“Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting,” by Jean-Pierre Mohen, Michel Menu and Bruno Nottin (Abrams, 128 pages, $50). As its subtitle aptly suggests, this book offers a kind of anatomical look at the world’s most famous painting, dissecting it in nearly every conceivable way, including x-ray and infrared views and even a fascinating glimpse at its backside.
Best of all, it’s written in accessible English, and, like any good coffee-table book, can just be enjoyed for its more than 300 spectacular illustrations.
“David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings,” edited by Peter Allison (Thames & Hudson, 224 pages, $50). Adjaye, a rising star on the international architectural scene, takes an innovative approach to light and space in his public materials, often using common, low-cost building materials in innovative ways.
His airy designs for the the Museum of Contemporary/Denver’s first permanent home, which is under construction in the Central Platte Valley, are included in the book.
“Painting People: Figure Painting Today,” by Charlotte Mullins (Distributed Art Publishers, 192 pages, $45). For much of the latter part of the 20th century, figurative painting was seen as old hat, a fading remnant of the past. But an exciting new generation of artists has revitalized it.
More than 80 of today’s established and emerging practitioners are featured in this book, ranging from Chuck Close and Alex Katz to Yan Pei-Ming and Marlene Dumas.
“The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820” by Joseph J. Rishel and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (Yale University Press, 568 pages, $75). This magnificent book, which accompanies a touring exhibition on view at the Phildelphia Museum of Art, offers an in-depth, wide-ranging look at the rich, if still under-appreciated, world of Spanish colonial art.
It is of special interest to Colorado readers, because of the Denver Art Museum’s fine holdings, a number of which are included in this volume.
“Picasso and American Art,” by Michael FitzGerald (Yale University Press, 368 pages, $65). Pablo Picasso was such a large presence in 20th-century art that most other artists, including those working in the United States, could hardly help but be influenced by him in some way.
This book, which accompanies a touring exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American in New York City, probes his impact on American painters, ranging from Stuart Davis to Jasper Johns to Louise Bourgeois.
Recommended art books:
“Constable: The Great Landscapes,” edited by Anne Lyles
“John Currin,” by Alison M. Gingeras, Dave Eggers and Currin
“Tracey Emin,” by Emin and Carl Freedman
“Lucio Fontana,” edited by Enrico Crispolti
“Sheila Hicks: Weaving As Metaphor,” edited by Nina Stritzler-Levine
“Winslow Homer: An American Vision,” by Randall C. Griffin
“Plane Image: A Brice Marden Retrospective,” Marden, Gary Garrels, Richard Shiff
“Apropos Rodin,” photographs by Jennifer Gough-Cooper
“Andy Warhol ‘Giant’ Size,” introduction by Dave Hickey
“Betty Woodman: Teatros. Théatres. Theatres,” by Paulo Henriques, Cathryn Drake and Patterson Sims
