Art and Design Books

A definitive new survey of Margaret Preston, celebrating her luminous, vivid still lifes, masterful use of colour and her enduring influence on Australian art and design. As one of the most influential Australian artists of the early twentieth century, Margaret Preston transformed the visual...

A comprehensive and richly illustrated publication celebrating the timeless art of Emily Kam Kngwarray — a pre-eminent Australian artist and one of the most significant painters of the 20th century. An Anmatyerr woman from Central Australia, Kngwarray devoted the last decades of her life...

A comprehensive and richly illustrated publication celebrating the timeless art of Emily Kam Kngwarray — a pre-eminent Australian artist and one of the most significant painters of the 20th century. An Anmatyerr woman from Central Australia, Kngwarray devoted the last decades of her life...

Published to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of Liberty, this book celebrates the extraordinary range of innovative fabric designs that have been at the forefront of the business and its global reputation for well over a century. Liberty – an icon of...

Cloth-covered box containing catalogues, postcards and posters celebrating and exploring the 150th anniversary of London’s iconic store. The Liberty story begins 150 years ago when Mr Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first store on Regent Street, May 15th 1875. To mark this special anniversary...

Textile printing is a method for aesthetically enhancing a woven textile through a combination of images and patterns, rhythm and repetition, tactility and texture, colours and light, two-dimensionality and illusions of three-dimensionality. In Denmark, Marie Gudme Leth, Helga Foght, Inge Ingetoft, Arne Jacobsen, Dorte...

Hardly mentioned in standard histories of Australian art, the nude is like an unwanted guest, somehow slightly embarrassing. After a tentative entrance in Hobart in the 1840s, it disappeared until the 1870s. Why was this? When it did finally emerge, how did it compare...

Cats & Dogs is an eclectic curation from the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection, showcasing works of art that offer a unique perspective on cats and dogs and our relationship to them. For millennia, artists and designers have been inspired by the enduring relationship...

Since the advent of the camera nearly two centuries ago, a portrait is no longer expected to be an exact likeness. From surrealist renderings to abstract interpretations, contemporary artists have shed the convention of traditional portraiture, experimenting with an array of styles to convey...

The Bloomsbury Group was one of the most successful and influential interdisciplinary collectives of the twentieth century. While its members resisted definition, their vibrant art and dress imparted a coherent, distinctive group identity. The Bloomsbury Look is an intimate and novel exploration of the...

'There is an internal monologue, and a world of decisions and possibilities behind each work that the viewer does not see. Abstraction is akin to learning a new language.' ANA YOUNGThere is no single neat definition of abstract art. It makes no attempt to...

Set against the burgeoning cultural art scene of 1950s Melbourne, among the soon-to-become legendary artists of the Heide group, Christabel weaves the story of Charles and Barbara and the influence they had on each other, and on the Australian art world. Handwritten letters vividly...

'Petite, plucky and always immaculately dressed in the constraint of Victorian finery...throughout her life she was acclaimed internationally, winning 29 medals, and accolades from leading art critics. Her work was also collected by royalty, including Queen Victoria.' - Patricia Fullerton, 2002 Ellis Rowan (1848-1922) was a...

Shaun Tan is one of the world's most acclaimed narrative artists. Drawing upon twenty-five years as a picture book and comics creator, painter, designer and filmmaker, Creature explores a central obsession with imaginary beings.  Beyond sketches for visionary works such as The Arrival, The...

Ikuntji Artists presents Ikuntji Textiles, a book about the development of the designs, their stories and the artists behind them, and the collaborations. This full colour publication gives an insight into Ikuntji's range of wearable art textiles. Texts included range from interviews with the artists in...

Located on a small ridge at the edge of the Indulkana Ranges, approximately 575 kilometres south of Alice Springs, Iwantja Arts art centre is home to some of Australia's most exciting Indigenous art.The art centre, a studio collective where the artists meet, socialise and...

'Welcome to the past, present and future. I stand side-by-side with my great-grandfather, who I never met - two painters from the centre of this country, standing up and making our voices heard. I believe in the power of art, the power of the paintbrush....

Know My Name celebrates art by women from across Australia. With more than 150 artists profiled and texts written by more than 115 women writers, the book aims to highlight the artists and their work and shift assumptions that the histories of art are...

Modern Art takes the reader through individual movements from Impressionism to Conceptual Art, situating these within five broader chronological themes. Starting with Impressionism in 1860, Dempsey proceeds through the essentials of Modernism, the post-war New Disorder and beyond. The material is arranged with great...

With new chapters taking in the last few years of Margaret Olley's life, her state funeral and the enormous legacy she has left behind. Margaret Olley is arguably Australia's most loved artist. She was also one of the country's most generous benefactors to public...