Book of the day  > Revelations: Iconography of the Salpêtrière. Paris 1875–1918. Editorial RM. “Drawing from 32 volumes of photographs published between 1875 and 1918, editor Javier Viver has assembled this superbly produced compilation of portraits of patients at the Parisian psychiatric hospital the Salpêtrière during its years of directorship under Jean-Martin Charcot, the founder of modern neurology.

The Iconographie de La Salpêtrière is one of the first photographic archives in the field of clinical psychiatry. It constituted an effort to catalogue the unclassifiable through new photographic-documentary techniques. The realm of the marginal –whatever failed to fit into the rational logic of the modern project– was subject to dissection at La Salpêtrière. It was systematically measured, documented, and classified.

In this operation, however, the use of photography fostered the incorporation of spectacle and, with it, an entire network of complicities between patients and photographers. The spectacle of La Salpêtrière became a variety show at every Tuesday session, played out in front of a representative sampling of cultural and scientific elites, through the induction of contortions by hypnosis, epileptic seizures, and fits of hysteria, and the registry and exhibition of cabinets of curiosities, biological rarities, freaks, and other phenomena.

The result is an unprecedented photographic archive, a witness to the colonial era, assembled with the “panoptic” intent of a disciplinary regime, and a systematic documentation of the limits of the human soul.

Based on field work with more than 4,000 photographs and thirty-two volumes published between 1875 and 1918, Javier Viver has assembled a new compilation and edition of the iconography of the celebrated Parisian hospital. Beyond its very original clinical interpretation, the archive is presented in a contemporary critical context, open to new readings, associations, and levels of interpretation.” $ 65.00

Book of the day > Arita / Table of Contents: Studies in Japanese Porcelain. Phaidon. “Celebrating the 400th anniversary of traditional Japanese ceramic culture as interpreted by today’s leading designers. The art of Japanese porcelain manufacturing began in Arita in 1616. Now, on its 400th anniversary, Arita / Table of Contents charts the unique collaboration between 16 contemporary designers and 10 traditional Japanese potteries as they work to produce 16 highly original, innovative and contemporary ceramic collections rooted in the daily lives of the 21st century. More than 500 illustrations provide a fascinating introduction to the craft and region, while the contemporary collections reveal the unique creative potential of linking ancient and modern masters.” $ 79.95

Book of the day > Sarah Moon: Now and Then. Kehrer Verlag. “The photographer known by her artist's name Sarah Moon grew up in England and France. Having worked as a model in Paris for some years, she began taking photographs in 1968. Her first campaign shots for Cacharel were followed by countless commercial works for Dior, Chanel, Comme des Garcons, and Christian Lacroix. Additionally, Moon photographed fashion editorials for magazines, and shot short movies and documentaries as well as the feature film Mississippi One. She was the first woman to ever shoot for the renowned Pirelli calendar. Recent works include photographs and a short film for Dior homme.

Looking at Moon's frequently blurred black-and-whites or her pale color photographs—often taken on Polaroid film—one is beckoned into a realm of dreams, myths, and fears. Simultaneously, her works allude to heavenly ideals, unknown landscapes, and enchanted cities. Her portraits of girls and women, especially in her fashion images, appear to grant a glimpse into timelessness.” $ 50.00

Book of the day > Road Wallah by Dougie Wallace. Dewi Lewis Publishing (@dougie_wallace._glasweegee, @dewi_lewis_publishing). “Premier Padmini taxis, first introduced to the streets of Mumbai in the 1960s, have now all but disappeared following the introduction of laws to reduce pollution in the city.

Over a four year period Dougie Wallace documented these elaborate Bollywood disco bars on wheels. The crowded streets of Mumbai and the assortment of passengers provide a dynamic and intense backdrop, as do the cabs themselves. Many are pimped with large speakers in the boot that blast out Bollywood hits, or are colourfully decorated inside with posters of Bollywood actresses, upholstered in loud hypnotic patterns, or feature Hindu gods and goddess on the dashboard.” $55.00

Book of the day > The Creative Growth Book: From the Outside to the Inside: Artists with Disabilities Today. 5Continents. “The Creative Growth Book celebrates the first 40 years of the titular Oakland, California, art center for people with disabilities. As the world’s oldest and largest center of its kind, Creative Growth Art Center’s history mirrors the evolution of a growing disability rights movement and the increased interest in self-taught art. This visual history looks at the center’s start and how its artists evolved from being seen as people with disabilities to outsider artists—and, increasingly, as acclaimed contemporary artists—and at its current international design, museum, and fashion partnerships.” $ 45.00

Book of the day > The Unknown Oscar Niemeyer in Algiers. Moderne Kunst Nürnberg. “In this project, photographer Andreas Rost, for the first time, explores the Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediene – a university that is located in the town of Bab-Ezzouar, 15 miles out of Algiers in Algeria. The building, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1974, to date is as good as unknown even among architectural experts — and has rarely been presented in the form of images.Oscar Niemeyer died in 2012 aged 104, and was best known for his daringly futuristic building designs for the city of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, in the 1960s.” $ 40.00

Book of the day > Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital. Hatje Cantz | Gagosian. “In Paperwork and the Will of Capital, Taryn Simon -- one of today’s most original and challenging conceptual artists --brings together geopolitics, horticultural science and the art of still life to investigate how the stagecraft of power is created, performed, marketed and maintained. At signings of political accords, contracts, treaties and decrees determining some of the gravest issues of our time, powerful men flank floral centerpieces curated to convey the importance of the signatories and represented institutions. Simon reconstituted and photographed the flower arrangements from archival images of key events; she then dried and pressed the flowers as herbarium specimens. This sumptuous book, part nature study, part metaphor, bears witness to an elaborate and intriguing process of artistic deconstruction and reconstruction.“ $ 100.00

Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Government of Australia Relating to Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia, 2014

Book of the day > Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947 – 2016. Hauser & Wirth | Skira. “The catalogue accompanying the most comprehensive exhibition of postwar abstract sculpture by women artists. Revolution in the Making traces the ways in which women artists deftly transformed the language of sculpture. The volume seeks to identify the multiple strains of proto-feminist practices, characterized by abstraction and repetition, which rejected the singularity of the masterwork. Divided into four sections, the book will feature approximately thirty artists and nearly 100 works in total: the postwar era (the late 1950s) including such historically important predecessors as Ruth Asawa, Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, Claire Falkenstein, and Louise Nevelson; the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting a generation of post-minimalist artists who ignited a revolution in their use of process-oriented materials and methods; the 1980s and 1990s, the period that moved beyond singular, three-dimensional objects toward architectonic works characterized by repetition, structure, and design; and post-2000 works by artists who created installation-based environments, embracing domestic materials and craft as an embedded discourse.” $ 55.00

Book of the day (and book signing Saturday – not to be missed! – details here) > Deanna Templeton: The Swimming Pool. Um Yeah Arts (@deannatempleton, @umyeaharts). “The Swimming Pool is a new photographic essay from California-based street photographer Deanna Templeton that departs from her usual style to offer an expressive, intimate view of the human form underwater. The series was born after an impromptu nude swimming-pool shoot of husband and artist Ed Templeton, which spurred an eight-year journey in the study of light, expression and the enigma of water. Shooting entirely on color and black-and-white film and Polaroid, Templeton sent friends into the pool to be photographed in their truest form. Unlike her street photography, in which subjects were often strangers, Templeton found that creating these portraits required more intimacy and connection—a feeling that is apparent throughout every image in the series, which show strong, liberated individuals, confident and at ease in their most beautiful and vulnerable moments. As Ed Templeton writes in his afterword to this volume, ‘the nude swimmer is floating in a void of quiet solitude, the gentle pressure of being underwater enclosing her form like a baby in a womb and nothing exists outside of this world. A lone figure amidst a sea of blues and greys and frenetic sunlight performing a solitary dance for the photographer above, choosing movements and directions, twisting and swooping, contorting and expelling breaths painting a picture of form and light together.’ The Swimming Pool offers a deep and inspiring view of the human form.” If you can’t make it this Saturday and would like to order a signed copy of Deanna’s book (standard OR deluxe!), you can pre-order it here. $ 55.00