Book Reports

Geared primarily for the curious elementary schooler, this is an interesting and inspiring primer on the groundbreaking artist Marina Abramovic. Not only the story of an artist who makes unconventional artworks—like tying her and her partner’s hair together for more than seventeen hours and scrubbing 1,500 cow bones for six hours a day while museum-goers watched—this is an exhilarating story for aspiring artists about achieving goals despite the odds.

This small book reveals the big world of the post-WWI art movement of surrealism. Paper engineer Gérard Lo Monaco makes eight classic artworks leap off the page. Hand-painted illustrations and snappy text provide important context to fantastical works like Salvador Dalí’s Lobster Telephone or André Breton’s “self-portrait,” The Wall, a collection of more than 200 objects that replicate the second room of the writer’s Paris apartment.

This book is part of the ongoing Pocket Perspectives series exploring classic works by writers and cultural luminaries that remain timeless and relevant in the present day. On the Body, by feminist and art historian Linda Nochlin—who was once described by The New York Times as the “inventor of feminist art history”—explores how, from the late eighteenth century, representations of the human body have shaped the way we look at women’s appearances in the modern world.

In modern society, mothers are often overlooked and underappreciated. In the art world, even more so. The reality is that many women artists are also mothers, and it’s a facet of their interior world that influences their art practice. From ancient artifacts to contemporary interpretations of pregnancy, Acts of Creation centers on the artist mother and her importance. Well-known artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Louise Bourgeois, and Carrie Mae Weems address parenting—and all the highs and lows that accompany it—as a source of creativity.

In this book Stokes, a well-known “hostess with the mostest,” sets an international table by using her artful eye and decorative objects from her many travels to evoke far-flung settings. Hand-painted pottery, stitched napkins, and fine silver bring the southern coast of Spain to the table, while rich greens, tropical flowers, and silverware with bamboo handles re-create a tropical evening in Bali. Rich in photography and detail, this book will inspire you to look at your dinner table differently.

This collection of quotations and works of art by British artist David Hockney ranges from art-making to nature to the internet—and more. Forever the Englishman, Hockney provides quotes that are pithy yet profound: “You can’t measure pleasure, can you?” and “I’ve always been a looker … that’s what artists do.” This is a delightful little book that would be a great gift for the Anglophile art-lover in your life.

What does “America” mean and for whom? Magnum America seeks the answer by using the vast archive of the Magnum Photos, the oldest photo agency in the world. Arranged by decade, beginning in 1940, the book’s chapters try to capture the historical events in our country’s history, and commentary and context appear throughout. Clocking in at nearly 500 pages, this enormous tome is an important documentation of American history.

A great resource for the art-history novice and the art-history enthusiast, Art Unpacked deconstructs fifty artworks from around the world and across centuries to explain, diagram, and closely examine the elements of each masterpiece. The mask of Tutankhamun, Dorothea Lange’s iconic photograph Migrant Mother, Kara Walker’s haunting paper wall installation Gone, and others are dissected for readers to better understand the artists’ inspiration, place in history, and contextual information in relation to the work.

Yoko Ono is an up-to-date monograph on the work of one of the most important and misunderstood artists of our time. The Japanese-born artist, musician, and peace activist has had a career which spans more than sixty years. Ono’s groundbreaking work is compiled in this book, including her early work with the Fluxus art movement and her recent installation art from 2021. A standout in the book is a conversation between Ono and avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson.

For more than fifty years, Palace Costume & Prop Co. has been an exclusive Los Angeles film-industry depot of gowns, garments, accessories, props, and jewelry which have been featured in countless movies and productions. Hollywood costume designers rely on Palace Costume to bring a vision to life. Photographer Mimi Haddon has documented the hidden gems within this 30,000-square-foot warehouse and compiled them in an inspirational look-book. As a bonus, Palace Costume also includes interviews by Haddon with a dozen Academy Award-winning costume designers, such as Sandy Powell and Shirley Kurata.