Book of the Day > Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes. Published by Walther Konig in conjunction with an exhibit at The Hepworth Wakefield. "Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973) created an extensive and expressive oeuvre, in which she was intensively concerned with the human body, right up to her untimely death. In her sculptures, photographs and drawings she divided female bodies in particular into fragments such as lips, breasts, stomachs and limbs, to put them back together again in new ways and to integrate them as traces in her work. Her own body often found its way into the work in the form of casts. Having previously worked with classical materials such as bronze, she began to experiment with new materials such as polyester after arriving in Paris and mixing with the circle of Nouveaux Réalistes artists. With this she revolutionised the expressive possibilities of sculpture. This catalogue traces this artistic development by means of work from between 1954 and 1973, from early figurative sculptures to the ‘awkward objects’ which are strongly influenced by surrealism and pop art."

Book of the Day > Patti Smith: Just Kids (Illustrated Edition). Published by Ecco. "Patti Smith’s National Book Award–winning memoir, now richly illustrated with new material and never-before-seen photographs. Patti’s Smith's exquisite prose is generously illustrated in this full-color edition of her classic coming-of-age memoir, Just Kids. New York locations vividly come to life where, as young artists, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe met and fell in love: a first apartment in Brooklyn, Times Square with John and Yoko’s iconic billboard, Max’s Kansas City, or the gritty fire escape of the Hotel Chelsea. The extraordinary people who passed through their lives are also pictured: Sam Shepard, Harry Smith, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg. Along with never-before-published photographs, drawings, and ephemera, this edition captures a moment in New York when everything was possible. And when two kids seized their destinies as artists and soul mates in this inspired story of love and friendship."

Book of the Day > Picasso’s Kitchen. Published by La Fabrica and distributed by Artbook. “Food frequently surfaces as a motif in the art of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), and Picasso's Kitchen presents the many forms that the culinary takes in his work. Adopting as its guiding principle the conceit that ‘cooking is a subtle revelation of Picasso's art,’ this handsomely designed volume, with its card-stock cover bearing a tipped-on portrait of the artist, reproduces works alongside photographs of the artist working in his grand studio and the friends and lovers with whom he surrounded himself. Some of the book's sections examine individual artworks such as Picasso's interpretation of Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe or his playful ceramic works, while other sections visit the bohemian cafes and restaurants of Paris and Barcelona where Picasso and other avant-garde artists of the period ate and drank, through menus, photographs, prints and paintings, searching for how these places slipped into the artists' work in ways both overt and subtle. Another section draws on archival material from Picasso's writings on food. Perfect for the cook, art lover or both, this book vividly conveys how this theme greatly enhances our enjoyment and understanding of Picasso's oeuvre.”

Book of the Day > Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory. Published by Yale University Press. “ Best known for her striking drawings of ocean surfaces, begun in 1968 and revisited over many years both in drawings and paintings, Vija Celmins (b. 1938) has been creating exquisitely detailed renderings of natural imagery for more than five decades. The oceans were followed by desert floors and night skies—all subjects in which vast, expansive distances are distilled into luminous, meticulous, and mesmerizing small-scale artworks. For Celmins, this obsessive “redescribing” of the world is a way to understand human consciousness in relation to lived experience. The first major publication on the artist in twenty years, this comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume explores the full range of Celmins’s work produced since the 1960s—drawings and paintings as well as sculpture and prints. Scholarly essays, a narrative chronology, and a selection of excerpts from interviews with the artist illuminate her methods and techniques; survey her early years in Los Angeles, where she was part of a circle that included James Turrell and Ken Price; and trace the development of her work after she moved to New York City and befriended figures such as Robert Gober and Richard Serra.”

Book of the Day > Eric Fischl: If Art Could Talk. Published by Mousse Publishing. “Eric Fischl (New York, 1948) is one of only a handful of contemporary painters who regularly, though by no means exclusively, employs sourced images, culled from the internet, newspapers, and magazines, to inform his paintings. The artist then adds his own photographs and blends a final ensemble of information and storytelling. No kings or generals or momentous battles move across Fischl’s canvases, and most of his subjects are quotidian rather than grandiose—suburban bourgeois families, art world mongers and awkward social interactions. In his works, communication is nonexistent and boredom is pervasive. The book, published on the occasion of a solo show held at Dallas Contemporary museum, includes more than 120 painting reproductions and a conversation between Eric Fischl and Peter Doroshenko.”