The Vanity of Small Differences (Reprint)

Not just a bestseller of this year, but a classic bestseller!

Originally printed in 2013, and then reprinted in 2022 due to popular demand.

Telling a story of class and taste, aspiration and identity, tapestry series The Vanity of Small Differences saw Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry travel the length and breadth of the UK, ‘on safari amongst the taste tribes of Britain’.

The six vibrant and highly detailed tapestries presented here bear the influence both of early Renaissance painting and of William Hogarth’s moralising series, literally weaving characters, incidents and objects from the artist’s research into a modern-day version of A Rake’s Progress (1733).

Design as an Attitude: New Edition

Acclaimed author Alice Rawsthorn revises her bestselling field guide to design in the wake of a pandemic, technological change, and the escalating climate emergency (and this, the new edition, ends up being a bestseller too – no surprises there!).

Four years after its initial release, Alice Rawsthorn’s bestselling book is republished in an expanded edition, updated in response to recent social, political, and ecological challenges worldwide.

Fully revised by the author, the book is enriched by a new chapter on design’s response to the climate emergency, while also exploring the impact of COVID-19, rising inequality, and new developments in identity politics on design.

Käthe Kollwitz

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was one of the leading artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, notable for the emotional power of her drawing, printmaking and sculpture.

Establishing herself in an art world dominated by men, Kollwitz developed a vision centred on women and the working class.

‘Portrait of the Artist’ looks at her work through the exploration of self-portraits and portraits of working women, her two great series concerned with social injustice: Ein Weberaufstand (A Weavers’ Revolt, 1897) and Bauernkrieg (Peasants’ War, 1908), the ever-present imagery of death, especially a mother’s grief, and finally the theme of war and remembrance after her younger son, Peter, had been killed at the beginning of the First World War.

The Exhibition – Volume 3

During lockdown, Grayson Perry, one of Britain’s foremost artists, brought the nation together through art, helping them to unleash their creativity as part of his Channel 4 TV series ‘Grayson’s Art Club’.

A central element of ‘Grayson’s Art Club’ has been Grayson’s keen interest to encourage members of the public to send him their artworks which they had been making at home.

This year, MAC Birmingham, held an exhibition which exhibited some of these selected works, alongside those of Grayson Perry, Philippa Perry and the invited artists and celebrities.

Extinction Beckons

Published to accompany the major survey exhibition at Hayward Gallery, London, ‘Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons’, 22 Feb – 7 May 2023.

Mike Nelson (born 1967) is best known for his large-scale immersive environments that tell multi-layered narratives while playing with and pushing the boundaries of space and scale.

Although Nelson’s extraordinary output has cemented his position internationally, his oeuvre has not previously been explored in a major publication.

Designed in close collaboration with the artist, this book juxtaposes new writings with classic texts on seminal works.

A Brief History of Curating

This classic bestseller is now available in its 7th reprinted edition!

Dedicated to pioneering curators, ‘A Brief History of Curating’ presents a unique collection of interviews by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Anne D’Harnoncourt, Werner Hoffman, Jean Leering, Franz Meyer, Seth Siegelaub, Walter Zanini, Johannes Cladders, Lucy Lippard, Walter Hopps, Pontus Hulten, and Harald Szeemann.

The contributions map the development of the curatorial field, from early independent curating in the 1960s and 1970s, and the experimental institutional programs developed in Europe and  in the USA at this time, through Documenta and the development of biennales.