Gorgeous Coffee Table Books from Great Museums
By Jason Cochran- Where the museum is: Oxford, U.K.
"Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture Richard Kurin, aided by a team of top Smithsonian curators and scholars, has assembled a literary exhibition of 101 objects from across the Smithsonian's museums that together offer a marvelous new perspective on the history of the United States... Kurin sheds remarkable new light on objects we think we know well, from Lincoln's hat to Dorothy's ruby slippers and Julia Child's kitchen, including the often astonishing tales of how each made its way into the collections of the Smithsonian. Other objects will be eye-opening new discoveries for many, but no less evocative of the most poignant and important moments of the American experience. Some objects, such as Harriet Tubman's hymnal, Sitting Bull's ledger, Cesar Chavez's union jacket, and the Enola Gay bomber, tell difficult stories from the nation's history, and inspire controversies when exhibited at the Smithsonian... In Kurin's hands, each object comes to vivid life, providing a tactile connection to American history." (Penguin Books)
- Where the museum is: Washington, D.C.
"The first-ever comprehensive showcase of the masterpieces found in the collection of the Museo Nacional del Prado in [Madrid,] Spain. The numerous works by Francisco de Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, and Hieronymus Bosch are some of the highlights of the collection. Comprehensively showcasing the museum’s permanent collection, this magnificent book is the first of its kind to be published in association with the Prado, covering the collection from ancient sculpture to the nineteenth century.... There are sections looking in depth at specific painters (Velázquez, Titian, El Greco, and Bosch) and at the themes of still life, portraits, and religious paintings. The Prado: Masterpieces can be read as a complete history of Western art, as illustrated by the careful selection of highlights from the museum’s collection." (Thames & Hudson)
- Where the museum is: Madrid
"At the war’s end, Churchill and his colleagues left... and locked the door behind them—and the War Rooms remained there, untouched and little known, until the early 1980s. Today, those historic chambers are on display as the Churchill War Rooms exhibit. With Secrets of Churchill’s War Rooms, you can go behind the glass partitions that separate the War Rooms from the visiting public, closer than ever before to where Churchill not only ran the war—but won it. This magnificent volume offers up-close photography of details in every room and provides access to sights unavailable on a simple tour of Churchill War Rooms. These are views that few people in the world have ever seen. Go behind closed doors to sit at Churchill’s desk, open up long-abandoned drawers and sift through seventy-year-old papers. See the anxious scratches on the arms of Sir Winston’s chair, pick up the phone that he used to speak to the president of the United States, and examine the map that loomed over his bed as he took his famous afternoon naps. Including more than three hundred detailed images and firsthand memories of Churchill as a leader, boss, father, husband, and a man, Secrets of Churchill’s War Rooms tells the fascinating story of the work carried out in these underground offices." (Imperial War Museums)
- Where the museum is: London
"As the first large survey published in 30 years, and the first large general survey of the Met's paintings collection, [this book] is the first to celebrate the greatest and most iconic paintings of one of the largest, most important, and most beloved museums in the world. This impressive book’s broad sweep of material, all from a single museum, makes it at once a universal history of painting and the ideal introduction to the iconic masterworks of this world-renowned institution. Lavish color illustrations and details of 500 masterpieces, created over 5,000 years in cultures across the globe, are presented chronologically from the dawn of civilization to the present. These works represent a grand tour of painting from ancient Egypt and classical antiquity and prized Byzantine and medieval altarpieces, to paintings from Asia, India, Africa, and the Americas and the greatest European and North American masters." (Skira Rizzoli)
- Where the museum is: New York City
"Endorsed by the Louvre and for the first time ever, every painting from the world's most popular museum is available in one stunning book. All 3,022 paintings on display in the permanent painting collection of the Louvre are presented in full color in this striking, slipcased book. ... All 3,022 paintings are fully annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the painting, the Louvre catalog number, and the room in the Louvre in which the painting is found." (Black Dog & Leventhal)
- Where the museum is: Paris
By Lisa Schlansker Kolosek; 276 pages; $55 (hardcover), $45 (e-book)
"The only museum in the United States dedicated entirely to the art form of dance, the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame opened in June 1987... Lisa Schlansker Kolosek has created a rich pictorial history tracing not only the museum's remarkable evolution but the relevance of the museum to the city of Saratoga Springs, New York. Kolosek tells the story of the museum's origins, from its notable founders' grand idea to the selection and complete renovation of a historic 1920s bath house as its home. Combining a complete survey of exhibitions presented by the museum and the incredible history of the Hall of Fame, which recognizes dance luminaries across multiple genres, this book offers an in-depth look at the museum's expansive collection of costumes, visual art, and archival materials... Beautifully illustrated with more than four hundred photographs, this book pays tribute to the immense impact of the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame." (Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press)
- Where the museum is: Saratoga Springs, New York
"The Art Institute of Chicago, one of the most beloved and important museums in the world, houses an extraordinary collection of objects from diverse places, cultures, and time periods. This beautiful catalogue opens the doors of the museum to readers, presenting an expansive selection of painted works from around the globe, introduced insightfully by James Rondeau, president and director of the Art Institute. New color photography accompanies entries written by a team of curators, art historians, and educators, which put the works into context. The book showcases a dazzling range of paintings, including an Egyptian funeral portrait, an ancient Mexican wall mural, Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese painted screens, and works by artists such as Caillebotte, Cassatt, El Greco, Gauguin, Homer, Hopper, Johns, Lichtenstein, Matisse, Mitsuoki, Monet, Morisot, Motley, O’Keeffe, Picasso, Pollock, Rembrandt, Richter, Rubens, Sargent, Seurat, Tiepolo, Turner, Van Gogh, Warhol, Whistler, and Wood; contemporary artists featured include Kerry James Marshall, Wanda Pimentel, and Kazuo Shiraga." (Art Institute of Chicago)
- Where the museum is: Chicago
"The British Museum is the most magnificent treasure-house in the world. The wealth and range of its collections is unequalled by any other national museum. The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, Egyptian mummies, drawings by Botticelli and Michelangelo, Assyrian reliefs, the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo treasure are all to be found there. Treasures of the British Museum delights readers with the intriguing stories behind these treasures and many more. This timely new edition brings the story right up to date, with chapters on important acquisitions made by the Museum in the last fifteen years, including the Warren Cup and the Queen of the Night." (British Museum Press)
- Where the museum is: London
"This volume of superb writing and lavish illustrations pays tribute to one of the most significant collections of contemporary art in the world and now a major new museum, The Broad in Los Angeles. For more than four decades Eli and Edythe Broad have fostered public appreciation of contemporary art through their collection of nearly 2,000 works, notable for its incredible sophistication and breadth... Readers will delight in essays by filmmaker John Waters on Jeff Koons; music critic Greil Marcus on Christopher Wool; novelist Siri Husvedt on Anselm Kiefer; travel writer and essayist Pico Iyer on Takashi Murakami; Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Mark Stevens on Cy Twombly; and former Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, John Elderfield on Jasper Johns, among many other pairings. Curated as carefully as an exhibition, this collection of timeless images and timely writings gives readers a unique pathway through this enormous, and enormously influential, collection." (Prestel)
- Where the museum is: Los Angeles
"American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany is most famous for his revolutionary and widely popular glass windows, lamps, and vases, but his contributions to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art and design were so much more. Tiffany was also a painter, photographer, interior decorator, and designer of ceramics, enamels, and jewelry. This book presents more than 200 of the artist's works from the renowned Tiffany collection of [Florida's] Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in chronological sequence, providing a biographical view of the man behind the famous glass." (Schiffer)
- Where the museum is: Winter Park, Florida
"This comprehensive monograph on Versailles offers unprecedented access to the château and grounds of one of France’s most significant and legendary historical landmarks. For this book, Versailles granted the photographer carte blanche access to the palace and its grounds. This new edition includes previously unseen material on the recently restored Cabinet de la Meridienne (Marie-Antoinette’s boudoir), the Salon d’Aurore, and new, up-close and in-situ details of objects that are not part of the general public circuit. Also included are historical memoirs and letters that provide fascinating insight into life at the palace." (Flammarion)
- Where the museum is: outside Paris
"A rich, illustrated history of the New Museum, a pioneering, internationally renowned institution. Through a detailed chronology that captures the New York museum's legendary firsts, major milestones, groundbreaking exhibitions, and prescient curatorial thinking, this book provides the first authoritative history on an institution whose bold and experimental spirit has made it a model twenty-first-century art museum. The book traces its growth, from its beginnings in a classroom at the New School, to its role as an international institution." (Phaidon Press)
- Where the museum is: New York City
"The Vatican is one of the most visited sites in the world and houses many museums and palaces, as well as one of the finest art collections known to man. Works of interest include Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and his Pieta; the Raphael frescoes; the works of Giotto, Fra Angelico, Titian, and Caravaggio; and some of the world's finest statues, manuscripts, architecture, and gardens, as well as the world's most precious Christian relics... The book is organized into 22 sections representing the museums and areas of the Vatican, including the Pinacoteca, the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms, the Borgia Apartments, the Vatican Palaces, and St. Peter's Basilica. Each one of the 976 works of art represented in the book—including 661 classical paintings on display in the permanent painting collection and 315 other masterpieces—is annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the work, and the catalog number (if applicable)." (Black Dog & Leventhal)
- Where the museum is: Rome
"A postcard from a childhood sweetheart. A wedding dress sealed in a jar. A roll of undeveloped film. An axe used to chop an ex-lover's furniture in a fit of rage. A wind-up toy, a bar of bath soap, a tin of Love Potion with the simple caption 'Doesn't work.' These objects, and many more, make up the whimsical, imaginative, poignant population of the Museum of Broken Relationships... Now, as the physical museum arrives for a permanent spot in Los Angeles, the authors have collected the best, funniest, most heartwarming and heartrending stories from their huge selection of submissions. Much like the bestselling PostSecret series, this beautiful oversized, four-color book will offer an irresistible glimpse inside other people's secret worlds, creating moments of deep human connection. It is a must read for anyone who has ever loved and lost." (Grand Central Publishing)
- Where the museum is: Los Angeles
"In celebration of the 75th anniversary [in 2016] of a beloved cultural institution, America’s National Gallery of Art takes readers on a definitive inside tour through the museum’s remarkable history. With lively prose and abundant illustrations, this richly detailed volume recounts the development of the Gallery under its four directors―David Finley, John Walker, J. Carter Brown, and currently Earl A. Powell III―and highlights the museum’s collections, exhibitions, architecture, and ambience. Later chapters explore the Gallery’s new emphasis on contemporary art and its historic 2014 agreement to accept custody of the Corcoran Collection, giving readers and visitors a window onto the future of this national treasure." (Princeton University Press)
- Where the museum is: Washington, D.C.
- Where the museum is: London