The best books on Understanding the Nude, recommended past Annebella Pollen

Nudity is not the same as the nude. Nor is nudity the same every bit nudism, but they tend to overlap quite a lot in people's minds. Annebella Pollen, an potency on the many varied forms of British nudism in the twentieth century shares fundamental influences on her own research to help the states unpack (or undress?) the idea of nudity in western civilization, showing the many ways in which nakedness can be a grade of wearing apparel.

The Best Art Books of 2021, recommended by Romas Viesulas

Which art, architecture, design and photography books have we added to our library in 2021? Romas Viesulas, art & compages editor at V Books, takes united states through his personal selection of cute reference books to add visual and conceptual involvement to any well-appointed bookshelf.

The Best Books for Graphic Designers, recommended by Linda Secondari

What does it take to exist a good graphic designer in our media-saturated historic period? Linda Secondari, fellow member of the Executive Board of the Graphic Artists Order, gives u.s.a. a glimpse of her reference library, five must-take volumes for every design aspirant and those whose work relies on constructive visual communication. That she is a book designer by trade is, of class, grist to our manufacturing plant here at 5 Books.

Best Books on the Art Museum, recommended by Charles Saumarez Smith

How has the architecture, vision, financing and public part of art museums around the world been transformed in the final century? And what does the history of fine art museums presage for their time to come as contested sites of cultural significance in the context of the pandemic's challenge to public gathering places? Charles Saumarez Smith, ane of the UK's leading museum figures, brings united states five books that reveal both the historic, civic humanist mission of the art museum, and its antithesis in the face up of twenty commencement century challenges.

The best books on Goya and the art of biography, recommended by Janis Tomlinson

The fine art of Francisco de Goya reflects the social and political chaos of Spain in his day, leaving later generations to read into his prolific work—past turns formal and bizarre, official and fantastic—many oft contradictory interpretations. Art historian Janis Tomlinson recommends books that disentangle Goya from the retroactive projections of later admirers and situates him in his own fourth dimension. We besides consider what makes for a compelling biography.

The best books on The Craft Movement, recommended by Julia Griffin

Originating in 19th-century Britain, the Craft movement was an international phenomenon extending across many media to Europe, America and Japan. Julia Griffin, who has examined its impact in Poland, tells the states how it advanced notions of national identity and provided roots to modernism by establishing a sensitivity to materials, designs, and forms, a sensibility that is still with us today.

The Best Art Books of 2020, recommended by Romas Viesulas

Which fine art, compages and photography books accept we added to our library in 2020? Romas Viesulas, art & architecture editor at Five Books, takes us through his personal option of beautiful reference books and biographies to add visual and conceptual interest to whatsoever well-appointed bookshelf.

The best books on Figurative Painting Today, recommended by Julien Delagrange

Collectors and curators have been clamouring for figurative art in recent years, every bit a generation of painters take a more traditional, representational approach to addressing major cultural themes in their work. But is figurative painting today merely a reactionary impulse, a kind of nostalgia for art that preceded modernism, postmodernism and the fragmentation in art-making that was ushered in by conceptual art? There is much more to information technology than that, argues painter and art historian Julien Delagrange.

The best books on Lucian Freud, recommended by William Feaver

Though ferociously individual, Lucian Freud spoke nearly painting, the art world and his life and loves to his confidante and frequent collaborator, William Feaver, on the phone most weeks for many years. Feaver's transcript forms the core of his definitive two-book biography. He speaks with us about the all-time books for understanding the life and work of this renowned painter, and the very particular collaboration that led to this magisterial account of 1 of the finest painters of the final century.

The Best Books by Artists, recommended by Michaela Unterdörfer

Why should we read what visual artists have written? Michaela Unterdörfer, caput of publishing for the fine art gallery Hauser & Wirth, argues that the visual and creative language of artists makes archival material more immediate and compelling. Artists' testimonies refer not only to concrete archives simply above all to the mental athenaeum of artists, their cultural and historic inheritance, which books like these bring to life.

The all-time books on Minimalism, recommended past Kyle Chayka

In times of political or personal turmoil, there'due south a trend to seek solace in stripping back life to its bare essentials. Minimalist thought is threaded through Stoicism and Zen Buddhism; absence and infinite became major preoccupations of 1960s US fine art. Kyle Chayka, the art critic and author of The Longing for Less, recommends five books on the philosophy that underpins the nowadays fad for minimalist self-help.

The best books on Andy Warhol, recommended by Blake Gopnik

Andy Warhol'due south ubiquitous soup cans – and his willingness to play the naïf – eclipse the leading Pop Art figure'south depth, every bit Blake Gopnik reveals in his magisterial new biography. Here, Gopnik discusses five cardinal books that offering crucial insight into Warhol the man.

The all-time books on Northern Renaissance, recommended by Christopher South. Wood

The Renaissance had quite singled-out manifestations in Northern Europe and Italy: if the Southern Renaissance was all most affluence and positivity, the dominant theme of the Northern Renaissance was negativity, says New York University Professor Christopher S. Wood. He recommends what to read to larn more near the Northern Renaissance, from Bosch'southward fantasy bestiary of the demonic and the grotesque, to Bruegel's comic and desperately proportioned peasants.

The best books on Drawing and Painting, recommended past Juliette Aristides

Geniuses may only be born once a century or so, but peachy art gets made all the fourth dimension. Some of it follows atelier methods inspired by an apprenticeship model that has been handed down through the centuries. Juliette Aristides, an artist at the forefront of the atelier revival motility, discusses five books that are 'core curriculum' for anyone who wants to learn how to paint and draw, and thereby explore the virtues of sustained attention and close ascertainment that come with making representational fine art.

The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp

Every generation has its ain Leonardo, and for many he remains a homo of mystery. Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor in Art History at Oxford and the author of the recently published Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting, helps us identify the not-mythical Leonardo. What might Leonardo be doing were he alive today, in our own digital age?

The best books on Rembrandt, recommended past Onno Blom

Though he left more self-portraits to posterity than practically any Old Main, at that place remains an air of mystery effectually Rembrandt the man—even on the 350th ceremony of his decease. Piecing together the very few personal letters and documents left behind, Onno Blom has now reconstructed Rembrandt'southward determinative years in Young Rembrandt. Here he guides us through 5 of the near authoritative—and imaginative—accounts of the creative person.

The Best Art History Books for Teenagers, recommended past John Harrison

Which are the all-time books to get a teenager excited about art history? We turned to veteran art history instructor John Harrison, formerly head of the art history section at Eton College, for his top 5 picks of the near illuminating and accessible books for getting a broad overview of the history of fine art.

The best books on John Ruskin, recommended by Michael Glover

Equally a believer in the humanising nature of proper work, the virtues of sustained attending and the value of aesthetics every bit the keystone to ideals for a truly prosperous society, John Ruskin's abiding concerns are yet very much with us today. On the bicentenary of this eminent Victorian's birth, Michael Glover, author of the idiosyncratic Ruskin Dictionary, explains why we should withal be reading Ruskin closely in the twenty first century.

The all-time books on Bohemian Living, recommended by Darren Coffield

The bohemian world of London and Paris in the 20th century was a fabled state, where people could go to get lost, reinvent themselves and alive life as they wanted. Poverty, alcoholism and misery were often the frequent travelling companions on this journeying just, Darren Coffield argues, these marginalised areas of society allowed for a freedom that is about unimaginable in our own world. He picks the best books on bohemian living.

    The best books on Futurity Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson

  • The best books on Future Cities - City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn by William J. Mitchell

    1

    City of Bits: Infinite, Identify and the Infobahn
    by William J. Mitchell

  • The best books on Future Cities - The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture: City, Technology and Society in the Information Age by Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José Morales, Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart & Willy Müller

    two

    The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture: City, Technology and Society in the Data Age
    past Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José Morales, Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart & Willy Müller

  • three

    Cities In Civilization
    by Peter Hall

  • The best books on Future Cities - The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers and the Future of Urban Life by Carlo Ratti & Matthew Claudel

    iv

    The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers and the Future of Urban Life
    by Carlo Ratti & Matthew Claudel

  • The best books on Future Cities - Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design and the Nature of Cities by Nicholas de Monchaux

    5

    Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design and the Nature of Cities
    by Nicholas de Monchaux

The best books on Future Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson

Nosotros are a urban center-dwelling species. Our urban existence creates both opportunities and challenges, as the recent pandemic has illustrated. Ane thing seems clear, however. Understanding the way we interact with our built environment is becoming an increasingly data-driven enterprise, as Davina Jackson argues compellingly in her book, Information Cities. Hither, she shares the five books that best explain the applied science backside the urban planning of the futurity.

Books on Social Housing in the Britain, recommended past Marking Swenarton

How did the UK end up in a housing crisis? More than a century on from the 1919 Housing Act, a expect back at the history of social housing with architectural historian Mark Swenarton provides some clues, and insights into the ennobling effect of architecture on peoples' everyday lives.

The best books on The Dutch Masters, recommended by Adam Eaker

The by may be a foreign land, just the globe portrayed in the fine art of the Dutch Masters is not so very far from our ain, says Adam Eaker of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art in New York. For a society that struggles with materialism and consumption, there are a lot of lessons to exist learnt from the 17th century Golden Age.

Andrew Graham-Dixon on His Favourite Art Books

Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon takes u.s.a. through his favourite art books, i of which is the best thing he has e'er read almost art. He contends that Monet is a follower of Turner, reflects on how the purpose of history of art has changed, and introduces us to the diaries of an "astonishingly bad" painter which reveal him to exist one of the nineteenth century's greatest prose writers.

The best books on The Renaissance, recommended past Jerry Brotton

A century-and-a-one-half ago the Swiss art historian, Jacob Burckhardt, popularized the idea of a 'Renaissance' in 14th century Italia. For almost people, the term still conjures up works of art by the likes of Michelangelo or Leonardo. But there is much, much more to it than that. Professor of Renaissance studies, Jerry Brotton, picks the best books to read for a more complete understanding of the Renaissance.

The all-time books on The Lives of Artists, recommended by Maria Loh

We live in an age obsessed with self-image. Engineering has fabricated the 'selfie' a ubiquitous course of social currency. Renaissance means may accept been very dissimilar, simply celebrity artists in Medici Florence dealt with many of the issues relating to identity and authorship that we grapple with today. Maria Loh, author of Still Lives: Death, Desire, and the Portrait of the Old Master, talks to Five Books about the curated self.

The best books on Architecture and Aesthetics, recommended by Timothy Hyde

What'southward at stake when we call a building cute or denounce it as ugly? MIT professor Timothy Hyde, author of Ugliness and Judgment, explores 5 books about the social, political and economic dimensions backside debates that often masquerade equally arguments near style, simply which deal with matters at the very centre of civil gild.

The best books on Vermeer and Studio Method, recommended by Jane Jelley

Painting is not what it used to be. With materials and photography close to hand, it's easy to forget the sheer labour involved in producing an One-time Chief canvas. What does studio method – the making of masterpieces – tell usa virtually artistic genius, then and now? Painter Jane Jelley considers the question using Johannes Vermeer as her starting point.

Kayla Rae Whitaker on Stories nigh Women Artists

Kayla Rae Whitaker composes an ode to 'women who brand things', from wooden dolls to indie music, and post-modernistic triptychs to the all-time candy bar you'll ever taste. These are tales about what happens when the muse becomes the creative person

Rachel Cohen on Writing Virtually Art

Good writing near visual experience allows u.s.a. to run across things nosotros otherwise wouldn't, says Rachel Cohen. The author picks some of her ain favourite books about fine art.

The all-time books on British Buildings, recommended by Harry Mount

Bestselling author Harry Mountain thinks that the British sell themselves brusk when they fail to appreciate their architecture. He as well expresses his thank you that Christopher Wren didn't redesign London on a Parisian/New York grid organization following the 1666 fire.