Too cold to head out to the galleries? Then why not pick up and art book and stay creatively connected this winter?
ArtsHub takes a look at recent releases.
Read: Are art books an anomaly in the publishing industry?
1. Always Was, Always Will Be
Always Was, Always Will Be takes a closer look at some of the iconic First Peoples protest movements of the last 200 years and celebrates the strength, wisdom and bravery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Author, Boonwurrung Elder Aunty Fay Muir says: ‘The book’s narratives need to be read, discussed and then students can go on a learning journey to further their understanding and knowledge about the history in this country.’ She has co-authored the publication with Sue Lawson (Our Place series). It’s a highly recommended resource for young people.
Publisher: Magabala Books partners with Reconciliation Australia
Format: Hard cover, 90 pages
ISBN: 978-1-922777-61-4
Price: $28
Released: June
2. Archie Moore: Kith and Kin
Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner, Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore, is renowned for politically astute and materially delicate portrayals of self and national histories. This black monograph draws upon the artist’s research with family, community and archivists to celebrate First Nations Australian sovereignty and kinship ties. Essays highlight how Moore enacts Indigenous language maintenance and confronts ongoing legacies of colonisation, including the over-incarceration of Indigenous people in Australia. The publication centres a First Nations Australian understanding of time, where past, present and future are coexistent. The book and corresponding exhibition curated by Ellie Buttrose were commissioned by Creative Australia. Texts by Djon Mundine, Diane Bell, Felicity Meakins, Larissa Behrendt, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Raymond Kelly and Melissa Lucashenko.
Publisher: Spector Books, Leipzig (Germany)
Editors: Ellie Buttrose, Grace Lucas-Pennington
Designer: Žiga Testen, Stuart Geddes
Format: thread-stitched brochure, 304 pages
ISBN: 9783959058469
Price: $52
Released: April
Available: QAGOMA Store
3. Pharaoh
Produced in collaboration with the British Museum on the occasion of its travelling exhibition to NGV International, this in-depth publication features contributions from renowned Egyptologists and art historians from across the globe. The expert research features alongside images making it a great coffee table flicker, or a deep dive to learn more.
Publisher: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand) and the British Museum, London
Format: jacketed softcover, 288 pages
ISBN: 9781922398086
Price: $50
Released: June
4. Wendy Sharpe: Many lives
Wendy Sharpe: Many Lives follows Spellbound, her solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW (until 11 August). Sharpe has touched many lives, from the East Timorese at a time of war to women who have been in jail or are refugees. The title also resonates with Sharpe’s family tree, which includes a number of Ukrainian psychics. Essays by Elizabeth Fortescue, art critic John McDonald, curator Justin Paton, drawing specialist Anne Ryan, and writers Scott Bevan and Stephanie Wood.
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Author: Elizabeth Fortescue
ISBN: 9781923042407
Price: $80
Released: July
5. Refugia
Refugia is described as ‘an unparalleled work of vision and political fury’ from Noongar and Yawuru poet and scholar Elfie Shiosaki. Inspired by the Beeliar/Swan River and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science, this collection draws on colonial archives to contest the occupation of Noongar Country. Released ahead of the bicentennial year of the colony of Western Australia, Shiosaki’s book looks to the stars and back to the earth to make sense of memory and the afterlife of imperial violence.
Publisher: Magabala Books
Format: paperback, 96 pages
ISBN: 978-1-922777-13-3
Price: $28
Released: July
Read: 5 tips to launch your book
6. Nell X McCahon
This stunning exhibition catalogue was published to coincide with Nell X McCahon – Through the Wall of Birth and Death, currently showing at The Dowse Art Museum, NZ (until 1 September). It explores the mesmerising conversation between works of Nell and McCahon as they navigate the complexities of life, death and beyond.
Publisher: The Dowse Art Museum and Art Link
Format: soft cover, 96 pages
ISBN: 978-1-0670078-0-5
Price: $60
Released: February
7. Africa Fashion
Africa Fashion explores how radical post-independence social and political reordering sparked a cultural renaissance across the continent. It accompanies the celebrated exhibition travelling from the V&A Museum in London, and currently showing at NGV International. With contributions from experts on cloth, fashion and cultural history, as well as the voices of makers and designers, this book offers a window into one of the most innovative, exciting and thoughtful areas of fashion today.
Publisher: V&A
Edited by: Christine Checinska
Format: hardback, 224 pages
ISBN: 9781838510275
Price: $60
8. Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
The catalogue for QAGOMA’s stunning exhibition, Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, offers an overview of her work over the past 16 years, but also explores van Herpen’s forward-looking vision of fashion on a deeper level. On the basis of 100 dresses, it becomes clear how much the designer challenges our vision of haute couture. Foreword by actress Tilda Swinton.
Publisher: Lannoo
ISBN: 978-9401496063
Price: $130
Released: February
9. Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao
The exhibition catalogue Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao is described as an ‘authoritative publication’, edited by the internationally esteemed scholar of 19th century French art, Henri Loyrette. It traces Gauguin’s artistic journey from Denmark to Brittany and Provence, then to Martinique, Tahiti and finally the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia. It offers wide-ranging perspectives on Gauguin’s life and practice by Nicholas Thomas, Vaiana Giraud, Norma Broude and Miriama Bono, with a particular focus on Gauguin’s time in the Pacific, to illuminate the artist in all his human and artistic complexity.
Publisher: National Gallery of Australia
Format: paperback, 288 pages
ISBN: 9780642335081
Price: $60
Released: June
10. James Drinkwater: I Love You More Than Paintings. Works 2008-2024
James Drinkwater: I Love You More Than Paintings. Works 2008-2024 is a rich and comprehensive collection of James Drinkwater’s work that also features the artist in conversation with Ineke Dane, an essay by Louise Martin-Chew and foreword by Nicholas Thompson.
Publisher: Art Ink in partnership with Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne
Format: hardcover, 296 pages
ISBN: 978-0-6456988-3-1
Price: $80
11. Choreography and the Museum
Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum is a survey of the choreographic turn within the visual arts, mapping a new field of practice that considers dance a contemporary-art media. Featuring more than 20 expert contributions from performers, scholars, critics, choreographers and arts professionals working across archives, conservation, curation and production, this publication scopes the work of the artists and institutions, and the legacy and trace of choreography in the museum today. Edited by Erin Brannigan, Pip Wallis, Hannah Mathews and Louise Lawson with Amita Kirpalani.
Publisher: National Gallery of Victoria
Format: jacketed paperback, 232 pages
ISBN: 9781922398079
Price: $70
Published: March
12. Julie Blyfield: Chasing a passion
In 2007, Blyfield became the recipient of the South Australian Living Artist (SALA) Award, one outcome of which was the publication of a monograph on her work written by Stephanie Radok and Dick Richards. This second volume detailing Blyfield’s prolific artistic career identifies the developments and salient influences in her practice in the 17 years since the publication of the SALA monograph. It coincides with the exhibition JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion opening 19 July, before touring nationally.
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Editors: Caitlin Eyre, Bronwyn Watson
Format: hardcover, 160 pages
ISBN: 9781923042506
Price: $60
Released: August
13. Adam Lee: Ghost Smoke
A comprehensive survey of the last decade of work from Macedon Ranges artist Adam Lee. Through his works on canvas and paper, Lee builds worlds where allegory and atmosphere coalesce to suggest a highly personal outlook informed by collective folklore and legend.
Publisher: Art Ink and STATION Australia
Format: hard cover, 200 pages, limited edition of 800
ISBN: 978-0-6456988-5-5
Price: $65
Pre-order now for August launch
14. David Horvitz – Eighty ways to steal a book
David Horvitz’s guide on how to steal books details 80 ways, from the very practical, to the witty, imaginative and romantic. Originally published in 2013, this paperback reissue is making the sought after title available again at an affordable price. This publication originated in 2011 as a conversation in The Classroom at Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair.
Publisher: Edition Taube (Munich/Zurich) x Perimeter Editions (Melbourne).
Format: softcover, 86 pages
ISBN: 978-3-945900-72-7
Price: $20
15. Who Were the Ancient Egyptians?
Who Were the Ancient Egyptians? is a publication produced by the National Gallery of Victoria to sit alongside its children’s exhibition Ancient Egypt for Kids. This book takes a journey down the Nile River to discover the pyramids, pharaohs and people of ancient Egypt, as well as the art they made to last forever. Learn how to write your name in hieroglyphs, solve ancient maths problems and bake bread using an ancient Egyptian recipe!
Publisher: National Gallery of Victoria
Format: suitable for children aged 5+
ISBN: 9781922398116
Price: $20
16. Observations: Moments in Design History
Discover the ideas, materials and technologies that shaped global design in times of change and the key practitioners who changed the course of design history. Observations: Moments in Design History explores the work of seminal artists and designers Josiah Wedgwood, George Nakashima, Ettore Sottsass, Seulgi Lee, Salvador Dalí, Louisa Thomson-Price, Sylvia Pankhurst and Frank Lloyd Wright, among others. A group of different writers flesh out this history.
Publisher: National Gallery of Victoria
Format: paperback, 304 pages
ISBN: 9781922398093
Price: $50
Released: May
17. Julia Robinson
Since 2003, Julia Robinson’s textile-focused sculpture and installation practice has ruminated on enduring human narratives around sacrifice, sex and death. In this, the first major publication dedicated to Robinson’s practice, curator Leigh Robb, novelist and poet Hannah Kent and visual artist Jess Taylor examine her work through their respective lenses and weave together the visual art, literature, folklore and film most influential to Robinson’s practice.
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Editors: Leigh Robb, Jess Taylor, Hannah Kent
ISBN: 9781923042520
Price: $60
Released: August
18. If You Don’t Fight … You Lose: Politics, Posters and PAM
Adelaide’s Progressive Art Movement (PAM), born out of the Flinders University exhibition and spearheaded by radical thinkers Brian Medlin and Ann Newmarch, united artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, actors and musicians determined to cultivate a politically progressive culture rooted in local issues, while vehemently opposing US imperialism. Five decades on, Catherine Speck and Jude Adams tell PAM’s little remembered story. Essays by Catherine Speck, Jude Adams, Julie Ewington and Suzanne Close.
Publisher: Wakefield Press
ISBN: 9781923042544
Price: $40
Released: May
