13 beautiful artist monographs to treat yourself to

BooksSelection of the most beautiful monographs of 20th and early 21st century artists to collect in its library.

By Thomas Guillemyn

Artist monographs complete the collection of beautiful books that you like to keep meticulously and leaf through as you wish to refine your artistic culture. If there are probably as many as painters, sculptors and visual artists, here is a selection of some classics of modern art to have at home.

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Pablo Picasso

He is one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, the very archetype of the figure of the artist in the imagination. Pablo Picasso is the subject of this monograph edited by Hazan. Such a familiar name - who has never admired the cubist forms of the bodies of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon or the shades of gray of the characters in Guernica? - but which retains its power of fascination, constantly giving rise to new fields of research. This fine work by the historian and art critic Philippe Dagen approaches the work of the artist in a new light, that of its great modernity, of its avant-garde in its practice (materials, images, techniques) as in the symbolism of its scope. A monograph-river, then, for an immense artist. In short, a new essential bible to evoke the work of Picasso and his indelible imprint on the history of art.

Picasso, €175, available at Hazan and Amazon

Henri Matisse

Another monument of modern art: Henri Matisse. A leader of Fauvism, his influence on the art of the second half of the 20th century was considerable. Picasso considered him his first rival; Warhol even claimed to want to “be Matisse”. How not to enter the dance of his ethereal figures of primary colors, to appreciate the regressive beauty of his collages and to want to bite into the fruits of his Japanese still lifes? It is the whole universe of the master that gives rise to the monograph resulting from the exhibition at the Center Pompidou Matisse like a novel, on the occasion of his 150th birthday. 200 works and documents from the period 1890-1950 constitute the material of this reference anthology which traces the evolution of the Matisse style, between stylization, simplification of forms and primacy of color. A book where each image is an open window on the sweetness of life in Provence, the light of its landscapes, the colors of its fields of flowers and its citrus crops. An explosion of sunshine on every page… Like an adventure novel.

Matisse like a novel, €45, available at Boutique Center Pompidou and Amazon

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat has become a legend. Unleashing passions in auction rooms, attracting crowds to museums, his name is synonymous with the New York underground of the 1980s, the frenzied evenings of Studio 54, an artistic scene in full emulation mixing post-punk, hip-hop and visual arts. To open Taschen's monograph is to immerse yourself in the exciting atmosphere of his Great Jones Street studio, where Basquiat created these follies of raw forms, dazzling colors flecked with graffiti and stamped with his iconic SAMO signature. Informed by the essays of the art historian and curator of the Barbican Art Gallery Eleanor Nairne, this beautiful book deciphers the iconography of the American painter with effective close-up shots on his canvases and XXL illustrations. An immersive and jubilant entry into the very heart of his work and the fierce energy of his brushstrokes. A monograph in the form of a tribute to the flayed-alive artist, considered the most talented of his generation. At least the most complete concerning him. This is enough to form your own idea of ​​the Basquiat mystery.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, €150, available at Taschen

Andy Warhol

A pioneer of Pop Art, which he embodies almost single-handedly, and a style icon, Andy Warhol also devoted himself to erotic drawing celebrating male beauty. A lesser-known production that makes the Andy Warhol monograph so interesting. Love, Sex & Desire. Drawings 1950-1962, bringing together no less than 300 drawings of young men with the beauty of a nonchalant ephebia. A beautiful book that catches the eye with its pale pink cover, announcing the delicacy and poetry of these figures placed on black lined paper, with a divinely naive charm à la Jean Cocteau. A homoerotic aesthetic, snapshots of sinuous and intertwined bodies full of affection and not devoid of humor, which can be found in his production of polaroids. The intimate Warhol, hidden behind this public figure with an incredible aura, to be discovered in an unprecedented way thanks to this monograph, which materializes the dream of the artist himself to see his drawings brought together in a single and unique publication. A dream that he had not been able to realize during his lifetime. It's done.

Andy Warhol. Love, Sex & Desire. Drawings 1950-1962, €75, available at Taschen

The homie @08thstudiohelping me learn how to add text to my photos 😊 #gunpla #ガンプラ https://t.co/yZ6M8aVdzB

— Gunplamu Thu Jul 01 01:13:01 +0000 2021

Louise Bourgeois

Spotlight on the French visual artist Louise Bourgeois, one of the major artists on the international scene of the end of the 20th century-beginning of the 21st century. Influenced both by the artistic heritage of the Old Continent and by the innovations of post-war American art, his work is distinguished by its entirely autobiographical aspect. And it was his sculptures that brought him recognition following his retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1982. Intimate or monumental round-bumps, like the gigantic steel spider tenderly titled Mom. To find out more, there's nothing like the monograph by Robert Storr, one of the artist's best specialists, and his 900 illustrations of a protean work that continues to fascinate and inspire new generations.

Louise Bourgeois. Intimate geometries, €198, available at Hazan and Amazon

Francis Bacon

Have you always wanted to know all about the enigmatic and disturbing silhouettes that populate the canvases of British artist Francis Bacon? The Center Pompidou Bacon exhibition catalog in full is for you. In the series of events dedicated to the major artists of the 20th century, the Parisian museum launched between September 2019 and January 2020 in a retrospective dedicated to the one who is often described as a painter of violence and tragedy. The monograph accompanying the exhibition reviews this exceptional collection of works, including several of his famous triptychs, the most blatant illustrations of an aesthetic imbued with literary references. The ideal opportunity to observe the bewitching strangeness of silhouettes and portraits where colors and lines are juxtaposed to make expressiveness triumph over the truth of form. A now essential monograph to understand the work of the expressionist and surrealist painter.

Bacon in full, €42, available at Boutique Center Pompidou and Amazon

René Magritte

His black tie and bowler hat made his Hitchcockian style known all over the world. Perhaps as much as the mysterious and intriguing characters in his paintings, which one would often be tempted to identify as self-portraits. The apple in front of the face of the Son of man in fact does not deceive anyone. The famous Citadelles & Mazenod art edition is dedicating a collector's monograph to René Magritte's surrealist painting. A precious tool for understanding the paintings full of derision and hidden meanings of the Belgian artist, so much did he like to play with words, images and the viewer, constantly questioning the representation that we have of things and their meanings. A sometimes confusing aesthetic that this book, delivered in a box, illuminates for our greatest pleasure. Without a doubt, this is indeed a beautiful book!

Magritte, €50, available at Fnac

Joan Miro

“This is the color of my dreams”. The tone is set on the front cover of this catalog on Joan Miró. Considered one of the main representatives of the surrealist movement, his creative universe reflects his interest in the poetry of the subconscious and metamorphosis. Explosive colors and forms of primitive beauty straight out of the world of dreams, expressions of deep impulses that the artist must transcribe. An abyssal incursion that this monograph proposes to analyze for the reader, without forgetting to return to the relations that the painter maintained with the poets of his time, like Louis Aragon, Tristan Tzara or even René Char. An unmissable opportunity to lift the veil on the art of someone who wanted, in his words, to “kill” conventional methods of painting. An entire program.

Miro. This is the color of my dreams, 45€, available on Museum Shops and Amazon

Niki de Saint Phalle

A prominent female figure in the art of her time, Niki de Saint Phalle was one of the first artists, along with Andy Warhol, to publicize her work through the press and the media. However, the complexity of his work still remains largely unknown. Her artistic career is the subject of this monograph published by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais, in collaboration with Bloum Cardenas, the artist's granddaughter, to understand a work that is simultaneously political, feminist and radical, still making echo today's debates. The one who knew notoriety in the 1960s in the United States within the artistic group of New Realism - of which she was the only woman -, bequeathed to the popular spirit these many Nanas. They populate the public space with their flamboyant colors, their twirling momentum and their generous shapes, and are to be rediscovered again and again in this catalog which, as a bonus, is interactive: certain photos, by downloading the dedicated application to your smartphone, allow you to see and hear Niki de Saint Phalle. Inspiring!

Niki de Saint Phalle, available at Museum Shops and Amazon

Salvador Dali

By themselves, his mustaches and his eccentricity have made him an icon. Taschen offers the most complete study published on the painted work of the Spaniard Salvador Dalí. And for good reason, the authors, Robert Descharnes, photographer and writer, and Gilles Néret, art historian and journalist, have managed to locate works by the artist that have never been shown before. Half are for the first time! A monograph in the form of a catalog raisonné, from the first experimental attempts shared between impressionism, pointillism, cubism, fauvism and futurism, to the creations of maturity, where he abandons conventions with a bang and turns them joyfully into derision. A reference work to remember the phantasmagorical universe of the inventor of the paranoia-critical method, and his influences from advertising, cinema, ballet and fashion. It is a world apart to be found in this monograph, the world of the man who wanted to be the “Vélasquez of the 20th century”.

Dali. The painted work, 40€, available at Taschen

Caesar

His surname inevitably evokes the famous compressions and the bronze trophy he designed for the eponymous annual ceremony of French cinema. Between 2017 and 2018, the Center Pompidou devoted a retrospective to the sculptor César. The catalog of this large-scale exhibition addresses the genesis of his work, and brilliantly illustrates the surprising but nevertheless delightful diversity of the materials used: fabrics, papers, gold jewelry… and even cars. Colossal works now exhibited around the world, after having long been snubbed by the art world. Halfway between the artist and the craftsman, César never ceased to question the borders between these two domains. File carefully in your library.

César, €39.90, available at Boutique Center Pompidou and Fnac

Lucian Freud

An absolute must-have for all aficionados of the British painter Lucian Freud. With 480 reproductions, it is the main monograph dedicated to the eminent work of the grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. Born of a collaboration between David Dawson, his assistant, model and friend, Martin Gayford and Mark Holborn, this book returns to the existentialist philosophy of his art, whose interest consisted in representing beauty as he saw it, otherwise said far from any idealization, in a realism that is both fascinating and disturbing. Disturbing, at least… as shown by the controversy across the Atlantic following the portrait that Lucian Freud painted of Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. Faces represented without compromise, affected by a seemingly inherent melancholy, that is the raison d'être of Freud's painting. But always accompanied by an expressive grandeur. An essential book to understand the work of the artist, like the artist himself.

Lucian Freud, €475, available at Phaidon and Fnac

Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti acts as a figurehead of modern sculpture with his profoundly innovative and recognizable style. Between paintings, sculptures and drawings, 150 of his creations are scrutinized in the Alberto Giacometti monograph. A modern adventure, co-published by Gallimard and the LaM (Lille Métropole Museum of modern art, contemporary art and raw art). An epic in every dimension of the work of the Swiss sculptor, culminating in his cult anthropomorphic and slender figures, halfway between figuration and abstraction. Man is represented in his essence, with all the symbolic and universal power that this implies. This monograph also reviews Giacometti's attraction to ancient and extra-Western arts, as well as the posterity of his work through the eyes of contemporary photographers, filmmakers and artists. A beautiful book appreciated by amateurs.

Alberto Giacometti. A Modern Adventure, €35, available at Boutiques de Musées and Amazon

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