This week, Studio Gallery staff contributor Sophia Maitino has compiled a must read list of new favorite art books! These books offer insight into varying artists careers and styles. Pick a book off of our recommended list to learn more about art and how it functions within society. Happy reading!
Rembrandt: Biography of a Rebel
by Jonathan Bikker
Artbook.com describes this book as, “an authoritative biography of the Dutch Master written by acclaimed Rembrandt scholar Jonathan Bikker and designed by Irma Boom. The Rijksmuseum’s collection of Rembrandt’s paintings offers a coherent overview of the artist’s life—from his early Self-Portrait as a Young Man (c. 1628) to his late Self-Portrait as the Apostle Paul (1661)—and Rembrandt: Biography of a Rebel fills in the context around these and other works, painting an unparalleled picture of Rembrandt as a human being, as an artist, as a storyteller and as an innovator.”
Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt
by Edward Bleiberg and Stephanie Weissberg
Artbook.com describes this book as, “the very first exhibition and publication to explore the history of iconoclasm in ancient Egyptian art—is an in-depth examination of the widespread campaigns of targeted image destruction that periodically swept through ancient Egypt, driven by political and religious motivations. Focusing on the legacies of pharaohs Hatshepsut (reigned c. 1478–58 BCE) and Akhenaten (reigned c. 1353–36 BCE), as well as the destruction of objects in Late Antiquity, the book pairs damaged works, from fragmented heads to altered inscriptions, with undamaged examples.”
Hokusai’s Landscapes: The Complete Series
by Sarah Thompson
Artbook.com describes this new book stating, “Katsushika Hokusai was active as a painter, book illustrator and print designer throughout his 90-year lifespan. Hokusai’s landscapes revolutionized Japanese printmaking and became icons of world art within a few decades of the artist’s death. Hokusai’s Landscapes focuses exclusively on this pivotal body of the artist’s work, the first book to do so. Featuring stunning color reproductions of works from the incomparable Japanese art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the largest collection of Japanese prints outside Japan), Hokusai’s Landscapes examines the magnetic appeal of Hokusai’s designs and the circumstances of their creation.”
For a list of more new art history books, check out the link below!
From staff contributor Sophia Maitino