Fine Arts

For readers curious about how museums work, this engaging new look at MoMA’s origins will whet appetites for further scholarship on these fascinating figures.

Well written and informative, with extensive research notes. Highly recommended for fashion merchandising and women’s studies readers.

Ranging from performing arts memoirs to craft books to philosophy, this large section of the Book Review featured a number of outstanding titles in the first half of 2024.

Aspiring writers can find expert advice and guidance from bestselling author Roxane Gay, publishing pro Lisa Mangum, and New Yorker staff writer Rachel Syme.

Fascinating, complex, imaginative, and scholarly, these two books aid readers interested in exploring spirituality and social activism in art.

These photography books illuminate the downtown NYC art scene of the ’70s, an innovator in color photography, peripatetic contemporary street photographers, and Black American studio photographers from the 1850s to the present.

Go deep into punk history with John Malkin’s oral history about the roots of activism in punk rock and Marie Arleth Skov’s art-historical look at the incendiary artworks created by a “no future” punk art movement.

Fashion books may appear to appeal exclusively to fashionistas, dress historians, or aspiring designers, but titles about why we wear what we do and when are beautiful and compelling. The 21st-century fashion books in this selection, including several exhibition catalogues, address new research questions and uncommon subjects. Most draw on advances in printing technology to illustrate the amazing variety and detail that make fashion exciting.

Toni Morrison, Ravi Shankar, and Richard Avedon star in the best arts books published in 2020.