Books
A Painter Speaks, so that His Paintings Can Remain Silent
When René Magritte wrote “This is not a pipe,” he wasn’t negating the pipe so much as he was negating the language with which we attempt to grasp it.
Books
Books
Marsden Hartley's Maine: His Own Private Germany
Besides examining in-depth both the early and late Maine periods, Marsden Hartley’s Maine includes a fine essay on materials and techniques, based on careful examination of a dozen works, which shows a surprising continuity in composition and methods across Hartley’s career.
Books
A Poem of Shame: In the Words of China’s Workers
Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Worker Poetry, edited by Qin Xiaoyu and translated by Eleanor Goodman, collects work by Xu Lizhi and 30 other worker poets.
Books
Photographing Thoreau's Walden Pond in Its Altered 21st-Century Landscape
From 2010 to 2014, photographer S.B. Walker explored the shores of Walden Pond, where Thoreau's bucolic environment now bustles with recreation and development.
Books
A Compendium of Shakespeare’s Plants, from Juliet’s Rose to Ophelia’s Bouquet
The book Botanical Shakespeare, by historian Gerit Quealy with illustrations by Sumié Hasegawa-Collins, compiles the roughly 175 mentions of plants in Shakespeare's plays.
Books
A Wordless Journey from Crappy Art to Actual Crap
Tara Booth's graphic memoir D.U.I.I is an exploration of shame and failed expectations
Books
101 Unflinching Portraits of Survivors of US Gun Violence
Kathy Shorr's photography book helps to de-normalize what has become painfully normal
Books
Hirato Renkichi: The Black Shadow-Man Illuminated
Already in the three short volumes which Hirato had hoped to publish, but for which he was unable to raise money, we see a growing tendency to break up the language and images, abstracting them into a pulse of pure energy that conveys the meaning rather than simply expressing it.
Books
Drenching Found Negatives in Washes of Vivid Color
After discovering a series of negatives in an abandoned skyscraper in St. Louis, Aaron Farley altered the degraded images with caustic colors.
Books
A Graphic Memoir About Learning to Cope with What's Left Behind
Kristen Radtke’s graphic memoir uses photos and the death of her uncle as touchstones to illustrate parallel forms of decay and loss.
Books
From Ceramic Sea Creatures to Bauhaus Blocks, a Compendium of Exquisite Chess Sets
A new book features detailed photos and short essays about an eclectic range of elaborate chess sets from across multiple centuries and continents.
Books
A Graphic Memoir About Growing Up with Modernist Playgrounds
Julia Jacquette's Playground of My Mind is a graphic memoir of growing up with the modernist playgrounds of Manhattan, and how their concrete geometries influenced her later art.