National Network for Equitable Library Service

For skeptics, art lovers, and the millions of us who visit art galleries every year-and are confused-What Are You Looking At' by former director of London's Tate Gallery Will Gompertz is a wonderfully lively, accessible narrative history of Modern Art, from Impressionism to the present day. What is modern art' Who started it' Why do we either love it or loathe it' And why is it such big money' Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever.

Vincent van Gogh’s paintings look utterly unique - his vivid palette and boldly interpretive portraits are unmistakably his. Yet however revolutionary his style may have been, it was actually built on a strong foundation of paintings by other artists, both his contemporaries and those who came before him. Now, drawing on Van Gogh’s own thoughtful and often profound comments about the painters he venerated, Steven Naifeh gives a gripping account of the artist’s deep engagement with their work.

From the authors of Jackson Pollock: An American Saga comes an exquisitely detailed, compelling, and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of creative genius Vincent van Gogh.

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years what does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore?

Steal Like an Artist: The New York Times bestselling book on the ten things nobody ever told you about being creative. Including nothing is original, so embrace influence. School yourself through the work of others. Remix and reimagine to discover your own path. And forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watch. Show Your Work: How to take that critical next step on a creative journey―getting known and finding your people.

Some nine million people from all over the world flock to the Louvre each year to enjoy its incomparable art collection. Yet few of them are aware of the remarkable history of that place and of the buildings themselves-a fascinating story that historian James Gardner elegantly chronicles in the first full-length history of the Louvre in English. More than 7,000 years ago, men and women camped on a spot called le Louvre for reasons unknown; a clay quarry and a vineyard supported a society there in the first centuries AD.

An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million-and might not be the real thing. For two centuries, art dealers and historians searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi ("Savior of the World") by Leonardo da Vinci. At last, in 2005 a compelling candidate was discovered by a small-time Old Masters dealer at a second-rate auction house in New Orleans.

A deeply researched warning about how the digital economy threatens artists' lives and work--the music, writing, and visual art that sustain our souls and societies--from an award-winning essayist and criticThere are two stories you hear about earning a living as an artist in the digital age. One comes from Silicon Valley. There's never been a better time to be an artist, it goes. If you've got a laptop, you've got a recording studio. If you've got an iPhone, you've got a movie camera.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was a man of many talents-a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, and scholar-but he is best known for Lives of the Artists, which singlehandedly established the canon of Italian Renaissance art. Before Vasari's extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It was through Vasari's visionary writings that Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came to be regarded as great masters of life as well as art, their creative genius celebrated as a divine gift.

A brilliant book by Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel, The Age of Insight takes us to Vienna 1900, where leaders in science, medicine, and art began a revolution that changed forever how we think about the human mind - our conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions - and how mind and brain relate to art. At the turn of the century, Vienna was the cultural capital of Europe. Artists and scientists met in glittering salons, where they freely exchanged ideas that led to revolutionary breakthroughs in psychology, brain science, literature, and art.