Artist biography book
Biographies About
Visual Artists
From Renaissance masters to modern rebels, hear the stories of people with a gift
for seeing the ideal and imaginary—and making us believe.
Van Gogh
- The Life
- By: Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 44 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
Overall
Performance
Story
Working with the full cooperation of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith have accessed a wealth of previously untapped materials and illuminated with poignancy the wanderings of Van Gogh's troubled, restless soul
- 5 out of 5 stars
Empathy for a True Artist
- By Sojourning Hope on
Browse Books: Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers
It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (Paperback)
By Zoe Thorogood, Zoe Thorogood (By (artist))
$
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Leonardo da Vinci (Paperback)
By Walter Isaacson
$
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M Train: A Memoir (Paperback)
By Patti Smith
$
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A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Paperback)
By Rebecca Solnit
$
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Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring (Hardcover)
By Brad Gooch
$
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Irving Penn: Centennial (Hardcover)
By Maria Morris Hambourg, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Alexandra Dennett (Contributions by), Philippe Garner (Contributions by), Adam Kirsch (Contributions by), Harald E. L. Prins (Contributions by), Vasilios Zatse (Contributions by)
$
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Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art (Paperback)
By Mary Gabriel
$
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The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone (Paperback)
By Olivia Laing
$
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Truckload of Art: The Life and Work of Terry Allen—An Authorized Biography (Hardcover)
By Brendan Greaves
$
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Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency (Paperback)
By Olivia Laing
$
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The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity (Hardcover)
By Catherine Ricketts
$
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The Letters of Vincent van Gogh (Paperback)
By Vincent Van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw (Editor), Arnold J. Pomerans (Translated by)
$
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10 Artist Biographies Everyone Should Have On Their Shelves
If you are looking for an escape from the news and the noise, try our list of award-winning memoirs and artist biographies to add to your &#;to-read&#; shelf.
Our reading list evokes both the artists’ inner lives and their connections to their contemporaries and the art scene, whilst others shed light on the complexity of these figures and meditate on existential questions. We spotlight a selection of books drawing from previously unpublished letters and personal notes, through the scandalous &#;80s New York art scene to never-before-seen interviews and contemplations on the purpose of making art.
Widow Basquiat
by Jennifer Clement,
Instead of writing a classic artist biography of Jean-Michel Basquiat, award-winning author Jennifer Clement chronicles her close friend Suzanne Mallouk&#;s love affair with Basquiat in an emotionally resonant prose. Drawing from Mallouk&#;s memories, Clement takes us through the mesmerizing and wild s New York art scene and goes into the pure but often abusive relationship Mallouk and Basquiat had, through the collateral damages of drug habits and suffocating paranoia. In the end, it is the story of Mallouk’s life, but also gives glimpses of who Basquiat was through his &#;widow&#;s&#; short reminiscent vignettes.
The Diary Of Frida Kahlo
by Frida Kahlo, Carlos Fuentes (Introduction),
Frida Kahlo kept a haunting journal during the last decade of her life, preoccupied with death, beset by isolation and by an unending round of surgeries from a series of accidents building up to a brutally crippling bus-and-streetcar crash that led to a life of constant pain. Although never intended to be shown to the public, the book begins in the mids and follows a personal journey via Kahlo’s thoughts, poems, dreams, and reflections on her stormy relationship with her husband, painter Diego Rivera.
The Surreal Life Of Leonora Carrington
by Joanna Moorhead,
15 Engrossing Artist Biographies and Memoirs to Read Now
Design & LivingAnOther List
We spotlight a selection of our favourite artists’ autobiographies and biographies, from the empowering to the scandalous, for your summer reading inspiration
TextDaisy Woodward
Summer is upon us and this year, more than ever, it feels pertinent to pick holiday reads that will uplift and inspire. Where better to turn to, then, than artists’ memoirs and biographies – filled as they are with tales of overcoming life’s hardships, fights for justice and recognition in and outside of the art world, the quest to forge a legacy through art, and, more often than not, a juicy scandal or two to keep the reader’s interest piqued. Here, we’ve selected 15 of our favourites for your perusal, spanning the empowering, the ephemeral, the political and the downright provocative (Diego Rivera, we’re looking at you).
1.We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold is one of America’s most renowned artists and activists, whose inherently political, exquisitely executed work – from “story quilts” to paintings – tackle civil rights and gender inequality head on. But Ringgold has had to fight hard for her successes, a story she shares in her stunning, illustrated memoir We Flew over the Bridge. In it, Ringgold details the many prejudices she’s battled and the challenges she’s faced in balancing her thriving artistic career with motherhood, sharing words of advice and empowerment along the way. It makes for magical reading; in the words of Maya Angelou: “Faith Ringgold has already won my heart as an artist, as a woman, as an African American, and now with her entry into the world of autobiography (where I dwell), she has taken my heart again. She writes so beautifully.”
2. Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney by Beauford Delaney and David Leeming
Amazing Grace paints a poignant picture of the celebrated African American artist Beauford De