From former editor of New York magazine Adam Moss, a collection of illuminating conversations examining the very personal, rigorous, complex, and elusive work of making art

What is the work of art? In this guided tour inside the artist's head, Adam Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies, songs, and more. Weaving conversations with some of the most accomplished artists of our time together with the journal entries, napkin doodles, and sketches that were their tools, Moss breaks down the work--the tortuous paths and artistic decisions--that led to great art. From first glimmers to second thoughts, roads not taken, crises, breakthroughs, on to one triumphant finish after another.

Featuring: Kara Walker, Tony Kushner, Roz Chast, Michael Cunningham, Moses Sumney, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Meiselas, Louise Glück, Maria de Los Angeles, Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Twyla Tharp, John Derian, Barbara Kruger, David Mandel, Gregory Crewdson, Marie Howe, Gay Talese, Cheryl Pope, Samin Nosrat, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills, Wesley Morris, Amy Sillman, Andrew Jarecki, Rostam, Ira Glass, Simphiwe Ndzube, Dean Baquet & Tom Bodkin, Max Porter, Elizabeth Diller, Ian Adelman / Calvin Seibert, Tyler Hobbs, Marc Jacobs, Grady West (Dina Martina), Will Shortz, Sheila Heti, Gerald Lovell, Jody Williams & Rita Sodi, Taylor Mac & Machine Dazzle, David Simon, George Saunders, Suzan-Lori Parks

Combining reproductions of each work of art with precise annotations and visual analysis, it is an expertly curated selection of the finest art ever created.

Immerse yourself in this book and learn all about art - how Michelangelo painted nudes, what cubism is, and where abstraction came from. Discover ancient Egyptian frescoes, read the visual clues to Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, and find out what inspired Louise Bourgeois and Banksy.

In this art book, you will find:

• Art from all over the world exploring key elements such as composition, color, technique, and symbolism.
• Profiles the work of more than 450 artists from across the world and many different cultures, covering every period and major art movement.
• Art set in its historical context, which makes art, annotated a complete overview of art history.
• An optional 32-page directory of biographies of all the artists featured at the back of the book.

John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures. By now he has.

As erudite and sophisticated as hooks is, she is also eminently readable, even exhilarating. --Booklist

In Art on My Mind, bell hooks, a leading cultural critic, responds to the ongoing dialogues about producing, exhibiting, and criticizing art and aesthetics in an art world increasingly concerned with identity politics. Always concerned with the liberatory black struggle, hooks positions her writings on visual politics within the ever-present question of how art can be an empowering and revolutionary force within the black community.

This is a book about making art. Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people; essentially--statistically speaking--there aren't any people like that. Geniuses get made once-a-century or so, yet good art gets made all the time, so to equate the making of art with the workings of genius removes this intimately human activity to a strangely unreachable and unknowable place. For all practical purposes making art can be examined in great detail without ever getting entangled in the very remote problems of genius.
---from the Introduction

Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. The book's co-authors, David Bayles and Ted Orland, are themselves both working artists, grappling daily with the problems of making art in the real world. Their insights and observations, drawn from personal experience, provide an incisive view into the world of art as it is expeienced by artmakers themselves.

This is not your typical self-help book. This is a book written by artists, for artists --- it's about what it feels like when artists sit down at their easel or keyboard, in their studio or performance space, trying to do the work they need to do. First published in 1994, Art & Fear quickly became an underground classic. Word-of-mouth response alone--now enhanced by internet posting--has placed it among the best-selling books on artmaking and creativity nationally.

Art & Fear has attracted a remarkably diverse audience, ranging from beginning to accomplished artists in every medium, and including an exceptional concentration among students and teachers. The original Capra Press edition of Art & Fear sold 80,000 copies.

An excerpt:

Today, more than it was however many years ago, art is hard because you have to keep after it so consistently. On so many different fronts. For so little external reward. Artists become veteran artists only by making peace not just with themselves, but with a huge range of issues. You have to find your work...

Spanning six decades, this critical compilation gathers Svetlana Alpers' award-winning writings on art history

A definitive volume of writings by one of the most renowned art historians of the past century, Is Art History? brings together Svetlana Alpers' contributions to the art historical discipline. Her writing spans over six decades: beginning with seminal essays written in examination of the constraints of the art historical discipline, including a foundational essay on Vasari (1960), Is Art History? (1970), Style Is What You Make It (1979) and Art History and Its Exclusions (1982); two never before published lectures and other unpublished public presentations; notable critical essays on art and recent texts on contemporary artists including Alex Katz, Catherine Murphy and Shirley Jaffe.
Is Art History? also includes new prefatory notes written by the author for this occasion, an unexpected introduction by her former student, the esteemed scholar-critic Richard Meyer, and an interview with the German author and critic Ulf Erdmann Ziegler. This extensive view of Alpers' prolific and varied career appeals both to new readers in need of an introduction and to audiences familiar with her essential writing on the great European tradition of painting.
Svetlana Alpers (born 1936) is the author of The Art of Describing and Rembrandt's Enterprise, among other titles. Alpers taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1994 and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Art and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Alpers cofounded the interdisciplinary journal Representations in 1983.

Fun, poetical and inspiring challenges for teaching the arts--for students of all ages and teachers of all disciplines

The almost 100 arts assignments compiled in this instructive new volume are designed to foster cross-disciplinary creativity in the visual arts, performance, theater, music and design. Everyone who teaches the arts knows the value of the assignment that is seemingly simple but which nonetheless challenges participants, students and pupils to the maximum. In Wicked Arts Assignments the tasks are organized around the following themes: Go Public, Narrate, Remix, Explore Nature, Engage, Soul Search, Make Some Noise, Localize, Build & Move, Keep in Time and Hack.

The assignments can be carried out in various contexts, from primary schools to higher education, from home to online. They are intended to spark the imagination of both teachers and students, contributing to new, topical educational and artistic practices. The book is complemented by a theoretical framework and interviews with experts in contemporary arts and education.

Art when really understood is the province of every human being. So begins The Art Spirit, the collected words, teachings, and wisdom of innovative artist and beloved teacher Robert Henri. Henri, who painted in the Realist style and was a founding member of the Ashcan School, was known for his belief in interactive nature of creativity and inspiration, and the enduring power of art. Since its first publication in 1923, The Art Spirit, has been a source of inspiration for artists and creatives from David Lynch to George Bellows. Filled with valuable technical advice as well as wisdom about the place of art and the artist in American society, this classic work continues to be a must-read for anyone interested in the power of creation and the beauty of art.

Writing in the tradition of Susan Sontag and Elaine Scarry, Maggie Nelson has emerged as one of our foremost cultural critics with this landmark work about representations of cruelty and violence in art. From Sylvia Plath's poetry to Francis Bacon's paintings, from the Saw franchise to Yoko Ono's performance art, Nelson's nuanced exploration across the artistic landscape ultimately offers a model of how one might balance strong ethical convictions with an equally strong appreciation for work that tests the limits of taste, taboo, and permissibility.

When the New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl published his widely read autobiographical essay The Art of Dying in December 2019, he reported that he had lung cancer and his oncologist had given him six months to live, but his experimental treatment was showing some improvement.

These extra months, he wrote, are a luxury that I hope to have put to good use. And he did. The Art of Dying: Writings, 2019-2022 begins with that essay and collects all 46 pieces that he wrote for the magazine before his death in October 2022.

These last works express Schjeldahl's hard-won reflections on art and life, against the backdrop of an intensely anxious period in America, spanning the pandemic, the George Floyd protests, the 2020 presidential election, and the war in Ukraine. Schjeldahl, who was the leading art writer of his generation, wrote with generosity and openness about the art world during these tempestuous three years.

A revised and expanded 25th-anniversary edition of Bang's go-to text about visual perception, or 'how pictures work, ' delivers sublime design and picture-book-art commentary for readers and artists alike.--Kirkus Reviews

First published in 1991, Picture This has changed the way artists, illustrators, reviewers, critics, and readers look at and understand art.

In this revised and expanded edition, Bang's powerful ideas remain unparalleled in their simplicity and genius. Her thought-provoking text, brilliantly illustrated by step-by-step cut-paper illustrations of scenes from Little Red Riding Hood, includes thoughts about how the visual composition of images works to engage the emotions, and how the elements of an artwork can give it the power to tell a story.

Bang asks the right questions to get your wheels turning--Why are diagonals dramatic? Why are curves calming? Why does red feel hot and blue feel cold?--while the illustrations and thoughtful designs bring the words to life.

EXPLORE 12 PRINCIPLES OF VISUAL PERCEPTION: By experimenting with basic art elements (color, placement, size, shape, and space), Bang's unique and insightful work encourages you to answer one question: How does the structure of a picture--or any visual art form--affect our emotional response?

FOR ART STUDENTS & CREATIVES OF ALL AGES: Written in an accessible and engaging style, Picture This has opened a window of understanding for generations of artists. Her simple, powerful principles apply to painting, photography, graphic design, animation, and illustration of all kinds.

AN ART BOOK LIKE NO OTHER: Beyond a how-to guide or art reference book, Picture This has been called a must-have book for anyone wanting to learn or teach about art elements and principles (Kirkus Reviews). It makes an imaginative and inspiring gift for any artist or loved one who is interested in design.

Perfect for:

• Artists, educators, and readers curious about the psychology of perception, emotion, and art
• Gift giving for aspiring and experienced artists of all ages for birthday, holiday, art school acceptance, or graduation
• Fans of Molly Bang and her award-winning work, including her Caldecott Honor children's books When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry; Ten, Nine, Eight; and The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher
• Adding to a collection of art theory, design, or art history books

Stored in a New York City warehouse for many years after the artist's death, this extraordinary manuscript by Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was published to great acclaim in 2004. Probably written in 1940 or 1941, it contains Rothko's ideas on the modern art world, art history, myth, beauty, the challenges of being an artist in society, the true nature of American art, and much more.

In his introduction, illustrated with examples of Rothko's work and pages from the manuscript, the artist's son, Christopher Rothko, describes the discovery of the manuscript and the fascinating process of its initial publication. This edition includes discussion of Rothko's Scribble Book (1932), his notes on teaching art to children, which has received renewed scholarly attention in recent years and provides clues to the genesis of Rothko's thinking on pedagogy.

In an afterword written for this edition, artist and author Makoto Fujimura reflects on how Rothko's writings offer a lifeboat for art world refugees and a model for upholding artistic ideals. He considers the transcendent capacity of Rothko's paintings to express pure ideas and the significance of the decade-long gap between The Artist's Reality and Rothko's mature paintings, during which the horrors of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb were unleashed upon the world.

A pioneering work in the movement to free art from its traditional bonds to material reality, this book is one of the most important documents in the history of modern art. Written by the famous nonobjective painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), it explains Kandinsky's own theory of painting and crystallizes the ideas that were influencing many other modern artists of the period. Along with his own groundbreaking paintings, this book had a tremendous impact on the development of modern art.
Kandinsky's ideas are presented in two parts. The first part, called About General Aesthetic, issues a call for a spiritual revolution in painting that will let artists express their own inner lives in abstract, non-material terms. Just as musicians do not depend upon the material world for their music, so artists should not have to depend upon the material world for their art. In the second part, About Painting, Kandinsky discusses the psychology of colors, the language of form and color, and the responsibilities of the artist. An Introduction by the translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, offers additional explanation of Kandinsky's art and theories, while a new Preface by Richard Stratton discusses Kandinsky's career as a whole and the impact of the book. Making the book even more valuable are nine woodcuts by Kandinsky himself that appear at the chapter headings.
This English translation of Über das Geistige in der Kunst was a significant contribution to the understanding of nonobjectivism in art. It continues to be a stimulating and necessary reading experience for every artist, art student, and art patron concerned with the direction of 20th-century painting.

In Black Elegies, Kimberly Juanita Brown examines the form of the elegy and its unique capacity to convey the elongated grief borne of sustained racial violence. Structured around the sensorial, the book moves through sight, sound, and touch to reveal what Okwui Enwezor calls the national emergency of black grief. With her characteristic literary skill, Brown analyzes the work of major figures including Toni Morrison, Carrie Mae Weems, Audre Lorde, and Marvin Gaye, among others.

Brown contemplates recognizable sites of mourning: forced migration and enslavement, bodily violations, imprisonment and death. And she examines sites that do not register immediately as archives of grief: the landscape of southern U.S. slave plantations, a spontaneous street party, a quilt constructed out of the clothing worn by a loved one, a dance performance to hold the memory of history, and an aeolian harp installed at an institute of European art, among others. In this, the book offers a framework of mourning while black, within the parameters of contemporary artistic production. Brown asks: How do you mourn those you are not supposed to see? And where does the grief go? She shows us that grief is everywhere: It spills out of photographs and modulates music. It hovers in the tenor and tone of cinematic performances. It resides in the body like an inspired concept, waiting for its articulation.

Black Elegies is the second title of On Seeing, a new publication series devoted to visual literacy. Publications foreground the political agency, critical insight, and social impact inscribed in visuality and representation. The MIT Press will publish each On Seeing volume as a print book, ebook, and open access digital edition created by Brown University Digital Publications.

The URL for this publication is https: //on-seeing-black-elegies.org.

On Ruben Slikk: An Manifesto on the Purpose of Art and the Value of Transgression is a philosophical and critical inquiry into the modern musical landscape, using the obscure, prolific, transgressive soundcloud rapper Ruben Slikk as an entrypoint for discussing the interplay of art, music, and capitalism; style; morality; humor; genius; talent; entitlement; desire; addiction; and all the ways the illusion of merit distorts how we see the world around us.

Tactics for art world members to advance systemic and just climate solutions

How can art, science and institutional practices counteract the negative consequences of climate and ecological breakdown? Worlding Ecologies serves as both an anthology of case studies and a field guide. 18 scientists, artists, philosophers, activists, theorists and curators rigorously approach urgent ecological challenges including climate breakdown, pollution, biodiversity loss and environmental justice. Together, these voices emphasize the fundamental role of art as a vehicle and support structure for intersectional ecological thought. Structured in three sections--Science and Climate Truth, Activism and Climate Justice and Social Justice in Institutional Ecosystems--this reader unifies the fields of art, science, politics and ecology into a network of synthetic thought.
Contributors include: Federica Bueti, Michael Marder, Ursula Biemann, Victoria McKenzie, TJ Demos, Lisa Doeland, Jessica Ulrich, Christopher F. Julien, Filipa Ramos, Jeff Diamanti.

In-depth discussions on bootlegging and its myriad definitions in the creative world

Over the last few decades, the term bootlegging--a practice once relegated to smugglers and copyright infringers--has become understood as a creative act. Debates about homage, appropriation and theft, already common in the art world, are now being held in the spheres of corporate branding, social media and the creative industry as a whole. Today, bootlegging has become an aesthetic in and of itself, influencing everything from underground record labels and DIY T-shirts to publishing ideologies and acts of high fashion détournement. Unlicensed, a project by Ben Schwartz, contains 21 interviews with a range of creative practitioners on the topic of bootlegging. Some of these interviews were originally published on the Gradient, the design blog of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where Schwartz began his research on bootlegging. These conversations investigate bootlegging's creative and critical potential, and explore new ways it can be deployed in order to thrive as an impactful cultural force.
Artists include: Line Arngaard, Clara Balaguer, BLESS, Boot Boyz Biz, Akinola Davies Jr., Eric Doeringer, Experimental Jetset, Elisa van Joolen, Czar Kristoff, Hassan Kurbanbaev, Oliver Lebrun, Urs Lehni, Jonathan Monk, Sonia Oet, Matt Olson, Online Ceramics, Mark Owens, Printed Matter (Jordan Nassar and Christopher Schulz), Nat Pyper, Babak Radboy, Hassan Rahim, Shanzhai Lyric, SHIRT, Oana Stanescu.
Ben Schwartz (born 1988) is a graphic designer and editor based in New York. He collaborates with several graphic design studios in the cultural sector across a variety of media. From 2016 to 2018 he served as a Graphic Design Fellow at the Walker Art Center.