Books
"I smile at the pile of books I found waiting for me here, wonder how
many will get read, and whether I shall be the wiser for having read them."
-Bernard Berenson in a letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, August 1, 1906
Illuminated manuscripts, a photograph of Walt Whitman, and even a lock of Nathaniel Hawthorne's hair: are just a few of the treasures in the vast collection of books, letters, and memorabilia that Isabella Stewart Gardner amassed.
Gift at the Gardner offers an eclectic array of books: from art history to poetry, literature to young readers, and more, start your literary collection with our featured titles today!
Joseph Kosuth: Guide to Contemporary Art, Special Edition
$18.00
A pioneer of the conceptual art movement, Joseph Kosuth's work explores the role of meaning in art and, like an archeologist of language and culture, he orders words and ideas from our historical memory into distinct yet intersecting layers of cultural activity--ones that are experienced today. For his 2003 exhibition celebrating the Museum's Centennial Year, Kosuth used a variety of media--text, photographs, neon signage, archival materials, objects from the This Special Edition Guide blends the Museum's guide to the collection with documentation of Kosuth's installations throughout the galleries and on the exterior façade and three site-specific installations Kosuth set up as an open-ended dialogue between James McNeil Whistler, Bernard Berenson, and Gardner herself.
Edited by Fiona Biggiero184 pages
Published by Charta, 2004
Hardcover
6 x 9 inches
Julian at the Wedding
$17.99
The star of Julián Is a Mermaid makes a joyful return—and finds a new friend—at a wedding to be remembered.
Julián and his abuela are going to a wedding. Better yet, Julián is in the wedding. Weddings have flowers and kissing and dancing and cake. And this wedding also has a new friend named Marisol. It’s not long before Julián and Marisol set off for some magic and mischief of their own, and when things take an unexpected turn, the pair learns that everything is easier with a good friend by your side. Jessica Love returns with a joyful story of friendship and individuality in this radiant follow-up to Julián Is a Mermaid.
By Jessica Love
40 pages
Published by Candlewick, 2020
Hardcover
10.31 x 0.38 x 9.38 inches
Juneteenth Is
$17.99
An intimate look at Juneteenth, this story is a warm exploration of a family and a community.
Juneteenth is the smell of brisket filling the air. Juneteenth is the sounds of music, dancing, and cheering ringing from the parade outside. It is love. It is prayer. It is friends and relatives coming together to commemorate freedom, hope for tomorrow, and one another.
This book is an ode to the history of the Black community in the United States, a tribute to Black joy, and a portrait of familial love. With poignant text and vivid illustrations, Juneteenth Is offers a window and a mirror for readers, resonating with kids who will see themselves reflected in its pages and those who hope to understand experiences beyond their own.
By Natasha Tripplett with illustrations by Daniel J. O'Brien
40 pages
Published by Chronicle Books, 2024
Hardcover
10 x 0.32 x 10.45 inches
Recommended for ages 5 - 8
Kamala Harris
$15.99
Discover the incredible life of Kamala Harris, the first woman, first Black person, and first South Asian American to be elected vice president of the USA.Little Kamala used to accompany her parents to civil rights marches in California, strapped into her stroller so she wouldn’t get lost. From an early age, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer to help people in need. In school, Kamala felt like she could do anything and everything. She earned a law degree to make sure the most vulnerable were protected by justice.
Kamala’s life was full of firsts, including becoming the first woman, Black woman, and South Asian American to be elected vice president. As Kamala stated to little girls everywhere in her speech—she may be the first but she won't be the last.
Written by Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Illustrated by Lauren Semmer
From the Little People, Big Dreams Series
32 pages
Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2018
Hardcover
7.9 x 0.55 x 10.7 inches
Karl Stevens: The Winner
$18.00
Karl Stevens uses the graphic novel to dissect the line between the worlds of high and low art. While working as a museum guard he contemplates the plight of his aesthetic choices, and how they have affected his life thus far. Where is his place as an artist? How has his world changed since he met his wife and muse Alex? Has he become boring since he quit drinking? Painted visions of autobiographical reality swing into experiments with fantasy and science fiction.
Karl Stevens has written four graphic novels, and his comics have appeared regularly in the New Yorker, Village Voice, and Boston Phoenix. His work has been well received all around, and The Lodger was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist.
Written and Illustrated by Karl Stevens
104 pages
Published by Retrofit Comics LLC, 2018
Paperback
7 x 0.2 x 10 inches
Ken Smith: Landscape Architect
$30.00 $50.00
Both a landscape designer and a public artist, Ken Smith produces designs that range in scale from small public installations to vast parks. He is known for inventive and imaginative gardens and landscapes, some of which use little or no natural plant material. His projects include public, commercial, and private work: urban parks, streetscapes, plazas, gardens, public art commissions, memorials, museums and institutions, urban development and multiuse projects, restoration of modern-era landscapes, waterfront planning and design, and residential projects.
Among Smith’s best-known projects are the MoMA Roof Garden, consisting of white gravel, recycled black rubber, crushed glass, sculptural stones, and artificial boxwood plants in a camouflage pattern; the Elevated Acre, a one-acre urban plaza with a sloping topography of planted dunes and an elevated view of New York Harbor; and Orange County Great Park, California, a redevelopment of a Marine Corps air station to include a 2.5-mile canyon, 20-acre lake, cultural terrace, botanical gardens, great lawn, performing arts venue, veterans memorial, aircraft museum, sports park, nature preserve, and wildlife corridor.
Written by Ken Smith; Introduction by John Beardsley240 pages
Published by Monacelli Press, 2009
Hardcover
9 x 10.5 inches
Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
$9.95
Photobiography of early twentieth-century photographer and schoolteacher Lewis Hine, using his own work as illustrations. Hines's photographs of children at work were so devastating that they convinced the American people that Congress must pass child labor laws.
By Russell Freedman, Photographs by Lewis Hine112 pages
Published by Clarion Books, 1998
Paperback
9.9 x 8.5 inches
Knight Owl
$17.99
A determined Owl builds strength and confidence in this medieval picture book about the real mettle of a hero: wits, humor, and heart.
Since the day he hatched, Owl dreamed of becoming a real knight. He may not be the biggest or the strongest, but his sharp nocturnal instincts can help protect the castle, especially since many knights have recently gone missing. While holding guard during Knight Night Watch, Owl is faced with the ultimate trial—a frightening intruder. It’s a daunting duel by any measure. But what Owl lacks in size, he makes up for in good ideas.
Full of wordplay and optimism, this surprising display of bravery proves that cleverness (and friendship) can rule over brawn.
By Christopher Denise
48 pages
Published by Christy Ottaviano Books, 2022
Recommended for ages 3-6
Hardcover
9.35 x 0.7 x 11.35 inches
Lady Chatterly's Lover
$20.00
400 pages
Published by Penguin Classics, 2010
Hardcover
5 x 7.75 inches
Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers
$18.99
Dream big with the Latinitas in Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers
Discover how 40 influential Latinas became the women we celebrate today! In this collection of short biographies from all over Latin America and across the United States, Juliet Menéndez explores the first small steps that set the Latinitas off on their journeys. With gorgeous, hand-painted illustrations, Menéndez shines a spotlight on the power of childhood dreams.
From Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to singer Selena Quintanilla to NASA’s first virtual reality engineer, Evelyn Miralles, this is a book for aspiring artists, scientists, activists, and more. These women followed their dreams―and just might encourage you to follow yours!
The book features Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Juana Azurduy de Padilla, Policarpa Salavarrieta, Rosa Peña de González, Teresa Carreño, Zelia Nuttall, Antonia Navarro, Matilde Hidalgo, Gabriela Mistral, Juana de Ibarbourou, Pura Belpré, Gumercinda Páez, Frida Kahlo, Julia de Burgos, Chavela Vargas, Alicia Alonso, Victoria Santa Cruz, Claribel Alegría, Celia Cruz, Dolores Huerta, Rita Moreno, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, Mercedes Sosa, Isabel Allende, Susana Torre, Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Sonia Sotomayor, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Mercedes Doretti, Sonia Pierre, Justa Canaviri, Evelyn Miralles, Selena Quintanilla, Berta Cáceres, Serena Auñón, Wanda Díaz-Merced, Marta Vieira da Silva, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Laurie Hernandez.
Written and illustrated by Juliet Menéndez
120 pages
Published by Henry Holt and Co, 2021
Hardcover
7.43 x 0.56 x 9.27 inches
Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality
$59.95
Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality: Interventions and Collaborations in Stilt Dancing Communities celebrates Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata’s work with The Brooklyn Jumbies for whom she creates costumes and wearable sculptures.By Melissa Potter, Edward Sullivan, Laura Anderson Barbata, Juan García De Oteyza, and Tim Rollins
230 pages
Published by Turner, 2013
Hardcover
10 x 13.5 inches
Laura Owens
$45.00
Laura Owens is a significant and prominent painter, whose apparently romantic-naive visual language dissolves any separation between abstract and figurative art. Her paintings move between vital colorism and an apparently symbolic representation that portrays both the world of the abyss and the world of dreams. The childlike handwriting in her ornamental paintings raises the issue of the limits of painting as an art form or as part of everyday life. This catalogue publishes works for the first time and accompanies Laura Owens‘ first solo museum exhibition in Germany.
By Laura Owens, text by Stephan Berg, Stefan Gronert, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer82 pages
Published by Kerber Verlag, 2011
Paperback
10 x 8 inches
Lee Mingwei: The Living Room
$12.00
Lee Mingwei's simple yet elegant installations provide a stage for interpersonal exchange around ordinary human events or activities–admiring an object, making conversation, or writing a letter to a friend or family member.His installations such as The Dining Project and The Letter-Writing Project are explored along with a project developed while an artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum called The Living Room. This installation creates a modern-day version of the salon life which the museum's founder used to enliven her collection. The publication includes essays by Jennifer Gross and Lewis Hyde.
By Lee Mingwei, Jennifer R. Gross, and Lewis Hyde, with an introduction by Anne Hawley
60 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2000
Hardcover
10 x 0.2 x 10 inches
Lee Mingwei: Trilogy of Sound
$22.00
Lee Mingwei, an artist who focuses on installations that often require outsider participation to be complete, was born in Taiwan and is currently based in New York City.His Trilogy of Sounds is a sound installation that uses perception of nature and sound within the house and gardens of Mount Stuart to create always changing sequences. Instead of focusing on the well known, monumental aspects of Mount Stuart, Lee Mingwei highlights the sounds and sights of small details: the wind, birds, trees, echoes.
By Lee Mingwei
21 pages
Published by the Mount Stuart Trust, 2010
Paperback
6.7 x 0.2 x 9.6 inches
Leopold Mozart
$21.95
Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) was undoubtedly one of the most interesting and versatile personalities of his time. He was the author of a "violin tutor," renowned and used throughout Europe, and also a productive composer, long-serving court musician and violist, deputy kapellmeister, and a skilled engraver and copyist of music notation. Moreover, he was a successful teacher, wise educator and promoter of his gifted children, a highly regarded scholar, an attentive observer, and an excellent letter writer. He was a loving husband and a caring, occasionally authoritarian father, a convivial host, an educated reader, an art collector, and an enthusiastic theater- and opera-goer. He created a wide circle of contacts and was an ambitious and prudent organizer of journeys and concerts. He was a devout Catholic, Freemason, provocative citizen, free thinker, and a man of the Enlightenment, who supported colleagues as well as widows and orphans of musicians. This book makes the first comprehensive study of all these aspects, in part little known, of the eventful life of Leopold Mozart.
Written by Anja Morgenstern208 pages
Published by Independent Publishers Group
Paperback
6.75 x 8.25 inches
Letters from a Stoic
$22.00
A philosophy that saw self-possession as the key to an existence lived “in accordance with nature,” Stoicism called for the restraint of animal instincts and the severing of emotional ties. These beliefs were formulated by the Athenian followers of Zeno in the fourth century BC, but it was in Seneca that the Stoics found their most eloquent advocate. Stoicism, as expressed in the Letters, helped ease pagan Rome’s transition to Christianity, for it upholds upright ethical ideals and extols virtuous living, as well as expressing disgust for the harsh treatment of slaves and the inhumane slaughter witnessed in the Roman arenas. Seneca’s major contribution to a seemingly unsympathetic creed was to transform it into a powerfully moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind. Robin Campbell’s distinguished translation captures Seneca’s humour and concise, memorable aphorisms and his introduction discusses the tensions between Seneca’s philosophy and his turbulent career as adviser to the tyrannical emperor Nero.
Written by Seneca352 pages
Published by Penguin Classics, 2015
Hardcover
4 x 6.60 inches
Letters to Isabella Stewart Gardner
$16.95
Surrounded by the artists, writers, and musicians who made up her court in Boston as they did in Venice, Isabella Stewart Gardner, a passionate art collector, was as revered and sought after as royalty. Henry James was inspired by the rich and powerful Gardner, as well as by the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, when he wrote his novel The Wings of the Dove. Gardner was to recreate a larger-than-life version of Palazzo Barbaro in Boston, which is now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
These dazzling letters bring to life James’s passion for Venice and the Palazzo Barbaro, and serve as an introduction to the fascinating world of Isabella Stewart Gardner herself.
336 pages
Published by Pushkin Press Classics
Paperback
7.8 x 5.1 inches
Lewis Hine: When Innovation Was King
$45.00
The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37
In 1936, science-teacher turned photographer Lewis Hine was commissioned by the National Research Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration, to produce a visual document of the industries that the US government hoped would provide the jobs that would lift the country out of the Great Depression. Hine, already well-established as a chronicler of social conditions of his day, produced more than 700 photographs for this project, the last major work of his career.
By emphasizing the inherent tension between machinery and workers, Hine imbued these compelling images with his characteristic rigor and aesthetic appeal. These photographs, and their implied message, are particularly relevant today given high unemployment rates and radical shifts in the role of the worker in the rapidly changing world economy. Included in this book is an essay by the eminent photographic historian, Judith Mara Gutman, in which she discusses the project and the photographs in the context of the economic conditions of the time and the artistic and technological innovations of the era.
Edited by Howard Greenberg and Bob Shamis, Photography by Lewis Hine144 pages, 100 images
Published by Steidl with the Howard Greenberg Library, New York, 2017
Hardcover
9 x 9.5 inches
Life, Death & Revelry: The Farnese Sarcophagus
$21.95
In terms of antiquarian fame, the Farnese Sarcophagus – elaborately carved with satyrs and maenads gathering grapes – may be the most important work of art in the Gardner collection, and perhaps of its type in America. A large, rectangular coffin of Pentelic marble, the Farnese Sarcophagus was exported from Athens to the area of Rome in the late Severan period, between c. 222 and 235 AD. The carving of the satyrs and maenads was especially suited to the artistic tastes of Mannerist and Baroque Rome, providing one of the most elegant examples of Greek imperial optic elongation to have survived from ancient times.Life, Death & Revelry will offer a multi-disciplinary, multi-era look at this important monument. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, it will bring together archaeological analyses of the piece and its previous restorations, and numerous Renaissance prints and drawings depicting the sarcophagus during its time in Rome.
Dr. Christina Nielsen, previous William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (2014-2018)
250 pages
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2018
Paperback
9.4 x 11 inches
Little Guides to Style II: A Historical Review of Four Fashion Icons
$65.00
Containing the stories of four legendary fashion houses, this collectable box holds a beautiful set of covetable style guides.
Exploring four designers who exemplify elegance and high couture, these little books of fashion follow these brands from their creation, moving through their style evolutions, the key looks that define them and their impact on the fashion landscape today.
Discover the story behind the red sole with the Little Book of Louboutin, the process of creating the world's most iconic bags with Louis Vuitton, the craftsmanship behind the androgynous Le Smoking in Yves Saint Laurent and the genius behind the most exquisite couture with Schiaparelli.
Featuring hundreds of exquisite images and text by best-selling authors, these definitive guides to luxury style are the perfect gift for any fashion lover.
By Emma Baxter-Wright, Katen Homer, and Laia Farreb Graves
640 pages total
Publishing by Welbeck Publishing, 2022
Hardcover
5.26 x 2.8 x 7.56 inches
Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History
$17.99
By Vashti Harrison
96 pages
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2019
Hardcover
7.5 x 0.6 x 9 inches
Little Women
$26.00
Written by Louisa May Alcott
544 pages
Published by Penguin Classics, 2010
Hardcover
5 x 7.75 inches
Looking at Art with Alex Katz
$19.99
Have you ever dreamt of having your own private museum tour with one of the world’s most-celebrated artists? Take a walk through art history in the company of America’s foremost painter, Alex Katz. Describing his personal encounters with the work of around 100 key artists, Katz’s observations offer a fluent, vivid and incisive view, making Looking at Art with Alex Katzthe perfect guide both for those looking for an introduction to the world of visual art, and anyone looking for a fresh view on their favourite artist.
Includes entries on: Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, Joan Miró, Peter Doig, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo da Vinci, David Hockey, Paul Cézanne, Johannes Vermeer and many more.
By Alex Katz208 pages
Published by Laurence King, 2018
Paperback
8.26 x 5.83 inches
Lorraine O'Grady: Both/And
$40.00
Four decades of multimedia exploits in race, art politics and subjectivity: a long-overdue survey on conceptual performance artist Lorraine O’Grady
Conceptual performance artist Lorraine O'Grady burst into the contemporary art world in 1980 dressed in a gown made of 180 pairs of white gloves and wielding a chrysanthemum-studded whip. For the next three years, O’Grady documented her exploits as this incendiary fictional persona, visiting gallery openings and providing critiques of the racial politics at play in the New York art scene. The resulting series, Mlle Bourgeoise Noire, was merely the beginning of a long career of avant-garde work that would continue to build upon O’Grady’s conceptions of self and subjectivity as seen from the perspective of a Black woman artist. This survey of O’Grady’s work spans four decades of her career and features nearly all of her major projects, as well as Announcement, the opening series of a new performance piece seven years in the making. Contextualized by an extensive timeline with letters, journal entries and interviews, Both/And provides a long-overdue close examination of O’Grady’s artistic and intellectual ambitions.
Before she became an artist at the age of 45, Lorraine O’Grady (born 1934) worked as an intelligence analyst for the United States government, a translator, and a rock music critic for the Village Voice and Rolling Stone. O’Grady’s unique life experiences, as well as her identity as a diasporic subject, have informed her multidisciplinary practice across live performance, video, photomontage, public art and cultural criticism. She is represented by Alexander Gray Associates, New York.
204 pages
Published by Dancing Foxes Press/Brooklyn Museum, 2021
Hardcover
8.5 x 10.25 inches
Luisa Lambri: Portrait
$50.00
Known for her photographic meditations on architecture, artist Luisa Lambri offers an innovative understanding of the mind and character of collector Isabella Stewart Gardner. Designed in collaboration with the artist, Portrait features a selection of Lambri's lyrical photographic studies of the Museum's unique spaces, a body of work that functions metaphorically as both a portrait of the artist and a portrait of Gardner.Also included are extended excerpts from the diary of the Museum's architect, Willard T. Sears, during the time of the Museum's construction as well as an essay on Lambri's residency at the Gardner by curator Pieranna Cavalchini. Published on the occasion of the reopening of the Museum in January 2012, this book provides new insights into Isabella Stewart Gardner—whose driving vision brought the museum to life—and a profound investigation into the poetics of place.
By Luisa Lambri, with Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Amanda Esteves-Kraus
93 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2012
Hardcover
10.1 x 0.3 x 7.8 inches
Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella
$25.00
Turin-born, Brooklyn-based Luisa Rabbia produced this delightful book of collage--inspired by archival photographs purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from local photographers while traveling through China in 1883--during her residency at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Rabbia manipulates the photographs with drawings made via digital projection.
Written by Pieranna Cavalchini96 pages
Published by Charta, 2009
Hardcover
9.5 x 6 inches
Luxury for Export: Artistic Exchange Between India and Portugal Around 1600
$24.00
Portugal established trading centers in India and Sri Lanka through the first direct sea route from Europe to Asia. By the 1500s, the luxury goods being imported from South Asia were highly sought after, creating an evolving trade system that resulted in the development of art and craft work that combined styles and traditions.This catalog identifies these important works that show the artistic collaboration between vastly different cultures.
By Pedro Moura Carvalho
77 pages
Published by Periscope Publishing Ltd., 2008
Hardcover
8.2 x 0.8 x 11.5 inches
Madam and Eve: Women Portraying Women
$65.00
This book is about how women artists have depicted women in art over the last 30-40 years. It is not a feminist diatribe but a rich, varied and exciting overview of the many different media and approaches that women have used to create images of themselves and other women that are different from the ways in which male artists perceive and have depicted women in art.
There are six chapters beginning with an "historic" chapter starting in the 1970s which sets the artistic and cultural context for the period that followed up to the present. The remaining chapters cover the themes of life, death, body/self, icons and story.
Each of the 200 women artists is represented by one work of art. There is an international mix of artists, ranging from the well established to the lesser known. The result is a visually stimulating and eloquent book.
240 pages
Published by Laurence King, 2018
Hardcover
11.5 x 8.3 inches
Madame Bovary
$26.00
Emma Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment and devastating consequences. Flaubert’s erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of Emma Bovary caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857. It was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for his heroine; but Flaubert insisted: “Madame Bovary, c’est moi.” One of the greatest novels of the 19th century, Flaubert’s torrid debut lives on in Geoffrey Wall’s brilliant translation. This edition features an introduction by Wall, and a preface on Emma Bovary’s femininity and modernity by novelist Michèle Roberts.
Written by Gustave Flaubert
384 pages
Published by Penguin Classics, 2015
Hardcover
5 x 7.75 inches
Make Your Art No Matter What
$19.95
The Artist's Way for the 21st century—from esteemed creative counselor Beth Pickens
If you are an artist, you need to make your art. That's not an overstatement—it's a fact; if you stop doing your creative work, your quality of life is diminished. But what do you do when life gets in the way? In this down-to-earth handbook, experienced artist coach Beth Pickens offers practical advice for developing a lasting and meaningful artistic practice in the face of life's inevitable obstacles and distractions. This thoughtful volume suggests creative ways to address the challenges all artists must overcome—from making decisions about time, money, and education, to grappling with isolation, fear, and anxiety. No matter where you are in your art-making journey, this book will motivate and inspire you. Because not only do you need your art—the world needs it, too.
Perfect for:
• Visual artists and makers
• Writers, musicians, filmmakers, and other creatives
• Art and design school graduates and grad-gift givers
By Beth Pickens
208 pages
Published by Chronicle Books, 2021
Paperback
6.05 x 0.85 x 8 inches
Malala Yousafzai
$15.99
When Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan, her father was determined she would have every opportunity that a boy would have. She loved getting an education, but when a hateful regime came to power, girls were no longer allowed to go to school. Malala spoke out in public about this, which made her a target for violence. She was shot in the left side of her head and woke up in a hospital in England. Finally, after long months and many surgeries, Malala recovered, and resolved to become an activist for girls’ education. Now a recent Oxford graduate, Malala continues to fight for a world where all girls can learn and lead. This powerful book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the activist’s life.By Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
32 pages
Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2021
Hardcover
8.15 x 0.5 x 9.85 inches
Manet to Bracquemond: Unknown Letters to and Artist
$45.00
With his radical usage of etching, painter Félix Bracquemond (1833–1914) influenced his contemporary Édouard Manet (1832–1883) significantly, an influence that is evident in Manet’s oeuvre. The relationship between the two artists, however, was even closer than their art reveals. As the countless letters sent by Manet to Bracquemond—unknown until surfacing at a sale in Paris in 2016—prove, the friendship between the two men was more profound than mere artistic influence.
The letters, collected here for the first time, are presented in their original French and edited by Jean-Paul Bouillon, whose lifelong occupation with Bracquemond’s life and work enabled him to situate the mostly undated letters in their proper time and context. To make these written documents more tangible, an introduction explores the friendship between the two men and highlights the principal subjects and themes around which the correspondence revolves, and the meticulous text is accompanied by nearly fifty color reproductions of the artwork referenced in the letters.
Many of the letters attest to the frequent, at times daily, contacts between the two men, who met in Manet’s studio and at dinners with Manet’s wife and mother. Others concern joint projects, such as the illustration of Émile Zola’s brochure issued on the occasion of Manet’s solo exhibition of 1867. After more than a century of intense scholarship, our knowledge of Manet still presents many gaps. The correspondence presented in Manet to Bracquemond proves an essential new resource for our understanding of the life and work of the artist.
By Jean-Paul Bouillon
136 pages
Published by Ad Illissvm, 2021
Paperback
7.25 x 0.6 x 9.75 inches
Manet/Degas
$65.00
The first publication on the personal and professional relationship between Manet and Degas, two giants of nineteenth-century French art
Friends, rivals, and at times antagonists, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas maintained a pictorial dialogue throughout their lives as they both worked to define the painting of modern urban life. Manet/Degas, the first book to consider their careers in parallel, investigates how their objectives overlapped, diverged, and shaped each other’s artistic choices. Enlivened by archival correspondence and records of firsthand accounts, essays by American and French scholars take a fresh look at the artists’ family relationships, literary friendships, and interconnected social and intellectual circles in Paris; explore their complex depictions of race and class; discuss their political views in the context of wars in France and the United States; compare their artistic practices; and examine how Degas built his personal collection of works by Manet after his friend’s premature death. An illustrated biographical chronology charts their intersecting lives and careers. This lavishly illustrated, in-depth study offers an opportunity to reevaluate some of the most canonical French artworks of the nineteenth century, including Manet’s Olympia, Degas’s The Absinthe Drinker, and other masterworks.
By Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley Dunn
316 pages
Published by Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023
Hardcover
9.54 x 1.31 x 11.76 inches
Manet: A Model Family
$49.95
All families are complicated, but the family of Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was more complicated than most. The artist married a piano teacher who worked for his wealthy parents. Her son, born out of wedlock, may have been Édouard’s, his father’s, or another man’s. For all its complexities, Manet’s family fueled his creativity. They were his most frequent models, and supported him emotionally and financially. Manet: A Model Family is an innovative new exploration of the largely neglected story of the importance of Manet’s family to his art.
Presenting new research on works in which Manet depicted family members, Manet: A Model Family shows how an understanding of the artist’s family sheds crucial light on his artistic career. Manet’s mother, wife, stepson, and other relatives—including his sister-in-law, the painter Berthe Morisot—are given long overdue recognition for their roles in Manet’s life and work. Leading scholars present technical and archival analysis, including redating Madame Auguste Manet, an important, newly conserved painting of Manet’s mother. In an essay inspired by that canvas, Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Hilton Als reconsiders Manet’s formative relationship with his mother and his bourgeois Parisian roots.
With its original account of Manet’s domestic relationships and personal life, Manet: A Model Family humanizes the artist and his contributions to the birth of modernism.
Edited by Diana Seave Greenwald (William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection)
224 pages
Published in association with Princeton University Press, 2024
11.5 x 9 inches
Manifesto of Fashion as Resistance
$80.00
Manifesto of Fashion as Resistance is a large-format book, authored by Carla Fernandez. At the same time that it is an ideological manifesto that captures her positions regarding fashion, to the design, creation and production of garments, is a document that celebrates 15 years since the creation of the Carla Fernández Fashion House and 30 years of collaborating creative and productive activities with wonderful Mexican artisans in 16 states of the Republic with more of 80 different craft techniques.
It is an art book with more than 200 photographs, where their collaboration, their inspirations, the Mexican roots and the current struggles of feminisms; at the same time, it is a photographic essay on the evolution of the designer as an artist who finds a language, no need for prominence.
The visual art of Manifesto of Fashion in Resistance has the participation of several visions photographs, among which those of Graciela Iturbide, Maya Goded, Ricardo Ramos, Maruch Santíz, Ramiro Chaves, Ana Hop, among others, as well as texts by Julieta González, Florence Müller, Circe Henestrosa and Cristina Rangel, who talk about the work of the Carla Fernández Fashion House and its impact on the design scene in Mexico and in turn in the world, as well as the different catwalks and exhibitions, such as those of the Jumex Museum, in Mexico City, the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, England, Isabella Stewart Gardner, in Boston, USA, among many others. . In addition to what is contained in the Manifesto, the physical book is a proposal for editorial art, where the artistic vision of Carla Fernández is combined with the work of Maricris Herrera as editor-designer.
Mansfield Park
$25.00
Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighborhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.
Written by Jane Austen, edited by Kathryn Sutherland; illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith, introduction by Tony Tanner
560 pages
Published by Penguin Classics, 2012
Hardcover
5.3 x 1.4 x 8 inches
Marcus Rashford
$15.99
When Marcus was a child, he had a family that loved him and a talent for soccer. His mum, Melanie, worked long hours to provide for her family, but sometimes she would go without food herself to make sure that her children had enough to eat.
With his mum's support, Marcus pursued his dreams and progressed through the youth academy at Manchester United Football Club. He worked hard and trained for years to reach the top of the game, making his debut in the Premier League in 2016.
But no matter how successful he became, he never forgot where he came from and his experience as a hungry child. When schools were closed during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the situation left schoolchildren without free meals that they would have had. And so Marcus took it upon himself to lead a nation-wide campaign to ensure that no child would go without food.
This powerful book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the soccer player’s life.
By Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, illustrated by Guilherme Karsten
From the Little People, Big Dreams Series
32 pages
Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2022
Hardcover
7.95 x 0.55 x 9.75 inches
Marilyn Monroe
$15.99
Meet Marilyn Monroe, the iconic movie star.
Little Norma Jeane grew up between foster homes, an orphanage, and a family friend’s house – where she was forbidden from watching movies. Through her difficult childhood and teen years, she dreamed of becoming an actress. One day a photographer spotted her and gave her a modeling contract, and from this day she was “Marilyn Monroe”. She was much-admired but suffered from pre-performance anxiety, which made her late to set and in and out of movie contracts. Her films grossed over $200 million but she was known to have said “I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.” This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the star’s life.
By Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, illustrated by Ana Albero
From the Little People, Big Dreams Series
32 pages
Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2021
Hardcover
7.9 x 0.55 x 9.7 inches
Mark Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment
$29.95
In the fourth installment of The Photography Workshop Series, Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015)—well known for the emotional power of her pictures, be they of people or animals—offers her insight on observing the world and capturing dramatic moments that reveal more than the reality at hand.
Aperture Foundation works with the world’s top photographers to distill their creative approaches to, teachings on, and insights into photography―offering the workshop experience in a book. Our goal is to inspire photographers at all levels who wish to improve their work, as well as readers interested in deepening their understanding of the art of photography. Through words and pictures, in this volume Mark shares her own creative process and discusses a wide range of issues, from gaining the trust of the subject and taking pictures that are controlled but unforced, to organizing the frame so that every part contributes toward telling the story.
By Mary Ellen Mark
128 pages
Published by Aperture, 2015
Paperback
7.5 x 0.5 x 9.9 inches
Mary Shelley
$14.99
When Mary Shelley was a little girl, she used to write stories beneath the trees in her garden. As an adult, Mary was inspired by this same imagination to create a ghost story, which became the famous novel: Frankenstein. This gripping book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the novelist's life.
From the Little People, Big Dreams Series
32 pages
Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2019
Hardcover
8 x 9.8 inches
Masters of Art: Matisse
$14.95
Learn about Henri Matisse, one of the 20th century's most beloved artists, and his artistic legacy.
From his earliest pointillist-influenced paintings to this mature and playful paper cut-outs; from enormous, ebullient murals to reverent stained glass--Henri Matisse was renowned for his dramatic use of color and fluid draftsmanship. Thirty of Matisse's most beloved works are given close attention in this introduction that explores the varying tensions of the artist's oeuvre--his embrace of pure color, patterns, and texture; the languorous pleasures of the Cote d'Azur; primitive displays of human ecstasy; tranquil scenes of domestic life and soaring monuments to religious life. An engaging biography takes readers through every phase of Matisse's career and reveals how his aversion to troubling or depressing subject matter was in direct opposition to the radical spirit of his work.
By Eckhard Hollmann
112 pages
Published by Prestel, 2022
Paperback
6.62 x 0.36 x 8.25 inches
Masters of Art: Rembrandt
$14.95
This generously illustrated volume on the work of Rembrandt makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Celebrated for his penetrating portraits, richly detailed landscapes, and evocative narrative paintings, the seventeenth-century artist Rembrandt is generally considered one of Europe’s greatest painters and printmakers, and the master of the Dutch School. His work is distinguished by broad brushwork, luminous palettes, and a sense of order and movement that recalls the finest Renaissance art. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details—allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist’s technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historical events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, a timeline, and suggestions for further reading.By Steffano Zuffi
160 pages
Published by Presetl, 2011
Paperback
6.75 x 0.56 x 8.25 inches
Masters of Art: Rubens
$14.95
Arguably the greatest artist of the Baroque period, Peter Paul Rubens was an accomplished painter and draftsman, as well as a valued diplomat. This accessible examination of his life and work looks at every aspect of Rubens's oeuvre; from his commissioned portraits of royalty and the nobility to his magnificent representations of ancient myths, Biblical stories, and historical events. This incisive biography traces his life as a student in Venice, where he encountered the works of Titian and Tintoretto, the establishment of his studio in Antwerp, and the lucrative patronages of Marie de' Medici and Phillip IV. Full page reproductions of Rubens's work communicate his energetic and dynamic style, along with his masterful use of color and sensuous depictions of the human body.
By Michael Robinson
112 pages
Published by Prestel, 2020
Paperback
6.75 x 0.4 x 8.31 inches
Masters of Art: Turner
$14.95
This generously illustrated volume on the work of Turner makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Perhaps the best-loved English romantic painter, Turner became known as "the painter of light." The use of brilliant watercolor characterizes his numerous landscapes. Traveling throughout Europe, Turner captured the vitality of urban and pastoral scenes. As he developed his technique, his paintings took on the quality of pure luminescence, paving the way for the Impressionist era to come. Overflowing with images, the book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details, which allow every aspect of the artist’s technique and oeuvre to be appreciated. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historical events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, a timeline, and suggestions for further reading.
By Gabriele Crepaldi
160 pages
Published by Prestel, 2011
Paperback
6.75 x 0.56 x 8.25 inches
Maurizio Cannavacciuolo: TV Dinner
$18.00
TV Dinner documents an important installation at the Museum by Maurizio Cannavacciuolo. The Italian artist's first museum exhibition in the U.S., "TV Dinner" is an intricately patterned site-specific wall drawing, executed in two parts, which contains hidden narratives about the Museum's collection and legendary founder as well as elements characteristic of Cannavacciuolo personal myths and low-key humor. This book documents the five-month installation and surveys Cannavacciuolo's earlier works. Essays include an examination of the process by which Cannavacciuolo created this monumental yet ephemeral work by Pieranna Cavalchini and a consideration of his wider oeuvre with particular attention to the role of performance and pattering in his art by Marcia E. Vetrocq.
By Maurizio Cannavacciuolo96 pages
Published by Charta, 2004
Hardcover
6.92 x 9.68 inches
Melvin Moti: Collector's Item
$18.00
This one-off magazine was conceptualized and designed by Dutch artist Melvin Moti (Artist-in-Residence 2010), with additional contributions by artists Runa Islam and Douglas Ross.Moti believes that collectors such as Isabella Stewart Gardner inspire us to become collectors. "We are looking through the eyes of the collector when we follow the very spontaneous yet sensitive connections between all the collected objects," Moti says. "The collector is materialized through the visitor, who becomes another component of the scripted orchestration of the collection."
The magazine includes texts, drawings, and photography by the three artists, and investigates the extent to which the Gardner Museum's conceptual approach can be found in other museums. Douglas Ross points to the very dominant presence of the collector and complex instructions for displaying the collection as characteristics shared by the Gardner Museum and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The unusual transformation from a private collection to a public museum is the central focus of Runa Islam's project on the Sir John Soane Museum in London.
By Melvin Moti with Douglas Ross and Runa Islam
21 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2012
8 x 0.3 x 7.25 inches
Paperback
Men to Avoid in Art & Life
$14.95
Men to Avoid in Art and Life pairs classical fine art with modern captions that epitomize the spirit of mansplaining.This hilarious book perfectly captures those relatable moments when a man explains to a woman a subject about which he knows considerably less than she does.
Situations include men sharing keen insight on the female anatomy, an eloquent defense of catcalling, or offering sage advice about horseback riding to the woman who owns the horse.
• These less qualified men of antiquity dish out mediocrity as if it's pure genius
• For the women who have endured overbearing men over the centuries
• Written with hilariously painful accuracy
"Now, when you're riding a horse, you need to make sure to keep a good grip on the reins."
"These are my horses."
Through cringe-induced empathy, this timeless gift book of shared experiences unites women across history in one of the most powerful forms of resistance: laughter.
We also suggest Parenting Advice to Ignore in Art and Life and Friends to Keep in Art and Life.
96 pages
Published by Chronicle Books, 2020
Hardcover
6.3 x 6.2 inches
© 2024 Gift at the Gardner.
