Every summer, I compile a short list of art books worth spending time with—not necessarily to throw in a beach bag, but for those slower, quieter days when you can actually read and look and think. Summer tends to create just enough of a pause that we can go deeper into something substantial. Whether you’re lingering indoors to escape the heat or savoring time at your desk before heading out of town, these are books that reward attention.
This year’s selections span painting, photography, memoir, and art history, and several are tied to museum exhibitions you can see now or soon. I featured a longer list in my recent article for The Observer, but here are the seven I selected to feature on the latest episode of Reading the Art World, my podcast about books and ideas in the art world.
By Michelle Young, published by HarperCollins.
This book reads like a thriller, but it tells the true story of Rose Valland, who secretly tracked Nazi art looting while working at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. Author Michelle Young brings a journalist’s eye to this vivid and atmospheric account. It’s a compelling story of resistance, moral courage, and the protection of cultural patrimony during war.
By Norman Rosenthal, published by Thames & Hudson in association with the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.
This lively book explores Hockney’s restless experimentation across media—from painting and photography to iPad drawings. It was published alongside his current exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. If you’re traveling to Paris this summer, the exhibition is an immersive experience and a perfect companion to the book.
Text by Quentin Bajac and James Welling, with an interview by Sarah Meister, copublished by Aperture and Atelier EXB.
Barney’s large-format photographs of families are theatrical and intimate, capturing vulnerability and self-consciousness in equal measure. The retrospective is now on view in San Sebastián, Spain, following its debut at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. The accompanying book spans over four decades of Barney’s career and offers a poignant meditation on family and image-making.
By Robert Fucci, published by The Frick Collection in association with Rizzoli Electa.
Centered on three Vermeer paintings of women with letters—held at the Frick, the Rijksmuseum, and the National Gallery of Ireland—this book is quiet and beautifully focused. It invites you into the intimate world of Vermeer’s interiors without over-explaining. One of the paintings is currently on view at the newly renovated Frick in New York, making this a great pairing of reading and looking.
By Guy Trebay, published by Knopf.
Written by the longtime New York Times fashion critic, this memoir captures the gritty, magnetic energy of downtown New York in the 1970s. Trebay's account is unsentimental and sharp, with great insight into the cultural forces at play during a period of both collapse and creativity.
By Prudence Peiffer, published by HarperCollins.
This is a smart, art-historical narrative about Coenties Slip, a small street near the East River that became home to artists like Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Indiana. Peiffer brings together geography, biography, and the forces that shaped mid-century modernism. It’s especially rewarding if you’re spending time in New York this summer—the street is still there.
by Adrian Clark and Richard Calvocoressi, Foreword by David Hockney, published by Yale University Press.
Cooper was a brilliant, difficult, and deeply influential figure in the mid-20th-century art world. This biography doesn’t shy away from his contradictions: he was a champion of Cubism, a collector of major works, and a provocateur in nearly every arena. For those interested in the personalities behind the scenes of modern art, this is a compelling and dramatic read.
