A literary homage to Peggy Guggenheim that falls short
Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979), as readers of The Art Newspaper will know, is the Venice one and not the New York one, though shortly before her death she gifted her unfinished…
Books
This newly translated volume compiles the photographic traces of a libidinous love affair
At first glance, the photographs in Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie’s The Use of Photography do not seem particularly useful. They show what most people would keep from public view,…
New book views glacier paintings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham through the eyes of poets and glaciologists
The glacier paintings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004) are some of her best-known works. When the Scottish artist visited the Grindelwald Glacier in Switzerland in May 1949, she could not have…
Two books explore Piet Mondrian’s journey into abstraction—and his posthumous influence on 1960s fashion
While resident in London (he arrived in 1938 before the Nazi invasion of France), Piet Mondrian caught the eye of a brainy female Oxford University graduate. Henry Moore, his Belsize…
From sfumato to selfies—can art history explain the Instagram phenomenon?
When it comes to art and images, Instagram is not new. So says the new book Instagrammable by the art history professor Koenraad Jonckheere. The book weaves together examples of…
a collection of letters that the critic John Berger exchanged with his artist son
Édouard Manet, in constant pain during his last years, painted the same motif over and over again: cut flowers in a glass vase, a profusion of whites, reds, and pinks,…
five must-read books on the period
For some, the artists of the Venetian Renaissance achieved a level of painting never surpassed, with those working in the watery city during the 15th and 16th centuries able to…
from Nick Cave’s devilish works to an analysis of Rembrandt’s competition with his star pupil
Nick Cave—The Devil: A Life, Museum Voorlinden, 38pp, €59.95 (hb) The musician Nick Cave lets his imagination run wild in an exhibition at the Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar in the…
The arts should be recognised as a key part of what it means to be human, argues a new publication
As the UK waits to learn what its newly elected Labour government plans to do about the crisis and decline in the country’s arts, Justin O’Connor (professor of cultural economy…
How Korean feminist art developed alongside the country’s move to democracy is explored in new book
Among South Korea’s many lauded cultural exports, the resonating strength of its feminist art, as a beacon for other Asia art scenes, attracts insufficient credit from art-world commentators, whether within…