11 Fascinating New Art Books to Add to Your Library This Fall

1. Salvador Dalí:  The Impossible Collection | Assouline

There is perhaps no artist quite as revered as Salvador Dalí for his singular imagination and fearless creativity. And while he is best known for his Surrealist paintings, he was indeed a man of many talents, excelling in everything from film, furniture, books, stage design, and jewelry. This ultra-luxe book from Assouline’s Impossible Collection, their special series that uses time-honored bookmaking techniques, showcases his extraordinary breadth with 100 examples of his best work carefully chosen by esteemed curator and art historian Paul Moorhouse. Also unpacked are his eclectic inspirations, which span from Old Masters to Cubism, as well as his obsessions with religion, science, and stereoscopy. (Assouline, $895)

2. A Year in the Art World | Thames & Hudson

What is it that an auctioneer actually does? What makes an artwork hold its value? How has technology transformed the art industry? These are just some of the burning questions that curator Matthew Israel attempts to unpack in his juicy, tell-all book. Covering a year in the fast-paced art world–pre-pandemic that is—Israel takes the reader inside the artist’s studio to art fairs, biennales to auctions with thoughtful interviews with some of today’s leading figures. A must-read for anyone curious about the inner workings of the industry or for those who are simply missing the art world as we knew it. (Thames & Hudson, $30)

3. Anni & Josef Albers | Phaidon

This handsome, cloth-bound visual biography celebrates the prolific output and fascinating relationship of Anni and Josef Albers, two pioneers of modern art and design. Inside, readers can trace the trajectory of their formative years at the Bauhaus school in Germany to their influence teaching at the progressive Black Mountain College in the United States, which became a crucible for mid-20th century avant-garde art, and discover the relationship with key artists and architects of the 20th century, like Ruth Asawa, Marcel Breuer, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Klee. (Phaidon, $150) 

4. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In the League With the Night | D.A.P Art Books

Created to accompany British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s first major survey at the Tate in London, this catalogue documents more than 80 works made between 2003 and the present day. Known for her dreamy, instinctive paintings of Black fictitious characters, Yiadom-Boakye, who was recently nominated for the Turner Prize, takes inspiration from the historic conventions of European portraiture. Unbeknownst to some, she is also a talented writer, and her new fiction features prominently in the book. As she once said: “I write about the things I can’t paint and paint the things I can’t write about.” (D.A.P / Tate, $55)

5. Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now | Thames & Hudson

Sculpture has been practiced by every culture throughout the history of the world, dating back thousands of years to prehistoric times. And who better to trace that evolution than one of the world’s greatest living sculptors, Antony Gormley, together with one of the most accomplished art writers, Martin Gayford? Their captivating new book attempts to reveal how sculpture affects our emotions, religion, and even philosophical ideas. Inside, learn about fascinating examples such as the standing stones at Stenness, Orkney, dating from around 3100 BCE, to Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in Utah. (Thames & Hudson, $60)

6. Cecily Brown | Phaidon

It’s been a buzzy few years for British painter Cecily Brown, who has been steadily rising to prominence since the 1990s with her feverish, pulsating canvases that draw on elements of abstract expressionism. This book, her first monograph, traces the development of her singular artistic language, revealing references from Old Master paintings to popular culture and offers a behind-the-scenes look at her studio process. (Phaidon, $49.95)

7. Young Gifted and Black | D.A.P

8. Abstract Art: A Global History | Thames & Hudson

There are already a plethora of art history books covering the genre of abstraction art. But this new tome sets itself apart with a bold new perspective. Crossing uncharted territory, author Pepe Karmel attempts to reconsider the movement from a global perspective, revealing how artists have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural, and spiritual experiences in the real world. Inside, readers will find five chapters spanning the body, the landscape, the cosmos, architecture, and the repertory of man-made signs, as well as new readings of established figures like Joan Miró and less-known (though no less important) abstract masters like Hilma af Klint and Odili Donald Odita. (Thames & Hudson, $85)

9. Andy Warhol: Love, Sex & Desire | Taschen

The 300 rare and risqué sketches by Andy Warhol in this striking new book celebrates both male beauty and spotlights the artist’s sensibilities as he began to break away from his career as a commercial illustrator to become a fine artist in New York. Drawn directly from life, the images depicting men in sexually-charged and intimate poses were originally planned to be part of a career-defining monograph, but Warhol had underestimated the homophobia of the era. Now, Taschen is realizing the artist’s original intention some 40 years after his death. (Taschen, $100)

10. Matisse: The Book | The University of Chicago Press

For Matisse fans, Louise Rogers Lalaurie’s Matisse: The Books sheds light on an important part of the French artist’s practice. The lavishly illustrated tome is an exploration of Matisse’s elaborately produced livres d’artiste, or “artist’s books,” revealing how the legendary painter masterfully constructed dialogue between word and image. The books are also currently on view in a major new show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. (The University of Chicago Press, $75) 

11. The Art Book | Phaidon

A staple in every every art aficionado’s library, this perennial favorite first released in 1994, spotlights more than 600 groundbreaking artists from medieval times to today. This new edition, out just in time for the holidays, features work by 40 new names, spanning trailblazing contemporary artists like El Anatsui, Mark Bradford, Zanele Muholi, and Cao Fei to overlooked female painters Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson, and Clara Peeters. (Phaidon, $45)