Looking for books about art history? Browse through our expert recommendations to find the best books on art history to give as a gift to an art lover—or for your own library. 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 to specialist subjects — such as the Dutch Masters, the art history for teens, Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance, reinterpreting medieval art— to in-depth explorations of more personal themes and inspirations. Our most recommended art history books are Ways of Seeing and The lives of Artists. Our archive covers a vast array of subjects, extending well beyond the best-seller lists. In contrast to other online reviews, Five Books content is timeless and our contributors authoritative – these truly are the best books on everything.
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On the Sublime
by Longinus -
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A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful
by Edmund Burke -
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Critique of the Power of Judgement
by Immanuel Kant -
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The World as Will and Representation
by Arthur Schopenhauer -
5
The Sublime: A Study of Critical Theories in XVIII-Century England
by Samuel Monk
The best books on The Sublime, recommended by Robert Clewis
The best books on The Sublime, recommended by Robert Clewis
Whenever we go in search of rugged landscapes, thundering waterfalls or awesome vistas, we are in search of ‘the sublime’—an aesthetic quality that has been the subject of significant philosophical, artistic and psychological study. Here, philosopher Robert Clewis talks us through the landmark studies of the sublime, and makes some recommendations for those seeking introductory books on the subject.
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This is Tomorrow: Twentieth-century Britain and its Artists
by Michael Bird -
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Ninth Street Women: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art
by Mary Gabriel -
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A History of Art History
by Christopher S. Wood -
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Women, Art, and Society
by Whitney Chadwick -
5
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now
by Alex Farquharson & David A. Bailey
The best books on Art History, recommended by Charlotte Mullins
The best books on Art History, recommended by Charlotte Mullins
The critic Charlotte Mullins, author of A Little History of Art, recommends five books that have altered her understanding of art history. Too often, she argues, we have forgotten that our concept of the past is deeply influenced by the views of those who wrote about it first; these readable, well-researched books offer readers a fresh perspective.
The best books on Understanding the Nude, recommended by Annebella Pollen
Nudity is not the same as the nude. Nor is nudity the same as nudism, but they tend to overlap quite a lot in people’s minds. Annebella Pollen, an authority on the many varied forms of British nudism in the twentieth century shares key influences on her own research to help us unpack (or undress?) the idea of nudity in western culture, showing the many ways in which nakedness can be a form of dress.
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The Routledge Companion to William Morris
by Florence Boos -
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William Morris
by Linda Parry -
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International Arts and Crafts
by Karen Livingstone & Linda Parry -
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Views of Albion: The Reception of British Art and Design in Central Europe, 1890 –1918
by Andrzej Szczerski -
5
National Style and the Nation-State: Design in Poland from the Vernacular Revival to the International Style
by David Crowley
The best books on The Arts and Crafts Movement, recommended by Julia Griffin
The best books on The Arts and Crafts Movement, recommended by Julia Griffin
Originating in 19th-century Britain, the Arts and Crafts movement was an international phenomenon extending across many media to Europe, America and Japan. Julia Griffin, who has examined its impact in Poland, tells us 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.
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Bohemian Paris: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, and the Birth of Modern Art
by Dan Franck -
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Laughing Torso
by Nina Hamnett -
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David Tennant and the Gargoyle Years
by Michael Luke -
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The Surrender of Silence: A Memoir of Ironfoot Jack, King of the Bohemians
by Jack Rudolph Neave -
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Francis Bacon’s Gilded Gutter Life
by Daniel Farson
The best books on Bohemian Living, recommended by Darren Coffield
The best books on Bohemian Living, recommended by Darren Coffield
The bohemian world of London and Paris in the 20th century was a fabled land, where people could go to get lost, reinvent themselves and live life as they wanted. Poverty, alcoholism and misery were often the frequent travelling companions on this journey but, Darren Coffield argues, these marginalised areas of society allowed for a freedom that is almost unimaginable in our own world. He picks the best books on bohemian living.
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The Artist and His Critic Stripped Bare: Correspondence
by Marcel Duchamp & Robert Lebel -
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Worte Nicht in Giftige Buchstaben Einwickeln
by Lisa Wenger & Meret Oppenheim -
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Diaries
by Eva Hesse -
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Robert Voit: The Alphabet of New Plants
by Robert Voit -
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Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian
by Hans Ulrich Obrist
The Best Books by Artists, recommended by Michaela Unterdörfer
The Best Books by Artists, recommended by Michaela Unterdörfer
Why should we read what visual artists have written? Michaela Unterdörfer, head of publishing for the art gallery Hauser & Wirth, argues that the visual and artistic language of artists makes archival material more immediate and compelling. Artists’ testimonies refer not only to physical archives but above all to the mental archives of artists, their cultural and historic inheritance, which books like these bring to life.
The best books on Andy Warhol, recommended by Blake Gopnik
Andy Warhol’s ubiquitous soup cans – and his willingness to play the naïf – eclipse the leading Pop Art figure’s depth, as Blake Gopnik reveals in his magisterial new biography. Here, Gopnik discusses five key books that offer crucial insight into Warhol the man.
The best books on Drawing and Painting, recommended by Juliette Aristides
Geniuses may only be born once a century or so, but great art gets made all the time. 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 movement, 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 observation that come with making representational art.
The best books on The Art Market, recommended by Georgina Adam
Are the prices paid at auction for works of art a sign of the art world’s health? Or a warning of its imminent decline? Journalist and art market observer Georgina Adam discusses five books that cast light on an often shadowy market.
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.
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The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany
by Michael Baxandall -
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The Renaissance Print, 1470-1550
by David Landau & Peter Parshall -
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The Art of Arts
by Anita Albus -
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Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life
by Joseph Leo Koerner -
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Into the White: The Renaissance Arctic and the End of the Image
by Christopher P. Heuer
The best books on Northern Renaissance, recommended by Christopher S. Wood
The best books on Northern Renaissance, recommended by Christopher S. Wood
The Renaissance had quite distinct manifestations in Northern Europe and Italy: if the Southern Renaissance was all about abundance 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 learn more about the Northern Renaissance, from Bosch’s fantasy bestiary of the demonic and the grotesque, to Bruegel’s comic and badly proportioned peasants.
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 Rembrandt, recommended by Onno Blom
Though he left more self-portraits to posterity than practically any Old Master, there remains an air of mystery around Rembrandt the man—even on the 350th anniversary of his death. Piecing together the very few personal letters and documents left behind, Onno Blom has now reconstructed Rembrandt’s formative years in Young Rembrandt. Here he guides us through five of the most authoritative—and imaginative—accounts of the artist.
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 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.
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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.
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The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion
by Leo Steinberg -
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Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art
by Michael Camille -
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The Reformation of the Image
by Joseph Leo Koerner -
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Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch
by Dorothy Verkerk -
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Anachronic Renaissance
by Alexander Nagel & Christopher Wood
The best books on Reinterpreting Medieval Art, recommended by Marc Michael Epstein
The best books on Reinterpreting Medieval Art, recommended by Marc Michael Epstein
The professor of religion explains how medieval Jews and Christians collaborated. He recommends five books that have changed the way we look at medieval art.
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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.
The Best Italian Renaissance Books, recommended by Kenneth Bartlett
If you’re going to look at the past, you have to understand the people who were living there and see the world through their eyes, says historian and Renaissance specialist Kenneth Bartlett. He picks the best books written during the Italian Renaissance.
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Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy
by Mark Doty -
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The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
by Simon Schama -
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Vermeer
by Lawrence Gowing -
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Rembrandt's Enterprise: The Studio and the Market
by Svetlana Alpers -
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Art of the Everyday: Dutch Painting and the Realist Novel
by Ruth Bernard Yeazell
The best books on The Dutch Masters, recommended by Adam Eaker
The best books on The Dutch Masters, recommended by Adam Eaker
The past may be a foreign country, but the world portrayed in the art of the Dutch Masters is not so very far from our own, says Adam Eaker of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For a society that struggles with materialism and consumption, there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from the 17th century Golden Age.
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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 -
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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’