Since I review art history books on TikTok to over 5000 subscribers, I frequently get requests for art history book recommendations. I read 150 books this year, and about half of those were art history related in some way — whether that be art history, architectural history, design philosophy, art theory, artist memoir, art fiction, or similar. In this article I’d like to share my favorite Art History reads of 2022.
Note that when I say of 2022, I mean books that I read in 2022 rather than books published in 2022. We’re going to do this by category, in no particular order.
Best Art Survey Book
The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel takes its title from the classic art history survey text, Gombrich’s The Story of Art. First published in 1950, Gombrich’s survey (which I taught with as a TA in graduate school) had no women artists in the first edition, and had managed fit in one (1) woman by the sixteenth edition. Nowadays that is completely unacceptable, thankfully, and early on in the year I read several books about influential women artists, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy any of them. The Story of Art Without Men was the last book that I read in 2022, and I’m so glad I fit it in this year. It is a great addition to a traditional male-dominated art historical education, and it is proving very useful as I…
