Books About Artists and Art

Updated June 13, 2023
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Girl with a pearl earring
Chevalier, Tracy.
In seventeenth-century Delft, there's a strict social order -rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, master and servant -and all know their place. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry, and the care of his six...
The birth of Venus : a novel
Dunant, Sarah.
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is...
The art forger
Shapiro, Barbara A.
"[A] highly entertaining literary thriller about fine art and foolish choices." --Parade  "[A] nimble mystery." --The New York Times Book Review "Gripping." --O, The Oprah Magazine Almost twenty-five years after the...
Georgia : a novel of Georgia O'Keefe
Tripp, Dawn Clifton.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In a dazzling work of historical fiction in the vein of Nancy Horan's Loving Frank, Dawn Tripp brings to life Georgia O'Keeffe, her love affair with photographer Alfred Stieglitz, and her quest to become an independent artist. This is not a love...
How to be both a novel
Smith, Ali.
MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST * A novel all about art's versatility, borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take. "Cements Smith's reputation as one of the finest and most innovative of our contemporary writers. By some divine alchemy, she is...
The age of light : a novel
Scharer, Whitney
One of the Best Books of the Year: Parade, Glamour, Real Simple, Refinery29, Yahoo! Lifestyle. "A startlingly modern love story and a mesmerizing portrait of a woman's self-transformation from muse to artist." --Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere<...
Loving Frank : a novel
Horan, Nancy.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of The House of Lincoln, an "enthralling" novel that brings "the buried truths of the ill-starred relationship of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright to light" (The New York Times Book Review). ...
The swan thieves : a novel
Kostova, Elizabeth.
Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret...
All the beauty in the world : the Metropolitan Museum of Art and me
Bringley, Patrick
A best book of the year from New York Public Library, NPR, the Financial Times, Book Riot, and the Sunday Times (London). A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent...
Your brain on art : how the arts transform us
Magsamen, Susan
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts--and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities....
Leonardo da Vinci
Isaacson, Walter
The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is "a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it...Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life" (The New...
American comics : a history
Dauber, Jeremy Asher
Comics have conquered America. From our multiplexes, where Marvel and DC movies reign supreme, to our television screens, where comics-based shows like The Walking Dead have become among the most popular in cable history, to convention halls, best-seller lists, Pulitzer Prize-winning...
The art book
Bugler, Caroline
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 subject, great for...
Art 21 : art in the twenty-first century
Golden, Thelma.
This companion to a new public television series on the contemporary visual arts introduces some of the most interesting artists working in America today. In four sections -- on Identity, Place, Consumption, and Spirituality -- the authors explore such provocative issues as how artists address...
The shock of the new
Hughes, Robert
A beautifully illustrated hundred-year history of modern art, from cubism to pop and avant-guard. More than 250 color photos. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Steal like an artist : 10 things nobody told you about being creative
Kleon, Austin.
Unlock your creativity. An inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age, Steal Like an Artist presents ten transformative principles that will help readers discover their artistic side and build a more creative life.   Nothing is original, so embrace...
The secret lives of color
St. Clair, Kassia
One of USA Today's "100 Books to Read While Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Crisis"  A dazzling gift, the unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them in a beautiful multi-colored volume. "Beautifully...
Luster
Leilani, Raven
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book of the Year WINNER of the NBCC John Leonard Prize, the Kirkus Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award...
The woman who stole Vermeer : the true story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House art heist
Amore, Anthony M.
The extraordinary life and crimes of heiress-turned-revolutionary Rose Dugdale, who in 1974 became the only woman to pull off a major art heist. In the world of crime, there exists an unusual commonality between those who steal art and those who repeatedly kill: they are almost...
CREATIVE ACT
RUBIN, RICK
The #1 New York Times bestseller. "A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning...

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