Book Reports

James Payne’s wildly popular YouTube channel of the same name has nearly 2 million followers. In every video he dissects a work of art or a movement in art history using clear language, making art accessible to the curious and providing new insights for the seasoned museum-goer. The book is no different: Payne brings straightforward analyses to thirty masterpieces, delving into not only the works themselves, but also the life and times of the artists behind them.

Artist and longtime critic of the Chinese government, Ai Weiwei has created a unique perspective on censorship through his life story and career trajectory. In his third book, he shares his thoughts on censorship not only in China but also across the world. “The essence of censorship is the control of thought—it is the exercise of power over intellectual space, involving the suppression and elimination of dissent,” Ai writes in the powerful opening essay. “It can be described as both an indispensable tool of mental enslavement and a fundamental source of political corruption.”

This is a riveting historical novel of the man who saved the art world, written by his stepdaughter, author Roberta Downs. Gerald Van der Kemp was an art scholar, a soldier, a French Resistance hero, and behind the restoration of the palace of Versailles and Claude Monet’s home and garden in Giverny, France. During his service in WWII he was able to save important artworks, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, from destruction by hiding them in his bedroom.

Aboriginal artist Kaylene Whiskey’s vibrant pop culture portraits, which once adorned New York City bus shelters, are presented in the artist’s first major monograph. In Whiskey’s magical, dot-rendered world, iconic women, real and fictional, are brought together: Wonder Woman, the Virgin Mary, Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Turner, and a lot of Dolly Parton. The book also features an in-depth interview with Whiskey, and includes contributions from such notable creatives as Taika Waititi, Jazz Money, Zoé Whitley, Clothilde Bullen, and April Phillips.

Skipping the usual chronological narrative of many art books, Slow Looking organizes artworks by land, water, and sky. This creates a meandering look at art inspired by our natural world. Large images paired with minimal text lets the reader make their own connections with the artworks, with nature, and with the artists. A particular stand-out is Charles-François Daubigny’s beautiful Apple Trees in Blossom (1874).

Aspiring creatives seeking advice and insights on being successful as an artist will find a wealth of inspiring perspectives from internationally acclaimed artists such as Anish Kapoor, Shirin Neshat, Tracey Emin, and Shahzia Sikander, who offer counsel on thriving in a highly competitive art world. Author Lydia Rachel Figes uses her expertise as a writer, editor, art historian, and curator of digital art at Contemporary Art Society to weave together a narrative that is hopeful and realistic, something more important than ever given the challenging climate for creatives across all fields.

If you ever find yourself in Madrid, a visit to the Museo Nacional del Prado is a must-see. Opened to the public for the first time in November 1819, the storied institution houses a collection of artworks ranging from the twelfth to the early twentieth centuries. This gorgeous book encapsulates the museum beautifully, showcasing greatest hits like Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas in this vast collection of European art.

Published in concert with the 2025 retrospective, Honor Song spans more than forty years of the work of multi-disciplinary artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds. A member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation, Heap of Birds has produced a body of work centered around Indigenous rights. The 2025 exhibition of the same name at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City drew national acclaim.

Across the globe, butterflies and other lepidoptera symbolize endless themes throughout cultures—transformation, resurrection, and renewal, to name a few. Throughout more than 250 entries, this survey examines the ways in which these winged insects add their own magic to art and life, from the vibrancy in literary classics such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Frida Kahlo’s use of butterflies in artworks like Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird to represent rebirth following her debilitating accident and tumultuous relationships.