Book Reports

Buddy Bradley didn’t just influence the way we move to music; he created the language of movement still being spoken today. The visionary tap and jazz choreographer is resurrected in this book, which advances the fight to recognize Bradley’s contributions to transatlantic culture by exploring how his electric moves revolutionized dance in the 1920s and 1930s.

Set in New York City in the 1990s, this coming-of-age novel follows a teenage protagonist, Henri, as she navigates family issues and works at a dance company during the AIDS crisis. André draws from her experience working for Paul Taylor Dance Company, which lost two of its nine male dancers to AIDS during her time at the company.

The museum reopened in 2025 after an extensive renovation, and this book chronicles the history of the 1914 residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. Newly commissioned photography offers a room-by-room tour that showcases each space’s evolution from a private residence to world-renowned museum.

Textile art has surged into the spotlight, shedding its long-standing association with domesticity and craft to take center stage in galleries, biennial, and critical discourse. Textiles x Art explores the vibrant resurgence of traditional techniques like weaving, embroidery, quilting, and dyeing across the globe and the way artists are pushing them into bold new territories.

A little jewel box of a book, this anthology of quotations unites Matisse’s thoughts and artworks to construct a unique view of the world, as seen through the eyes of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.

Public art has the capacity to resonate deeply, stimulate curiosity, and inspire the imagination in unexpected ways. The campus collection at the University of Texas at Austin is no exception. This updated handbook adds six recent acquisitions: works by Monika Bravo, Beth Campbell, Simone Leigh, Sarah Oppenheimer, Eamon Ore-Giron, and Jennifer Steinkamp. Each entry features color photography and an overview, and the guide includes a detailed foldout map.

A never-before-published archive of three hundred celebrity portraits from London’s storied Passport Photo Service, where Muhammad Ali, Angelina Jolie, Errol Flynn, and many more legends of pop culture sat for their travel document photographs. When the doors first opened in 1953, owner Dave Sharkey, a boxer turned photographer, offered a quicker turnaround than any other photography studio.

Not to judge a book by its cover, but Rainbow Dreams is a technicolor dream for the coffee table. From Takashi Murakami’s multicolored floral motifs and Yayoi Kusama’s vibrant polka dots to Ugo Rondinone’s neon sculptures and Paola Pivi’s playful feathered bear sculptures, the two hundred featured artworks in this book offer a dizzying tour of the color spectrum.

You won’t find any pictures in this pocket-size primer, but you will find practical guidance on how to navigate breaking into the art world. A follow-up to Navigating the Art World: Professional Practice for the Early Career Artist, this book tackles essential topics ranging from considering art school, taking care of your mental health, going full-time as an artist, finding inspiration, and more.

Artist Miriam Schapiro coined the term “femmage” in the 1970s to define her work, which combines needlework, quilting, paper, and painting into collage. By mixing mediums of what was considered “women’s work,” Schapiro brought these craft techniques to the forefront of fine art. Cut Out expands upon the intersection of feminism and collage, drawing on the vast archive of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.