Art books open up the private lives and working processes of the world’s most thrilling creatives. This selection features today’s celebrated names alongside the luminaries of the 20th century. Some delve into their early years or track their greatest successes through the personal format of memoir writing. Others share private letters and intimate photographs that reveal the thinking behind their practices. Each paints a rich picture of artistic expression and the innovative thought that fuels it.
Sally Mann is renowned for her deeply personal observations of life in the American South. The photographer’s stark monochrome images have homed in on her own family and channelled the haunting landscape that surrounds them. In Art Work, she looks back on a long career, exploring the chance encounters, creative choices and decisive moments that shaped her into the artist she is today. She does not overly simplify the challenges of making it big as a photographer. Instead, she dives into the messy and at times downright disheartening slog of creative work.
Alexander Calder was a pioneering US sculptor who created colourful mobile art inspired by nature and his previous engineering training. Now, the major architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and garden designer Piet Oudolf have reimagined his creative spirit with the Calder Gardens in Philadelphia. This book examines the process behind the gardens, with sketches and drawings from the project alongside Herzog’s personal texts. The architect is open about his approach, unveiling moments of doubt and celebrating sudden insights.
Strangeland has been reissued two decades after its original release. Tracey Emin’s memoir is raw and tender. It covers the impact of her childhood in the seaside town of Margate and her working class, Cypriot heritage. Addiction, abortion and eating disorders are all explored in personal detail. She also writes about reconnecting with her estranged father in Turkey. Reading the book 20 years after its publication, the reader can of course fill in Emin’s future, her triumphant return to Margate and her continued wrestling with love, death and everything in between.
London’s 80s club scene is having a nostalgic moment, with exhibitions at Tate and the Design Museum exploring the fashions and freedom of Leigh Bowery’s Taboo and the Blitz club. You can discover more about the latter in Homer Sykes’ image-rich book. Going behind the scenes at Steve Strange and Rusty Egan’s club night, which launched in 1979, Sykes captures the unique style of the Blitz and its musical landscape, which turbocharged the careers of Boy George and Spandau Ballet. This riotous scene is contrasted against the socio-economic hardships of Thatcher’s Britain.
Rosalie Doubal and Natalia Sidlina dive into Pablo Picasso’s love of performance. Connected with Tate’s exhibition, Theatre Picasso, the book marks the centenary of his painting The Three Dancers, exploring how movement, music and theatre fed into his works. Contemporary filmmaker and artist Wu Tsang collaborated on the exhibition, detailing how traditions such as circus, flamenco and corrida had an impact on his painting. The book also addresses Picasso’s own drive towards performance as an artist, assuming the role of singular creative genius.
A new edition of a classic book, Masahisa Fukase’s Yoko (1978) charts the hope, passion and eventual end of a romantic relationship. Shot between 1964 and 1976, the book begins with Fukase’s marriage to his wife Yoko and concludes in their divorce. In between, the black-and-white images are intimate and full of life. In one photo, Yoko smiles widely at the camera as she clutches a pair of black cats. In another, she lies back peacefully, her hair floating in a body of gently rippling water. Their divorce only makes these images more powerful, capturing a deep but ultimately fleeting connection.