Book of the day > Modern Forms: A Subjective Atlas of 20th-Century Architecture by Nicolas Grospierre. Prestel. “Form precedes function in this stunning visual archive of nearly 200 images of modern architecture by award-winning photographer Nicolas Grospierre. At once a reference work and a personal exploration of modernist architecture, this fascinating collection of Nicolas Grospierre's photography covers structures built between 1920 and 1989 in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. These images range from iconic buildings, such as the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis and the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific Research and Development in Kiev, to little-known structures such as the Balneological Hospital in Druskininkai, Lithuania or Oscar Niemeyer's unfinished International Fair Grounds in Tripoli. Derived from his popular blog, A Subjective Atlas of Modern Architecture, and organized by architectural form, this book reveals how modernist architecture is the embodiment of political and social ideologies, especially in public institutions such as banks, churches, libraries, and government buildings. Following the series of full-page images, an index details the location, date, architect and purpose of each building. While many of the buildings in this archive often go unrecognized, their forms are prominent in the landscape of modern civilization. Grospierre's keen eye and enthusiasm for the mundane as well as the sublime will motivate readers to look at the buildings around them in new and exciting ways.”

Book of the day > Stephen Gill: Hackney Kisses. Archive of Modern Conflict. “Stephen Gill has worked for many years exploring the culture and environment of Hackney in East London. Some time ago he discovered the work of a lost photographer who had begun to interpret the photo of a kiss in a special and personal way. Kissing can be quite like the reverie in a beautiful forest; it can also be end-of-pier theatre. Our Master of the Hackney Kisses knows how these traits combine. His sensibility transcends the profession of wedding photographer – in each kiss you see the future; the past recedes. Reenactment is a pleasure.” — Timothy Prus

Book of the day > Issey Miyake. Taschen. “In 1983, Japanese designer Issey Miyake told The New Yorker that he aspired “to forge ahead, to break the mold.” With the boundary-defying fashion lines that followed, he not only broke molds, but recast clothing altogether. With a unique fusion of poetry and practicality, his creations blur the boundaries between tradition, modern technology, and everyday function.

This definitive history of Miyake’s clothes coincides with a major exhibition at The National Art Center, Tokyo to offer expert insight into the designer’s vision and daring. Initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, the book looks at the texture-driven originality of Miyake’s materials and techniques from the very earliest days of his career, before he had even established the Miyake Design Studio. Drawing on more than 40 years of collaborative work with Miyake, Kitamura creates an encyclopedic reference of his material and technical innovations through the clothes based on A Piece of Cloth concept, Body Series of the 1980s, Miyake Pleats series, and such practical, everyday designs as Pleats Please pieces.

Stunning photographs from Miyake’s contemporary Yuriko Takagi capture his clothes in their particular quotidian originality, including a breathtaking shoot in Iceland. In her far-reaching essay, meanwhile, leading cultural figure Kazuko Koike offers both a complete chronology of Miyake’s work, and an unprecedented personal profile, looking at the ambition and inspirations that have driven his repertoire from tender teenage years. A must-have for designers, students and fashion devotees, this is a timeless tribute to one of the most innovative makers of our age.”

Book of the day > Body of Art. Phaidon. “Body of Art is the first book to explore the various ways the human body has been both an inspiration and a medium for artists over hundreds of thousands of years. Unprecedented in its scope, it examines the many different manifestations of the body in art, from Anthony Gormley and Maya Lin sculptures to eight-armed Hindu gods and ancient Greek reliefs, from feminist graphics and Warhol's empty electric chair to the blue-tinted complexion of Singer Sargent's Madame X. It is the most expansive examination of the human body in art, spanning western and non-western, ancient to contemporary, representative to abstract and conceptual.

Over 400 artists are featured in chapters that explore identity, beauty, religion, absent body, sex and gender, power, body's limits, abject body and bodies & space. Works range from 11,000 BC hand stencils in Argentine caves to videos and performances by contemporary artists such as Marina Abramovic, Joan Jonas and Bruce Nauman. Its fresh, accessible and dynamic voice brings to life the thrilling diversity of both classical and contemporary art through the prism of the body. More than simply a book of representations, this is an original and thought provoking look at the human body across time, cultures and media.”

Happy Birthday Bruce Weber!  Book of the day > All-American XV: Leap of Faith. Te Neues. “Over and over in life, we are called upon to summon our inner resolve and make a leap of faith—to draw from our most personal source of meaning and step bravely into the unknown. How individuals find the strength and courage to do so is the unifying theme of All-American XV: Leap of Faith, the latest edition of Bruce Weber’s annual arts journal.

The centerpiece of All-American Volume XV: Leap of Faith is a long-form photo essay Weber shot this spring in Richmond, Virginia. Taking inspiration from the work of Angela Patton, an activist who organizes a father-daughter weekend each year, Weber presents a story of family, community and the impact of the justice system on everyday life in the city. An immigrant’s search for home finds unique expression in the photo memoir of Misa Rusek, a fearless octogenarian whose family’s journey begins in turn-of-the-century Japan and continues today in Israel, with reminiscences of internment camps and postwar California in between. A second story by Bruce Weber considers the sporting life in a profile of Gordy Gronkowski, who trained his five sons to become professional football and baseball players. A tribute to the lyrical American painter Jane Wilson stands in contrast to the rugged stoicism of Ben Johnson, a rancher-turned-actor favored by Sam Peckinpah and John Ford. The striking photographs of Thérèse Bonney—who documented the civilian toll of World War II—is echoed in and complicated by the contemporary work of the lauded photojournalist Lynsey Addario. Television host and political correspondent John Dickerson offers a personal reflection on the life and career of his mother, Nancy Dickerson, the pioneering CBS newswoman. And lighthearted risk takers are celebrated as well: Bruce Meyers, inventor of the Meyers-Manx dune buggy, and Jama Hedgecoth, the founder of the Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in rural Georgia.”

Book of the day > Martin Parr: Real Food. Phaidon. “A bumper collection of cult-favourite Magnum photographer Martin Parr's iconic food pictures, which demonstrate the simple notion that 'we are what we eat.' Real Food celebrates all things food through the eyes of the renowned British photographer Martin Parr - a kaleidoscope of foods the world over, from hot dogs to sticky buns and langoustine to lemon meringue pie. Featuring photographs taken throughout Martin Parr's prolific career to-date, Real Food comprises the very best of Parr's iconic imagery - a collection of close-up food shots, in typical garish colour, taken by Parr throughout his travels across the world.”

Book of the day > The Music Library by Jonny Trunk. FUEL (@fuelpublishing). “Library music-also known as source or mood music-was made for use in film, TV, advertising and radio. It was given to TV channels and producers who needed cheap, signature music for animations, advertisements and television programs. Never commercially available for sale to the public, this music was pressed from the 1950s onwards in limited quantities, and then sent directly for use in production houses and radio stations. These LPs were intended for purpose and function, not for pop charts, and as a result they look and sound like nothing else. Without the usual music industry constraints, the record sleeve designers had almost complete freedom of expression, with unprecedented results. This new and expanded edition of The Music Library (originally published in 20015 and now out of print) contains twice the content of the original book, featuring 625 rare sleeves from 230 music library companies of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The amazing cover designs of over 100 newly discovered library albums are beautifully reproduced (alongside all the sleeves contained in the first book) and accompanied by exhaustive, updated captions. A celebration of and graphic joyride through some of the greatest unseen and unheard music ever made.”

Book of the day > Marcel Broodthaers. MoMA. “A landmark international survey, a first in 25 years, of Belgian surrealist-conceptualist-minimalist, poet, photographer, filmmaker, artist, wit, Marcel Broodthaers. Marcel Broodthaers’ extraordinary artistic output placed him at the center of international activity during the transformative decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout his career, from early objects variously made of mussel shells, eggshells and books of his own poetry, to his most ambitious project, the Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles), and the Décors made at the end of his life, Broodthaers occupied a unique position, often operating as both innovator and commentator. Setting a precedent for what we call installation art today, his work has had a profound influence on a broad range of contemporary artists, and he remains vitally relevant to cultural discourse at large. Published to accompany Broodthaers’ first retrospective in New York, this volume examines the artist’s work across all mediums. Essays by the exhibition organizers Christophe Cherix and Manuel Borja-Villel, along with a host of major scholars, including Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Jean François Chevrier, Thierry de Duve and Doris Krystof, provide historical and theoretical context for the artist’s work. The book also features new translations of many of Broodthaers’ texts.”

Vive la Belgique!

Book of the day > Cuba 1959 by Burt Glinn. Reel Art Press (@reelartpress). “New Year's Eve, 1958, 10pm: Magnum photographer Burt Glinn is at a black tie party in New York when he hears news that dictator Fulgencio Batista has fled Cuba. By 7am the next morning, he is in Havana in a cab, saying 'take me to the revolution'.  Such photojournalistic fervor allowed Glinn to be in the middle of the action to capture the Cuban Revolution as it unfolded on the ground. As Glinn said, "I could get up as close as I wanted." His magnificent photographs convey the revolutionary idealism, mayhem and excitement of that moment in history. This tome includes some of Glinn's most iconic Cuban photographs, as well as unseen shots, in both black and white and color. From gunshots being fired, confusion on the streets, the rounding up of the Batista Secret Police, spontaneous gatherings, embracing revolutionaries returning home to mothers, and, of course, Fidel Castro's triumphant entrance into Havana. Glinn is famously quoted as saying, ‘I think that what you've got to do is discover the essential truth of the situation, and have a point of view about it.’ This tome celebrates his ability to do just that.”

Book of the day > JH Engström: Tout Va Bien. Aperture. "Swedish artist JH Engström is an inveterate bookmaker. Most recently, his published works have explored ideas of place and home. After more than a decade of such thematic projects, Tout Va Bien returns to the looser, more associative approach of Engström’s critically acclaimed volume Trying to Dance. The source for these photographs is nevertheless strongly autobiographical, as well as vividly metaphorical; a reemphasis of the artist’s belief in photography's potential as visual poetry. The sequencing is highly charged with contrasts: black-and-white images mix with color; the gentle beauty of coastal rocks clashes with a flash-lit image of the bright, blood-red placentas from the birth of his twins. The book leaves it to the viewer to map his or her own network of meaning from image to image, page to page."