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Newsletters

Art Books

A collage of book covers set in a grid and tipped to the side

Observer’s Best Art Books of 2025

Our favorite art books of the year spanned museum insider accounts, histories of protest and fresh takes on how images shape politics.
By Nathan Smith
A bold abstract painting by Arshile Gorky on a deep orange background features dynamic, interlocking shapes in red, black, white and gray, resembling fragmented figures or objects in motion.

Arshile Gorky’s New York in Images and Memory

A new book published by Hauser & Wirth captures the life the artist rebuilt through art after escaping the Armenian Genocide.
By Dian Parker
An image shows a woman with gray hair tied back, wearing glasses and a black outfit with a patterned shawl, standing in front of a busy outdoor courtyard at Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1, where people are sitting on steps and around tables beneath a banner for the fair.

Lesley A. Martin On the New York Art Book Fair’s Legacy, Urgency and Return to MoMA PS1

Printed Matter’s NYABF is, she says, the mothership of all art book fairs.
By Dan Duray
ART-DALI-BIO

More Than a Muse, Gala Dalí Was a Starmaker and Star in Her Own Right

By Angelica Frey
A collage of book covers oriented in a diagonal grid

Observer’s Guide to 2025’s Best Memoirs and Biographies, From ABBA to Ono

By Nathan Smith
A group of four older women dressed in pale, flowing clothing sit side by side in a dim, cool-toned room, their hands resting in their laps and faces turned slightly toward one another.

A Consideration of Time: Celia Paul’s Monograph and Memory

By Dian Parker
Collage of Various Art Books: A tilted collage of several art book covers, including "Van Gogh Self-Portraits," "Philip Guston," "Elaine de Kooning," and "The Work of Art," overlapping at different angles.

Commonalities: A Look at Shared Themes in the Best Books About the Making of Art

By Dian Parker
A collage of eight art book covers tilted on the diagonal

Icons, Innovators and Legacies: The Art Books Defining 2025

By Megan Fox Kelly
A collage of eight art book covers tilted on the diagonal

Last-Minute Literary Gifts for the Art Lover On Your List

By Nathan Smith
A collage of book covers

The Must-Read Art Books to Pick Up This Fall

By Nadja Sayej
A collage of a book cover and a bald man with his arms crossed

A New Biography Becomes Part of the Art Vortex That Is Terry Allen

By Noah Berlatsky
A man with longish hair holds a tall stack of colorful books

Magnus Resch On His Latest Book and What New Art Collectors Need to Understand

By Dan Duray

Last-Minute Books, Prints and Other Gifts for the Art Lovers On Your List

By Nadja Sayej
A building facade in New York City

Marc Payot On Hauser & Wirth’s New Space and Why Books are Having a Moment

By Dan Duray

Exploring New Sides to Performance Art: “Responding to Site” on Marilyn Arsem

By Elisa Shoenberger

Beau Patrick Coulon’s ‘Revel & Revolt’ Redefines Punk Protest Photography

By Teresa Xie

Jasmin Hernandez, Online and In-Person

By Ella Huzenis
Cups of Nun Chai by Alana Hunt

Alana Hunt’s ‘Cups of Nun Chai’ is a Personal Memoir of Lives Lost in Kashmir

By Majid Maqbool
Rihanna photographed by Deana Lawson for Garage.

Rihanna’s Version of a Memoir Will Be Filled With Work by the World’s Best Photographers

By Helen Holmes
Gerhard Steidl, Karl Lagerfeld==The GORDON PARKS AWARDS Dinner and Auction Celebrating Creativity==Gotham Hall, NYC.

Gerhard Steidl Exists on a Plane Where Time Zones Are Irrelevant

By Alanna Martinez
Franco inserted onto the cover of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Pyscho.

Send These James Franco Postcards to All Your Loved Ones Who Also Love James Franco

By Alanna Martinez
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. (Photo by )

Bon Iver Plays Red Hook, and 5 Other Art World Things to Do

By Alanna Martinez
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 02: Singer Madonna looks on on during a press conference for the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI halftime show at the Super Bowl XLVI Media Center in the J.W. Marriott Indianapolis on February 2, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Madonna Brings Clown Show to Art Basel Miami, First Internet URL for Culture Launches

By Alanna Martinez
Henderson, Nevada.

A Look at US Swing States From Space, McDonald’s Sues City of Florence

By Alanna Martinez
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