The Arts: Treatments & subjects Books

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination  Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled...

The hilarious and heartwarming companion to international bestselling author Liz Climo’s You’re Mum. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! Oh, hello! Now that I have your attention… You must be dad! You’re probably pretty busy. Being a dad isn’t easy. Maybe you...

A love letter to the small but mighty dachshund or, as it’s more affectionally known, the Sausage Dog. This book – almost as adorable as its namesake – proves that sausage dogs are not just sweet, soft and a little bit silly to look at. They can be an...

From burlesque show to fashion runway, magazine cover to Internet video, fashion icon and “burlesque superheroine” (Vanity Fair) Dita Von Teese has undergone more strokes of red lipstick, bursts of hair spray, boxes of blue-black hair dye and pats of...

This handy, practical and inspirational little book is perfect for the pocket or art bag. It shows watercolour painters of all levels how to loosen up their paintings and maintain spontaneity by painting simple watercolour studies in no more than 10...

What is steampunk and why are people across the globe eagerly embracing its neo-Victorian aesthetic? Aesthetic program, literary genre, philosophy, and subculture, Steampunk embraces a universal vision that questions our relationship with time itself...

Fiona Hall: Wrong Way Time presents the extraordinary creations of Fiona Hall figures woven from military camouflage, painted clocks, botanical illustrations on banknotes, sardine-tin sculptures, nests of shredded money, strange driftwood and more.Hall's...

Patricia Piccinini: Nearly Beloved is the first and only major monograph about her work. In this book Helen McDonald discusses the complex ideas associated with the work of Patricia Piccinini, making both the work and the ideas accessible...

When Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, eight-year-old Christine has little idea how her new neighbour, one of the most visionary and polarising political leaders of Australia, would shape the direction of her life. Born to...

Madjem Bambandila is a stunning celebration of the artistic and cultural practice of acclaimed Wergaia and Wemba Wemba artist Kelly Koumalatsos.Co-written by Kelly Koumalatsos and Dr Paola Balla and featuring the voices of a broad range of artists,...

Showcases a unique and rarely seen collection of cultural objects from New Guinea. Referred to as 'war trophies' during the German possesion of New Guinea, before the takeover by Australian military forces in 1914. The Australian War Museum...

Visions of Colonial Grandeur explores Melbourne'sinternational exhibitions through the art collection of 19th-century businessmanJohn Twycross. John Twycross, also known as Top Hat, was a merchant and artcollector who lived and worked in 'Marvellous...

Enter the musical world of Stuart and Georgian Britain, of concert-going, music makers and thinkers, printers and publishers. Written to accompany the upcoming collections-in-focus exhibition at the National Library of Australia, this book invites you...

'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,...

**Shortlisted, 2024 Queensland Literary Awards, The Courier-MailPeople'sChoiceQueenslandBook of the YearAward**William T. Cooper is considered a master painter of birds. He painted them for many books, mainly bird monographs. He also created...

William T. Cooper was one of the world's most esteemed bird painters. In his paintings, birds nibble at plump red berries, they rest on twisted vines and branches covered with lichen, and they clutch forest fruits and leaves in their claws. These...

Aboriginal art practice in southeast Australia is dynamic, innovative and powerful. This is clear from the diverse artworks in this book which celebrate contemporary Aboriginal artists and their continuation of Ancestral knowledge. The artworks shown are...

Ngirramanujuwal is one who adds colour.Walmajarri man Jimmy Pike (c. 19402002) manifests colour as strokes of ink on paper: the saturated hues of the desert sky at dusk, and the glimmers of the sun on the water's surface. His vivid and exceptional...

This publication accompanies New Zealand collective et al.'s first Australian survey exhibition at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA). The exhibition marks the largest presentation of the artists' work outside New Zealand since representing the...

When Vincent van Gogh picked up his pencil and set out on his artistic career, it was not with the intention of becoming a leader of the avant-garde art world. Rather, his aims centred on earning a reasonable wage and living within the middle-class norms...

BernardSmith (19162011) was unquestionably one of Australia's greatest humanistscholars and its finest art historian. His EuropeanVision and the South Pacific, 17681850 (1960) was a foundationaltext of post-colonialism, and in AustralianPainting (1962)...

Renee So's idiosyncratic practice in ceramics and textiles, and occasionally furniture and glass, is inspired by art history, collections in museums and gendered symbolism. Her work is distinguished by its embrace of craft methods and cross-cultural...

Aboriginal people of New South Wales carved trees as a form of visual communication for thousands of years. These elaborate designs carved into the sapwood and heartwood of trees once a section of external bark was removed - were meant to last. Sadly,...

Camouflage Australia provides international context for the historical circumstances and events of the organisation of camouflage in World War II in Australia and the Pacific region. She elaborates on the parallel involvement of British and American...

**Winner, 2024 Chief Minister's NT History Book Award**Fully illustrated, Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories) draws on a combined 70+ years of collaborative research involving Yanyuwa Elders, anthropologists, and an archaeologist to tell a unique...

Djalkiri are footprints, ancestral imprints on the landscape that provide the Yolu people of eastern Arnhem Land with their spiritual foundations.This book explores Yolu art and material culture through the voices of those who have been involved with...

The Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming Project (LP140100393) was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project between Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), Rio Tinto and the Centre for Rock Art Research and Management (CRAR+M) at the University...

In the early days we did painting. Cultural way. For ourselves.Then on the mission Sister Alice was working with the young men and women, like Gracie Green and Matthew Gill. We did a lot of landscapes at the start. Then after that people did a lot of...

Between 2012 and 2019 Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis, Inge Kral and Jennifer Green worked together to make an enduring record of endangered verbal arts in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands communities of Western Australia. They filmed traditional Ngaanyatjarra...

Unhallowed Arts is part of a series of events and publications organised by SymbioticA to commemorate the bicentenary of Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern prometheus.  The book contributes to the legacy...

Told in the artist's own words via a series of interviews, this revealing biography of Helen Grey-Smith examines the dignified artist's fascinating life. In this book author Gwen Phillips gives us the rare opportunity to listen to an artist speaking...

In a rush of remembrance that seemed longer than my own life, I recognised that was who we are, that there was a term for it, for our family Aboriginal. At that point I began the long process of trying to understand what had happened that we had almost...

This exquisite art book contains the precious story and transformative work of celebrated artists now living in an aged care facility in Ngaanyatjarra country, a remote and isolated community that is the centre of their abundant world amongst ancient...

Left stranded in a tree by his wife, a Noongar man has to rely on his Wadjela friend to help him back down. Yira Boornak Nyininy is a story of forgiveness and friendship.This story comes from the wise and ancient language of the First People of the...

A man goes hunting for some tucker with a pack of dogs, but he doesn't get what he expected... Dwoort Baal Kaat is the story of how two different animals are related to one another.This story comes from the wise and ancient language of the First People...

Feather and Brush traces the history of bird art in Australia - from the simple engravings illustrating accounts of the earliest European voyages of discovery to the diversity of artwork available today. It explores the early European approach, in which...

Who could resist a little dab of colour here and there? Two curious curlews discover a stash of paints and brushes. An adorable case of Australian birds introduce readers to the joy of colours and colour mixing.

This gorgeous collection of photographs, accompanied by extended captions and insightful interviews, is a visual celebration of the New Zealand farmer and the landscape in which they live and work. It tells the stories of the people who are the backbone...

This stunning insight into the micro world of the minibeasts reveals the critical roles these true rulers of our world play in our future survival. Simply put, without the invertebrates (insects) and other tiny critters, humans would not survive. While...

Illuminating Wisdom brings art and wisdom together in a beautiful celebration of some of the world’s most inspiring philosophical, spiritual and literary quotes. Approximately 80 quotes have been drawn from some of the great wisdom and literary...

Introducing 50 of the world's most magnificent trees for travellers and nature lovers to enjoy from the comfort of an armchair or to seek and behold in the wild.Whether taking in the beautiful cherry blossoms of Japan or a beech forest's seasonal hues in...

This beautiful and inspiring book is an authoritative and timely account of our planet’s natural wonders, explaining how and why our bodies and brains benefit from being in nature, as well as the importance of valuing and protecting them for future...

William Morris viewed his patterns as both an art form and a means of social commentary. In response to the industrial designs and manufacturing of the Machine Age, he created wallpapers and fabrics that boasted natural floral motifs and handmade...

Despite the rise of industrial manufacturing, William Morris believed in craftsmanship. Along with other leading painters, Morris founded what would become Morris & Company, producing decorative textiles and furnishings in a way that intimately linked...

William Giles (1872–1939) is widely considered to be one of the most important and innovative British color printmakers of the early 20th century. He focused on the Japanese woodcut relief method, a technique new to the Western world at the time. With...