Ars longa, vita brevis. Art is eternal, but life is short. You want to be reading the best books on art? Browse through our expert recommendations to find the best books on art, architecture, design, illustration, and photography for your own library – or to give as a gift to an art lover. Five Books art interviews explore themes in the visual arts from ancient times to the present day with historians, curators, critics and practitioners. Our interviews range from engaging introductions — such as the Renaissance, Dutch Masters, Leonardo or Picasso – to specialist subjects – such as the Art Market, Drawing, or Figurative Painting Today. The Art pages at Five Books span everything from the canonical to the contemporary. Here you will find essential reference volumes in art history like the timeless Story of Art by E.H.Gobrich. But you can also consult cutting edge current references like the Whitechapel Gallery: Documents of Contemporary Art and musings from prominent curator Hans Ulrich Obrist on his essential reading list for understanding the art of the present. We have interviews with some of today's mega-galleries such as Hauser & Wirth and David Zwirner. And we also feature conversations with leading lights from storied institutions like the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Gallery in London. With Five Books, you can craft your own self-styled syllabus in art history. Browse the archive, or create your own lists of the best books in any art category close to your heart, to share with like-minded readers everywhere. Is there an arts subject that piques your interest that you don't see on the site? Let us know by getting in contact with the editorial team.
The best books on Drawing as Thought, recommended by Andrea Kantrowitz
Doodling is no mere pastime; drawing is a form of thinking. In fact, visuospatial reasoning underlies all thinking, as this selection of books about drawing from painter and scholar Andrea Kantrowitz shows us. Just pick up a pencil and draw!
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Great Women Painters
introduced by Alison M Gingeras -
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Point Break: Surfers and Waves
by Raymond Pettibon -
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Making Videogames: The Art of Creating Digital Worlds
by Alex Wiltshire & Duncan Harris -
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Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse
by Ruth Lang -
5
Judith Joy Ross: Photographs 1978–2015
edited by Joshua Chuang
The Best Art & Design Books of 2022, recommended by Romas Viesulas
The Best Art & Design Books of 2022, recommended by Romas Viesulas
Art shows were back in full force this year after several years of discontinuous viewing. Publishing kept pace, with many a new beautiful volume and rafts of revisionist art history to delve into. Here, Five Books art editor Romas Viesulas offers an overview of the best art and design books of 2022.
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The Sleeve Should Be Illegal: & Other Reflections on Art at the Frick
by Adam Gopnik, Ian Wardropper & Michaelyn Mitchell -
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The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women's Self Portraits
by Jennifer Higgie -
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Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing Without Depletion
by Space Caviar -
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What Artists Wear
by Charlie Porter -
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Masterworks of Modern Photography 1900–1940: The Thomas Walther Collection at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
by Sarah Hermanson Meister
The Best Art Books of 2021, recommended by Romas Viesulas
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 & architecture editor at Five Books, takes us through his personal choice of beautiful reference books to add visual and conceptual interest to any well-appointed bookshelf.
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The Art Museum: From Boullee to Bilbao
by Andrew McClellan -
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A View from the Pacific: Re-Envisioning the Art Museum
by Michael Govan -
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Anti-Museum
by Adrian Franklin -
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Closed on Mondays: Behind the Scenes at the Museum
by Dinah Casson -
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Living Museums: Conversations with Leading Museum Directors
by Donatien Grau
Best Books on the Art Museum, recommended by Charles Saumarez Smith
Best Books on the Art Museum, recommended by Charles Saumarez Smith
How has the architecture, vision, financing and public role of art museums around the world been transformed in the last century? And what does the history of art museums presage for their future as contested sites of cultural significance in the context of the pandemic’s challenge to public gathering places? Charles Saumarez Smith, one of the UK’s leading museum figures, brings us five books that reveal both the historic, civic humanist mission of the art museum, and its antithesis in the face of twenty first century challenges.
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Aby Warburg: Bilderatlas Mnemosyne
by Aby Warburg, edited by Roberto Ohrt and Axel Heil -
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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night
by Andrea Schlieker, Elizabeth Alexander, Isabella Maidment & Lynette Yiadom-Boakye -
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Walker Evans: Starting from Scratch
by Svetlana Alpers -
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Albers & Albers
by Nicholas Fox Weber -
5
Cairo Since 1900: An Architectural Guide
by Mohamed Elshahed
The Best Art Books of 2020, recommended by Romas Viesulas
The Best Art Books of 2020, recommended by Romas Viesulas
Which art, architecture and photography books have we added to our library in 2020? Romas Viesulas, art & architecture editor at Five Books, takes us through his personal choice of beautiful reference books and biographies to add visual and conceptual interest to any well-appointed bookshelf.
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Emil and the Detectives
by Eileen Hall (translator) & Erich Kästner -
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Private View: The Lively World of British Art
by Antony Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon), Bryan Robertson & John Russell -
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A Free House!: Or, The Artist as Craftsman
by Walter Richard Sickert -
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Memoirs of the Life of John Constable: Composed Chiefly of His Letters
by C.R. Leslie -
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Nollekens and his Times: Comprehending A Life Of That Celebrated Sculptor, And Memoirs Of Several Contemporary Artists
The best books on Lucian Freud, recommended by William Feaver
The best books on Lucian Freud, recommended by William Feaver
Though ferociously private, Lucian Freud spoke about 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-volume biography. He speaks with us about the best books for understanding the life and work of this renowned painter, and the very particular collaboration that led to this magisterial account of one of the finest painters of the last century.
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The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri -
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Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation
by E.H. Gombrich -
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Leonardo da Vinci: i documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee
by Edoardo Villata -
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The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci
by Jean Paul Richter -
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Leonardo da Vinci
by Kenneth Clark
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
Every generation has its own Leonardo, and for many he remains a man 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 non-mythical Leonardo. What might Leonardo be doing were he alive today, in our own digital age?
The Best Art History Books for Teenagers, recommended by John Harrison
Which are the best books to get a teenager excited about art history? We turned to veteran art history teacher John Harrison, formerly head of the art history department at Eton College, for his top five picks of the most illuminating and accessible books for getting a broad overview of the history of art.
The best books on John Ruskin, recommended by Michael Glover
As a believer in the humanising nature of proper work, the virtues of sustained attention and the value of aesthetics as the keystone to ideals for a truly prosperous society, John Ruskin’s abiding concerns are still 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 still be reading Ruskin closely in the twenty first century.
The best books on Contemporary Art, recommended by Hans Ulrich Obrist
The co-director of the Serpentine Gallery, Hans Ulrich Obrist, says that to be contemporary means to come back to a present where we have never been.
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Turner: Imagination and Reality
by Lawrence Gowing -
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The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers
by T J Clark -
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Literary Landscape: Turner and Constable
by Ronald Paulson -
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Night Studio: A Memoir of Philip Guston
by Musa Mayer -
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Neglected Genius: The Diaries of Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1808–1846
by Benjamin Robert Haydon
Andrew Graham-Dixon on His Favourite Art Books
Andrew Graham-Dixon on His Favourite Art Books
Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon takes us through his favourite art books, one of which is the best thing he has ever read about 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 be one of the nineteenth century’s greatest prose writers.
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Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy
by Michael Baxandall -
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Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare
by Stephen Greenblatt -
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Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance
by Lisa Jardine -
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The Printing Press as an Agent of Change
by Elizabeth L Eisenstein -
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The Reformation
by Diarmaid MacCulloch
The best books on The Renaissance, recommended by Jerry Brotton
The best books on The Renaissance, recommended by Jerry Brotton
A century-and-a-half ago the Swiss art historian, Jacob Burckhardt, popularized the idea of a ‘Renaissance’ in 14th century Italy. For most 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 best books on The Lives of Artists, recommended by Maria Loh
We live in an age obsessed with self-image. Technology has made the ‘selfie’ a ubiquitous form of social currency. Renaissance means may have been very different, but 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’s at stake when we call a building beautiful or denounce it as ugly? MIT professor Timothy Hyde, author of Ugliness and Judgment, explores five books about the social, political and economic dimensions behind debates that often masquerade as arguments about style, but which deal with matters at the very heart of civil society.
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 Old Master canvas. What does studio method – the making of masterpieces – tell us about artistic genius, then and now? Painter Jane Jelley considers the question using Johannes Vermeer as her starting point.
Kayla Rae Whitaker on Stories about Women Artists
Kayla Rae Whitaker composes an ode to ‘women who make things’, from wooden dolls to indie music, and post-modern triptychs to the best candy bar you’ll ever taste. These are tales about what happens when the muse becomes the artist
The best books on John Berger, recommended by Tom Overton
The biographer and editor of John Berger reveals how Berger’s self-characterisation as a storyteller is visible across the numerous genres he writes in.
Rachel Cohen on Writing About Art
Good writing about visual experience allows us to see things we otherwise wouldn’t, says Rachel Cohen. The author picks some of her own favourite books about art.
The best books on Typefaces, recommended by Simon Garfield
It used to be said that you could be parachuted into any country and know where you were from the typeface used on its road signs. The author of Just My Type tells us about the variety and meaning of different fonts.
The best books on Pop Art, recommended by Hal Foster
What is pop art? Why did it catch on, and what does it mean? And what about Warhol – was his work as superficial as he liked to say it was? The art professor answers all this and more
The best books on Inspiration for Writing and Art, recommended by Edmund de Waal
The author of The Hare with Amber Eyes, who is also a ceramic artist, tells us about books that have influenced both his careers, from the life of a celebrated potter to a collection of Japanese haiku
The best books on Picture Stories, recommended by Ben Katchor
Pictures operate in space, words in time, and the best stories are told with both, says the acclaimed American author and cartoonist, Ben Katchor. He tells us how visual narratives are making a deserved comeback.
The best books on Photography and Reality, recommended by Errol Morris
‘People learn how to read critically and think critically, but I don’t believe we learn how to see critically.’
The best books on Garden Photography, recommended by Andrew Lawson
One of the world’s leading garden photographers talks us through the many different styles employed in his field
The best books on The Philosophical Stakes of Art, recommended by Michael Fried
The distinguished art critic and art historian Michael Fried talks about the importance of philosophy to his work. He recommends the best books on the ‘philosophical stakes of art.’
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The Four Books on Architecture (I quattro libri dell'architettura)
by Andrea Palladio -
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Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism
by Rudolf Wittkower -
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Architect and Engineer
by Andrew Saint -
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Modern Architecture Since 1900
by William Curtis -
5
Life in the English Country House
by Mark Girouard
The best books on Architectural History, recommended by Dan Cruickshank
The best books on Architectural History, recommended by Dan Cruickshank
Art historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank explains the beauty of Palladian proportions, takes us on a tour of some key English country houses and describes the poetry of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles. He recommends the best books on ‘architectural history’
The best books on British Buildings, recommended by Harry Mount
Bestselling author Harry Mount thinks that the British sell themselves short when they fail to appreciate their architecture. He also expresses his thanks that Christopher Wren didn’t redesign London on a Parisian/New York grid system following the 1666 fire.
The best books on Art and Culture in Elizabethan England, recommended by Mark Girouard
Leading architectural historian, chooses books on art and culture in the Elizabethan era. From CS Lewis on literature, to the fantastic embroideries at Hardwick Hall, to baked rabbit and more.
The best books on Israel and Palestine in Art, recommended by Alon Hilu
Award-winning novelist and playwright positions himself among a new breed of Israeli historians: “I think I am part of a new trend in Israel to be critical of the way we tell our history”
The best books on The Context of Architecture, recommended by Jeremy Till
Architecture depends at the building stage on money and politics, and later on users, time and weather. Jeremy Till picks five books to allow you behind the scenes of the building sites.
The best books on Pop Modern, recommended by Stephen Bayley
The British design guru on which book to buy if you want to know how to design a racing car in the 1960s style, American pop culture, modern architecture, and how “Liverpool in the 1960s was like Florence in the 1440s”
The best books on Interior Design, recommended by Guy Oliver
Managing Director of design and decoration company says British interiors in 1615 were bright and colourful. Plus a bit of trivia: “lamp black” got its name because burning porcelain over a lamp produced the colour
Bronwyn Law-Viljoen on Extraordinary Art Books
The arts books publisher chooses a book about Rembrandt’s representation of his own nose, and tells the bigger story is about the way in which Rembrandt renders sense of flesh in his prints and his oil paintings