Art & Photography

This beautiful and important book explores Ansel Adams’ life as an artist by looking closely at the stories behind 20 of his most significant images. For anyone who loves the American wilderness or has an interest in the life and work of the country’s most revered landscape photographer and environmental advocate, this is a great gift.

Famous for his lush early ‘60s paintings of cakes and other sweets, artist Wayne Thiebaud is of one of the most original and accomplished American artists. This beautiful large-format book is a retrospective of his work from the 1960s to today, with numerous works coming from the artist’s very own collection. The book also includes his most recent work, up to 2012—at 91, Thiebaud is still working from his studio in Sacramento!

Kaffe Fassett has led an extraordinary life. He spent much of his youth in Big Sur, where his parents bought a cabin from Orson Welles and transformed it into the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant, a gathering place for artists and bohemians. He attended boarding school run by the disciples of Krishnamurti, studied painting in Boston, and became a famous knitwear designer for the likes of Missoni and Vogue magazine. Renowned for his explosive use of color, Fassett has embraced needlepoint, mosaics, rugmaking, tapestries, yarn and fabric design, costume and set design, and quilting, becoming one of the most beloved and influential designers today in the process. This joy-filled, gorgeous book is perfect for anyone who likes to make—or appreciate—beautiful things.

If you’re a photography nut, like me, this book is a must have, documenting the
rise and fall of Polaroid, one of the most beloved camera companies in the
world. With amazing stories, interviews, and of course photographs, this book
is a historical and visual treat!

Not only was this beautiful volume compiled by one of the best contemporary science writers, it also includes a foreword by the always-entertaining Mary Roach, who elucidates why those so enamored with science, are compelled to mark themselves permanently with the objects of their obsessions. Gorgeous photos that will excite and inspire fans of body art and biology alike.

This is one of the most gorgeous books I’ve seen. Covering 25 years, from the initial, ground-breaking work done on Toy Story, through Up and Cars 2, this book shows how much sheer art is in Pixar’s films. Beyond the innovation of CGI animation, color, style, design, and art go into each of these films to create beautiful worlds, reproduced here for your wonder and enjoyment.

In 1772, upon the death of her second husband, Mary Delany arose from her grief, picked up a pair of scissors, and, at the age of seventy-two, created a new art form: mixed-media collage. Over the next decade, Mrs. Delany produced an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum. As she tracks the extraordinary life of Delany, internationally acclaimed poet Molly Peacock weaves in delicate parallels in her own life and, in doing so, creates a profound and beautiful examination of the nature of creativity and art.

“I became a painter because I wanted to raise painting to the level of poignancy of music and poetry.” This first full-length biography of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, finally available in paperback, draws on exclusive access to Mark Rothko’s personal papers and hundreds of interviews with artists, patrons, and dealers. “Mr. Breslin’s book is, in my opinion, the best life of an American painter that has yet been written…a biographical classic. It is painstakingly researched, fluently written and unfailingly intelligent in tracing the tragic course of its subject’s tormented character.” —Hilton Kramer, New York Times Book Review, front page review

Cartographies of Time is an eye-popping record of the ways that mapmakers, chronologists, artists and others have tried to convey the passage of time visually. The timeline is a metaphor so fundamental to the visual representation of time today—in almanacs, calendars, charts, and graphs—that it can be difficult to recall that a linear concept of time was “invented” at all. This fascinating and beautiful book showcases graphic representations of European and American history and the evolution of the modern timeline.

This is a spectacular new book from one of photography’s luminaries, Annie Leibovitz. For this project, she traveled to a variety places that had meaning to her, places she chose solely because she wanted to, and photographed them the way she wanted to. The result is a soulful and beautiful collection. (The cover image of Pilgrimage is Niagara Falls, as seen from the lip of the falls—amazing!)