Constable's Year

Susan Owens

'A marvellous book' Ali Smith

Shaped by the cycle of the natural world, a fresh look at the life and work of John Constable to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2026.

As exhilarating as a lungful of oxygen: that’s how some of his contemporaries felt about John Constable’s paintings. Others, though, were baffled by his uncompromisingly fresh and realistic treatment of the natural world. Susan Owens follows Constable through the seasons, tracing the rhythms and resonances of the artist’s year to offer a vivid, unconventional perspective on this beloved figure.

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Gwen John: Strange Beauties

Gwen John, best known for her portraits of women depicted in close tonal registers, was overshadowed during her life by her relationships with men, including her brother, the painter Augustus John, and lover, the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

In recent years, leading art historians and curators have shed new light on John’s significant contributions to British art. Gwen John: Strange Beauties builds on this groundwork, illuminating the underexamined scope of her ambition and lesser-known aspects of her practice: a vibrant use of color, plein air sketching and an interplay between figuration and abstraction.

Rose Wylie

Rose Wylie OBE RA paints from memory, frequently taking her imagery from mass media. Her large works on unstretched, unprimed canvas appear simple at first glance, but close inspection reveals them to be subtle meditations on the nature of visual representation. She regularly brings together apparently disparate images, creating visual rhymes and resonances that coalesce into unified compositions.

This new book, the catalogue of a large-scale exhibition at the Royal Academy, brings together leading authorities on Wylie’s work and a host of her unmistakable imagery.

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Vermeer

Andrew Graham Dixon

"My standout book from this year was Andrew Graham Dixon’s magisterial biography of the Dutch Golden Age painter Vermeer.

Blending meticulous historical research with a deep passion and appreciation for his subject, Andrew brings Vermeer out of the shadows, and offers a modern and radical re-evaluation of this most enigmatic and elusive of painters." ~ Rachel, Edinburgh

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Art Work

Sally Mann

The much-anticipated new book by photographer Sally Mann about the challenges and transcendent pleasures of the creative process.

Written in the same frank, fearless, and occasionally outrageous tone of her bestselling memoir, Hold Still, this new book reaffirms Mann as a unique and resonant voice for our times and is destined to become a classic.

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Mothering

Caroline Walker

"My favourite book this year is the catalogue from the latest exhibition of the fabulous Scottish artist Caroline Walker.

This is a wonderful celebration of the act of mothering, and all the different forms the experience can take.

No mundane aspect of caring is too insignificant to be recognised in gloriously large canvases that delve into the complex experiences of being a woman in contemporary society." ~ Alessia, Edinburgh

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Lessons for Young Artists
David Gentleman

We are all artists as children, painting and drawing each day. Most of us stop when we get older – but David Gentleman kept going.

For over ninety years he has been drawing, painting, engraving and printing, rising to become one of Britain’s best-known and most loved artists.

Here he shares what he has learned over the course of a lifetime of making and thinking about art.