Artists, Architects, Photographers

Every inch of Grayson's childhood bedroom was covered with pictures of aeroplanes, and every surface with models. Fantasy took over his life, in a world of battles ruled by his teddy bear, Alan Measles. He grew up. And in 2003, an acclaimed ceramic...

'That word, "vacation," makes me sweat.' Coco Chanel on taking a break'You must do it irregardless, or it will eat its way out of you.' Zora Neale Hurston on writing'One has to choose between the Life and the Project.' Susan Sontag on choosing artFrom...

A design monograph series on the most remarkable architects, designers, brands and design movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, each book contains a historical-critical essay discussing the life and work of the subject, followed by an...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERDavid Lynch - co-creator of Twin Peaks and writer and director of groundbreaking films such as Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive - opens up about a lifetime of extraordinary creativity, the...

This powerful and insightful work offers a bold celebration of the innovative, brilliant artists reclaiming the idea of 'women's work'. In the history of western art, decorative and applied arts - including textiles and ceramics - have been separated...

'Fascinating' Sunday Times'Deeply sourced and rich with anecdotes' The Times'Like a nonfiction version of The Devil Wears Prada' Elizabeth Day'Odell's extensive reporting dredges up a wealth of delightful details' New York TimesThis definitive biography...

***Now the subject of a major sell-out exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum***She revolutionized how women looked. She banned corsets, shortened skirts and scented the world with Chanel No.5. Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was an icon. But how...

Barbara Hulanicki tells the story of the rise and fall of the tiny, energetic boutique that grew into a vast emporium and epitomised Swinging London. The Biba store was to become an icon of hip '60s and '70s London and a hangout for artists, film stars...

Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) is now mostly remembered as a genius of architecture - but he was also an accomplished polymath, who only came to architecture quite late in life. Most famous as the mastermind behind the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral...

Learn about key movements like impressionism, cubism and symbolism in The Art Book.Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Art in this overview guide to the...

An exciting new edition of Bella Bathurst's epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson's ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. 'Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the...

From 1950 to 1962, John Richardson lived near Picasso in France and was a friend of the artist. With a view to writing a biography, the acclaimed art historian kept a diary of their meetings. After Picasso's death, his widow Jacqueline collaborated in...

"It's all here: the grade school Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss; the adolescent acid trips; the fondness for Post-it notes and flying saucers; the long tails of Dubuffet and Burroughs; the encounters with Madonna, Warhol, and one game-changer of a subway...

A new selection of post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gough's letters, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh put a human face on one of the most haunting figures in modern Western culture. In this Penguin Classics edition, the letters are selected and...

'Fizzes with clever vignettes and juicy tidbits... [a] joyous romp of a book.' Guardian'A fascinating, rollicking book in search of why, where and how fame strikes. Sit back and enjoy the ride.' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads'[An] engaging and...

Tangled Paths tells the life story of Aby Warburg, one of the most influential historians of art and culture of the twentieth century. It also tells the story of a man who, throughout his life, struggled to assert his place in the world. Charting...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer turns his eye to the seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age Twenty years ago, Benjamin Moser followed a love affair to an ancient Dutch town. In order to make sense of this new place, he threw himself into the Dutch...

'POPism reads like a novel... Social history of the rarest kind, set down in ultra-sharp focus by someone who helped shape the events he describes' The New YorkerA cultural storm swept through the 1960s - Pop Art, Bob Dylan, psychedelia, underground...

In 1954, following her death, Frida Kahlo's possessions were locked away in the Casa Azul in Mexico City, her lifelong home. Half a century later, her collection of clothing, jewellery, cosmetics and other personal items was rediscovered. Frida Kahlo:...

One of the most moving accounts of non fiction ever written according to the Guardian 'This is a heart-breaking story, beautifully told. I hope it finds a million readers' - Andrew O'Hagan'What a brave and powerful story. If you like Shuggie Bain and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781484748725Author Chuck SnyderFormat HardbackPage Count 352Imprint HyperionPublisher Hyperion

Packed with facts, attributions, and entertaining anecdotes about his contemporaries, Vasari's collection of biographical accounts also presents a highly influential theory of the development of Renaissance art. Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto, who...

WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2020'Art is a Tyrant recounts [Bonheur's] life with no little brio.' Michael Prodger, The Times Books of the Year 2020 'A diligently researched, beautifully produced and insistently sympathetic...

'Exuberantly entertaining' NYT Book Review'Mark Braude's writing and subject make this book irresistible, as was Kiki herself.' Jim Jarmusch'A delightful, marvelously readable, meticulously-researched romp of a book, Kiki Man Ray brings to life not just...

Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most fascinating artists in history. Apprenticed at an early age to her father, the seventeenth-century painter Orazio Gentileschi, she rapidly became more famous than he was, for her rich, dramatic canvases. But her...

A FAMILY STORY AND THE TALE OF A NATION.Ai Weiwei - one of the world's most famous artists and activists - weaves a century-long epic tale of China through the story of his own life and that of his father, Ai Qing, the nation's most celebrated poet...

When the brilliant classical architect Charles Barry won the competition to build a new, Gothic, Houses of Parliament in London he thought it was the chance of a lifetime. It swiftly turned into the most nightmarish building programme of the century...

'Her bravest work of performance art to date . . . Rawly intimate' ObserverThis memoir spans Marina Abramovic's five decade career, and tells a life story that is almost as exhilarating and extraordinary as her groundbreaking performance art. Taking us...

The updated retrospective published for McCullin's 80th birthday. Contains 40 new unpublished photographs and a new introduction - the definitive edition.McCullin's reputation has long been established as one of the greatest photographers of conflict in...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781906964320Author David HaycockFormat PaperbackImprint Old Street PublishingPublisher Old Street Publishing

'An absorbing book, beautifully told and with the writer fully in command of a huge body of research' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday There was an epic sweep to Michelangelo's life. At 31 he was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world;...

Clare Leighton was one of the finest engravers of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, when she settled in the countryside with her long-term partner, the political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford, she turned her creativity to the land. Gardening became...

Clare Leighton was one of the finest engravers of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, when she settled in the countryside with her long-term partner, the political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford, she turned her creativity to the land. Gardening became...

"Chances are if you've shaved with an electric razor, blow-dried your hair, or sparked up a cigarette in the past 60 years, you owe a debt of gratitude to Dieter Rams." - New York TimesMade in close collaboration with Rams himself, this catalogue...

Full of sketches, doodles and journal entries, Travels with My Sketchbook gives a fascinating glimpse of the incredible journey of Chris Riddell's time as Children's Laureate.After two years travelling the length and breadth of the country, visiting...

WINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK BIOGRAPHY PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONSelected as a Book of the Year in the Herald In 1845, a Reading bookseller named John Snare came across the...

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'A great, thrusting codpiece of a book. It is big, bombastic and richly brocaded... A jewel in its own right' The Times 'Evokes the painter and his world as vividly as a Holbein masterpiece. Beautifully written and...

Shirley, The Life of a Botanical Adventurer is the remarkable story of Dr Shirley Sherwood, scientist, author, travel writer, gardener as well as mother and grandmother. Following the tragic death of her brilliant scientist husband, Michael Cross, in a...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781590170014Author Henri MichauxFormat PaperbackPage Count 200Imprint NYRB ClassicsPublisher The New York Review of Books, IncWeight(grams)...

Nominated for 2023 Eisner Awards in the Best Graphic Memoir and Best Writer/Artist categories Nominated for the 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award Included in Forbes' "The Best Graphic Novels of 2022" list "Thorogood elevates the dark...