Books – Detail

A new biography of architect Albert Kahn.

Calder-isms is a collection of fascinating, irreverent, and often profound quotations from the influential modern American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976), who is most famous for his invention of what his friend Marcel Duchamp dubbed the "mobile."

A comprehensive, first-of-its-kind book about Chicago's residential architecture and the stories that shaped it. This is an entertaining and precisely illustrated story of Chicago homes from the city's earliest days through the postwar era, revealing everything about what makes a home a Chicago home

In Belle Époque Paris, the Eiffel Tower was newly built, France was experiencing remarkable political stability, and American women were painting the town and gathering at a female-only Residence known as The American Girls' Club in Paris. Opened in 1893, The Club was the center of expatriate living and of dedication to a calling in the fine arts, and singularly harbored a generation of independent, talented, and driven American women.

This lively, richly illustrated publication features works in a wide range of media by a diverse group of artists, including Jean Arp, Leonora Carrington, Joseph Cornell, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Wifredo Lam, Man Ray, André Masson, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, and many others.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100, Philadelphia Art Museum, November 8, 2025

Your home is your sanctuary -- a safe space that nurtures your emotional, physical, and mental well-being. In Elements of Timeless Style, Erin shares her decades of expertise to guide you in making thoughtful choices, big and small, that enhance your living space.

This book seeks to recreate Fifth Avenue as it grew, flourished and failed. Over 200 archive photographs help tell the story of Fifth Avenue’s nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture and society.

The life and work of an unconventional architect.

Financial Times: Best Books of 2025: Architecture and Design

The fascinating journey of one of the art world's great midcentury power couples The essays in this interdisciplinary volume explore how Fiske and Marie Kimball, together and in their own respective ways, shaped the experience and understanding of art and architecture in the twentieth century.

Editor Marie Frank is a former Athenaeum employee.

Tim Carpenter--lead investigator of the FBI Art Crime team--uncovers over 40,000 artifacts and remains from around the world that had been stolen by a Midwestern graverobber

A reappraising history of the remarkable women who Pablo Picasso shared his life with - whose individual stories and influence on the artist have been overlooked until now. Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Therese Walter, Dora Maar, Francoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. These six extraordinary women shared Pablo Picasso's life and were instrumental in his career, yet they have long been dismissed as simply passive models or muses.

This book demonstrates the ecological and social impact of park systems and highlights the diverse challenges that communities face when implementing such projects. At the same time, it encourages a reevaluation of civic design as an intergenerational practice of urban design.

A global survey of 250 of the most creative women practicing interior design from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day.

From 1849 to the early 1980s, fewer than one hundred highly educated, white, European and American men created what became today's US federal historic preservation policy. Jeremy C. Wells argues that the orthodox historic preservation doctrine that this lineage formulated has too long dominated federal policy and watered down the richness of laypeople's relationships to their own heritage.

During World War II, French artist Henri Matisse and his family remained in Nazi-occupied France despite the dangers of war. Matisse at War examines this period of the artist's life, highlighting his and his family's connections to the French Resistance and the significant artworks he created during this time.

Step into a Piet Oudolf garden and you are transported into a dreamlike meadowscape, filled with perennials, seasonal color, and texture. Made in close collaboration with Oudolf, this book showcases gardens throughout his career and across the globe from New York's acclaimed High Line to the newly planted Vitra Campus in Germany.

Hetletvedt explores contextual approaches to existing buildings in disinvested communities as an alternative to demolition, explains why these buildings matter, and what communities and professionals can make of them, together.

London-based design studio Retrouvius has carved a unique and important niche in the interior design and architecture spheres by blending architectural salvage with innovative design.

How the architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens transcended scandal to enrich their times.

The future of cities is female... As cities around the world face mounting crises - climate change, traffic congestion and growing inequity - the need for bold, people-first solutions has never been greater. Enter the women leading the charge. In Women Changing Cities, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett highlight the groundbreaking work of female mayors, planners, advocates, and policymakers in reshaping urban spaces for the better.