & Hudson on June 14, 2022

Veteran biographer Frances Spalding has written insightfully about early modern British artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry arrived, and now turns the focus to the interwar period. The Real and the Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars Spotlights British Artists Including Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash, Eileen Agar and Winifred Nicholson, both of whom were inspired by the avant-garde and innovative ideas of the wave of modern art on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Through exhibitions, letters, and interviews, Spalding reveals the abstraction and surrealist passions created by these radical painters, and the transition from international modern art to the idyllic British Romanticism of many of their artistic peers during the rise of Fascism in the late 1930s , the optimism of these artists has gradually faded.

7

Culture as Scandal: The Hermitage Story, by Geraldine Norman and Mikhail Piotrovsky

Published May 2, 2022 by Lund Humphries

The book was co-authored with a British journalist by Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of Russia’s Hermitage Museum, a national museum that saw two revolutions, two world wars and communism The rise and fall of communism, this work rarely discloses major scandals in the history of museums.

Highlights include rumors that the Communist Party’s first secretary, Grigory Romanov, used and even destroyed an exquisite eighteenth-century china tableware set at his daughter’s wedding, and the Venetian casino in Las Vegas A branch of the Hermitage Museum, which was opened briefly in the city, has been criticized by the world. However, the most shocking scandal of all was the theft of 226 gold and silver objects from the museum vaults. It was not until 2005 that the curator in charge of the collection died suddenly and mysteriously in the office, and the museum discovered that the collection had been stolen.

 

 

 

8

Beeple: Every Day, First 5000 Days by Mike Winkelman
Published by Abrams Cernunnos on May 17, 2022

Last March, the art world witnessed a groundbreaking moment when a work of art by otherwise little-known graphic designer Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold for more than $69 million, the third-highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist , surpassing the records of Damien Hirst, Jasper Johns and Gerhard Richter.

What’s more special is that this work does not exist in physical form, but is auctioned by Christie’s in the form of non-homogeneous tokens (NFT). “Every Day: The First 5,000 Days” is composed of 5,000 digital images created by Beeple and shared online over a decade, depicting a dystopian future world. The work will be published for the first time in its entirety as a monograph in May 2022, and the book also includes an interview with Winkelmann, in which he reflects on his sudden fame and how the auction of his work sparked the NFT craze.

9

Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500-1800 by Ilona Katzer

DelMonico Books/Los Angeles County Museum of Art Published June 14, 2022

At the end of the fifteenth century, under the leadership of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish conquistadors began to rapidly colonize the Americas. They were tasked with three tasks, namely honoring the royal family, preaching and plundering gold. Spain ruled the colonial area for more than 300 years.

This new reference book, published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, examines the vast movement of goods and people that brought the Americas into the vast trade network of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the rich and complex artistic traditions that emerged in the Americas at the time.

The book introduces nearly a hundred items of Western American art collected in museums, including textiles, paintings and decorative arts. The book will also be published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art this summer.

10

Vermeer and the Art of Love by Anetta Djordgievska-Sinn

Published by Lund Humphries on June 1, 2022

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will host the largest ever Vermeer exhibition in 2023. Now, those looking for a sneak peek can peruse a new book by Aneta Georgievska-Shine of the University of Maryland, which provides an insight into one of the most important works of the Dutch artist Vermeer. Theme: love.

The author believes that “love” is not limited to the ambiguous emotions implied in paintings such as “Music Lesson” (the man in the painting listens intently to a young lady’s performance), but also includes love in a broader sense, which is close to spirituality.Vermeer’s work is occasionally seen as otherworldly, as it adorns gloomy Protestant buildings with brilliant northern lights. Georgievska-Sinn believes this is an apt representation of the artist’s love for the painting.

11

Van Gogh in America edited by Jill Shaw

Published by Yale University Press on September 13, 2022

Vincent van Gogh never left Europe, so the title of this book is not a reference to his transatlantic travels, but rather an exploration of early perceptions of his work in the American market. Americans knew nothing of van Gogh at the time of his death, and it was not until 1913, more than 20 years later, that his work was exhibited publicly for the first time at the Armory Show in New York City.

Over time, the reputation of the Dutch artist has grown with more and more artists, art dealers, collectors and curators, and another important factor is Irving Stone’s 1934 The best-selling novel Vincent van Gogh, written in 2009, was later adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Kirk Douglas.

The Detroit Institute of Arts became the first American public museum to purchase a Van Gogh painting when it acquired Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (1887) in 1922, and the book “Van Gogh in America” will mark the 100th anniversary of this feat. international publishing. To coincide with the publication of this book, the Detroit Museum of Art will hold a related exhibition in October.

12

Women Painting Women by Andrea Kearns

Delmonico Books/Modern Museum of Fort Worth Published May 10, 2022

A study of the way more than 50 female artists have portrayed women over the past 60-plus years, Women Painting Women is a masterpiece that cannot be ignored. Although the artists featured in the book come from all over the world, they all have a lot in common – all inspired by feminism and body politics.

Set in the 1960s, this book tells how pioneering African-American artists Faith Ringgold and the late Emma Amos responded to white male patriarchy , creating portraits on issues of race and gender. The book also tells the story of painter Joan Semmel, who in the 1970s turned away from abstraction for a figurative approach that challenged the way the porn industry depicted women.

More recent artists include the emerging French painter Apolonia Sokol, a vocal artist who used portraiture to respond to social marginalization.

The book is jointly published by Delmonico Books and the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, which will hold an exhibition of the same name in May this year.