Criticism & Theory

With an introduction by Hubertus von Amelunxen Media philosopher Vilem Flusser proposed a revolutionary new way of thinking about photography. An analysis of the medium in terms of aesthetics, science and politics provided him with new ways of...

During his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in What is Art?, published in 1898. Impassioned and...

Artist, psychoanalyst, and feminist theorist Bracha Ettinger presents an original theoretical exploration of shared affect and emergent expression, across the thresholds of identity and memory. Ettinger works through Lacan's late works, the anti-Oedipal...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781913947019Author Anne D'AllevaFormat PaperbackPage Count 168Imprint Laurence King PublishingPublisher Laurence King PublishingWeight(grams)...

How to Write About Contemporary Art is the definitive guide to writing engagingly about the art of our time. Invaluable for students, arts professionals and other aspiring writers, the book first navigates readers through the key elements of style and...

As seen in Forbes, Colossal, and The Art Newspaper Over 100 global artists working with collage, as chosen by a team of art experts - an indispensable who's who of the most exciting and innovative names working in the medium Collage is an artistic...

TATE BOOK OF THE MONTH 2023 A timely critique of consumer culture which captures this image-obsessed moment in history, perfect for fans of Zadie Smith's Feel Free and Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror.This book is not a taste, nor an anti-taste, manual. This...

Contemporary art has never been so popular - but the art world is changing. In a landscape of increasing globalization there is growing interest in questions over the nature of contemporary art today, and the identity of who is controlling its future. In...

Contemporary art has never been so popular - but the art world is changing. In a landscape of increasing globalization there is growing interest in questions over the nature of contemporary art today, and the identity of who is controlling its future. In...

Described by Kenneth Clark as 'one of the most brilliant books of art criticism that I have ever read', Art and Illusion is a classic study of image-making. It seeks to answer a simple question: why is there such a thing as style? The question may be...

Is colour just a physiological phenomenon? Does it have an effect on feelings? This vividly written book, the sequel to the award-winning Colour and Culture, is ultimately informed by the conviction that the meaning of colour lies in the particular...

"We benefit from Saltz's rare ability to articulate the mysterious alchemy of great art." - New York Times"An entertaining, informative, and, at times, profoundly affecting read." - Canberra Times"The most famous, most lionized, and arguably the most...

This guide provides an overview of the most significant issues and debates in Gothic studies. Provides an overview of the most significant issues and debates in Gothic studies. Explains the origins and development of the term Gothic. Explores the...

Today, artists are engaged in investigation. They probe corruption, state violence, environmental destruction and repressive technologies. At the same time, fields not usually associated with aesthetics make powerful use of it. Journalists and legal...

Deftly deploying Derrida's notion of the 'unexperienced experience' and building on Paul Virilio's ideas about the aesthetics of disappearance, Vanishing Points explores the aesthetic character of presence and absence as articulated in contemporary art,...

FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AND MAN BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR'Sparkles with brilliant observations on art and architecture, friendship and loss' Guardian'Everybody should get to spend a month with Mr. Matar, looking at paintings' Zadie Smith, Wall...

In the ten conversations with the writer and theologian Klaus Dermutz collected here, Kiefer returns to the essential elements of his art, his aesthetics, and his creative processes. The only visual artist to have won the Peace Prize of the German Book...

'A terrific and important book ...it's a great, fresh take on how the 21st century is transforming the way we select everything from food to music' David Bodanis, author of E=MC2 In the past two years humanity has produced more data than the rest of...

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR CRITICISM 2019From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Changing My Mind and Swing Time - discover a second unmissable collection of essays from Zadie Smith'Generous,...

The divide between the digital and the real world no longer exists: we are connected all the time. How do we find out who we are within this digital era? Where do we create the space to explore our identity? How can we come together and create...

Artists and organizers explore experimental learning initiatives fostering solidarity and dialogue With a focus on labor organizing within the arts and tech industries, Software for Artists Book 3 explores the potential of creating alternative...

What is art history? Why, how, and where did it originate, and how have its methods changed over time? The history of art has been written and rewritten since classical antiquity. Since the foundation of the modern discipline of art history in Germany in...

Think Like an Artist by BBC Arts editor Will Gompertz - wisdom and smart thinking from Da Vinci to Ai WeiweiWhy do some people seem to find it easy to come up with fresh, brilliant ideas? And how do they turn them into something worthwhile?After spending...

One of the last surviving members of the futurist generation, Bruno Munari's Design as Art is an illustrated journey into the artistic possibilities of modern design translated by Patrick Creagh published as part of the 'Penguin on Design' series in...

John Berger writes: 'The pocket in question is a small pocket of resistance. A pocket is formed when two or more people come together in agreement. The resistance is against the inhumanity of the new world economic order. The people coming together are...

In Art as Information Ecology, Jason A. Hoelscher offers not only an information theory of art but an aesthetic theory of information. Applying close readings of the information theories of Claude Shannon and Gilbert Simondon to 1960s American art,...

* 'Great art has dreadful manners...' Simon Schama observes at the start of his epic exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. 'The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe,...

Thinking about Art explores some of the greatest works of art and architecture in the world through the prism of themes, instead of chronology, to offer intriguing juxtapositions of art and history. The book ranges across time and topics, from the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781584350286Author Jean BaudrillardFormat PaperbackPage Count 248Imprint Semiotext (E)Publisher AutonomediaWeight(grams) 386gDimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm *...

Edmund Burke was one of the foremost philosophers of the eighteenth century and wrote widely on aesthetics, politics and society. In this landmark work, he propounds his theory that the sublime and the beautiful should be regarded as distinct and wholly...

From painters and photographers to sculptors and performance artists, fifty of the most influential contemporary artists are profiled in this colorful and engaging book that traces the various artistic movements and radical changes of the second half of...

Two authorities on popular culture reveal the ways in which art can enhance mood and enrich lives - now available in paperback This passionate, thought-provoking, often funny, and always-accessible book proposes a new way of looking at art, suggesting...

The avant-garde movements of Dada and Surrealism continue to have a huge influence on cultural practice, especially in contemporary art, with its obsession with sexuality, fetishism, and shock tactics. In this new treatment of the subject, Hopkins...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781916425002Author Ghislaine LeungFormat PaperbackPage Count 10Imprint Divided PublishingPublisher Divided Publishing

'Supercharged. Highly colourful . . . they're all here, the big names of the time - behaving badly, and, at times, quite madly too' ObserverDuring the 1920s, in the Parisian neighbourhood of Montparnasse, a unique flowering of avant-garde artistic...

A landmark anthology on British art history, bringing together overlooked and marginalized perspectives from 'the critical decade'What is Black art? This vital anthology gives voice to a generation of artists of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage who...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780486277196Author Gustave DoreFormat PaperbackPage Count 64Imprint Dover Publications Inc.Publisher Dover Publications Inc.Weight(grams) 230gDimensions(mm)...

Virgina Woolf's collection of writings on visual arts offer a whole new perspective on the revolutionary author. Despite wide interest in Woolf's writings, her circle, and her relationship with the visual arts, there is no accessible edition or selection...

How do you draw Celtic knotwork? What are the secrets of keys? Are there tricks for drawing Celtic spirals? What do these mysterious patterns actually mean? Who drew them? Where did they come from? In this exquisite pocket book, author and artist Adam...

This important addition to our understanding of art history's masterworks puts some of the world's most famous paintings under a magnifying glass to uncover their most small and subtle elements and all they reveal about a bygone time, place, and culture...