Looking for books about modern and contemporary art? Browse through our expert recommendations to find the best books on the art of recent times to give as a gift to an art lover—or for your own library. Five Books is a comprehensive library of knowledge, curating book recommendations on any topic you might want to read about. 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 Market, Leonardo, the Renaissance, Typeface, Interior Design — to in-depth explorations of more personal themes and inspirations. 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. Browse the archive, or create your own lists of the best books in any category close to your heart, to share with like-minded readers everywhere. Is there a subject that piques your interest that you don't see on the site? Let us know by getting in contact with the editorial team.
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1
Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism
by B. H. D. Buchloch, David Joselit, Hal Foster & Rosalind E. Krauss -
2
Painting Today
by Tony Godfrey -
3
Painting (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art)
by Terry R. Myers -
4
Vitamin P2: New Perspectives in Painting
by Barry Schwabsky -
5
Picturing People: The New State of the Art
by Charlotte Mullins
The best books on Figurative Painting Today, recommended by Julien Delagrange
The best books on Figurative Painting Today, recommended by Julien Delagrange
Collectors and curators have been clamouring for figurative art in recent years, as 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 it than that, argues painter and art historian Julien Delagrange.
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1
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 -
3
A Free House!: Or, The Artist as Craftsman
by Walter Richard Sickert -
4
Memoirs of the Life of John Constable: Composed Chiefly of His Letters
by C.R. Leslie -
5
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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1
The Artist and His Critic Stripped Bare: Correspondence
by Marcel Duchamp & Robert Lebel -
2
Worte Nicht in Giftige Buchstaben Einwickeln
by Lisa Wenger & Meret Oppenheim -
3
Diaries
by Eva Hesse -
4
Robert Voit: The Alphabet of New Plants
by Robert Voit -
5
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 Minimalism, recommended by Kyle Chayka
In times of political or personal turmoil, there’s a tendency to seek solace in stripping back life to its bare essentials. Minimalist thought is threaded through Stoicism and Zen Buddhism; absence and space became major preoccupations of 1960s US art. Kyle Chayka, the art critic and author of The Longing for Less, recommends five books on the philosophy that underpins the present fad for minimalist self-help.