David Wojnarowicz in the Age of Surveillance
Books on the living tradition of Palestinian embroidery, the women artists whose legacies Picasso eclipsed, and more to kick off 2026.
Happy New Year! Our first book reviews of 2026 are here, beginning with critic Bridget Quinn. There's a special place in hell for Pablo Picasso, but you probably already knew that. Because the conversation tends to stop there, what you may not have known are the names of some of the women whose artistic legacies have long been overshadowed by his: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. They're the subject of a new book by historian Sue Roe, Hidden Portraits: Six Women Who Shaped Picasso's Life.
Well, sort of. Quinn writes that Roe's portraits are less about the partners Picasso frequently mistreated and the rich creative lives they led and more about "the love-bombing creature of conquest and control" himself. Maybe the book's subtitle is a clue after all.
Catch up on Quinn's review, Lavinia Liang on David Wojnarowicz in the age of surveillance, and more, including our list of the best books of 2025!
—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor
From Our Critics
The Women Who Were More Than Just Picasso’s Loves
Sue Roe explores the agency and victories her subjects experienced as women who, we are repeatedly reminded, ardently loved Picasso. | Bridget Quinn
David Wojnarowicz’s Lessons in the Age of Surveillance
The artist’s photographs of a masked Arthur Rimbaud touring New York offer timely insights about visibility and resistance. | Lavinia Liang
New Monograph Explores the Life and Work of Louis de Niverville, Painter of Dream Worlds
A long period of isolation during childhood influenced the work of Canadian painter and collagist Louis de Niverville. Pentimenti surveys his wide-ranging body of work, which abounds with vivid, dream-like imagery, and reveals his uncanny ability to probe fantasy, myth, and his own subconscious.
Features
The Contemporary Relevance of Palestinian Tatreez
“When people wear Palestinian embroidery, it’s not just decorative. It's beautiful, of course, but it is saying something,” says author Joanna Barakat. | Greta Rainbow
ICYMI
The Rembrandt Thief Who Came Out On Top
Who better to dissect the decades-long career of an art thief than art crime professor Erin L. Thompson? She's written about several heists before, but this one's a doozy: Myles Connor estimates that he has stolen from 30 museums and private collections. Thompson walks us through the story of one of his most notorious jobs in Anthony M. Amore's new book, The Rembrandt Heist (2025).
Other Books I’m Reading This Week
The Message (2024) by Ta-Nehisi Coates is already worth the wait (which was several months on the Brooklyn Public Library hold list). [Bookshop.org]
The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt offers a perfect cocktail of psychological thrill and proto-dark academia over some 500 pages. I'm attempting to finish it within the next month; wish me luck. [Bookshop.org]
From the Archive
Honoring the Stories of Undocumented Indigenous Women in Los Angeles
Diža’ No’ole (2021) walks a line between revealing and concealing, respecting the women’s decision to keep some things hidden. | Matt Stromberg
