The Marvelous and Monstrous Reality of Being a New York Artist
Defying scholarly conventions, Marin Kosut’s latest book takes a searingly honest look at the “impossibility of New York” and the barriers artists face.
Books
How Michelangelo’s Dome Survived Through the Centuries
A new book resurrects the oft-overlooked story of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, whose dome was saved from collapse by a team of mathematicians and the Pope.
Art-World Fiction We’re Reading This Summer
Delve into the tales of a queer book conservator at The Met, an actress in the West Bank, a painter with a secret, and other characters whose lives intersect with art.
The Enslaved People Who Wrote Down the New Testament
Art history has long concealed the scribes who put swaths of the Bible and early Christian writings on paper.
Esther Pressoir Is the Coolest Artist You’ve Never Heard Of
In 1927, Pressoir carried 30 pounds of art-making supplies on a bike ride from France to Italy. It was just the beginning of an inimitable artistic journey.
Why Is It So Easy to Buy a Human Skull Online?
Damien Huffer and Shawn Graham’s These Were People Once mines the illicit online sale of human remains and the social media algorithms that enable it.
The Delightfully Saturated History of Color Charts
Three tomes give new meaning to “full color” by chronicling the visual history of color charts, swatches, palettes, and more.
The Lost Art of Handwriting
A new book provides a glimpse into how some of the most resoundingly famous writers actually, you know, wrote.
Where Funhouse Erotics Meet Art History
A new volume of Hilary Harkness’s paintings enfolds us into surreal worlds of gender-bending militaries, feminine revenge, and alternative histories.
The Revisions That Make Us Human
Revising Reality argues that the world as we know it is our creative output so our memories cannot help but be continually edited.
6 Art Books to Cure the Summer Reading Slump
This July’s list is short and sweet with titles on artist lofts in New York City, photos of abortion workers by Carmen Winant, a how-to guide for comic artists, and more.
Trans Actress Candy Darling Gets the Biography She Deserves
Half a century after the Warhol film star’s death, writer and critic Cynthia Carr brings Darling’s life to light in an empathetic, well-researched new book.