 | The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
Buy new: $11.21 / Used from: $6.72 Excellent book for anyone working in a creative field. Focusing on making creativity a life long habit rather than waiting for inspiration to strike.
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 | Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century (Seasons One & Two)
Buy new: $44.99 / Used from: $25.00 PBS series that deals with Contemporary American Artists. Episodes are split into themes and feature 4 artists. An excellent way to get introduced to the artists working today.
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 | Art: 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Season Three)
Buy new: $31.49 / Used from: $22.70 |
 | Art:21 Art in the Twenty-First Century IV
Buy new: $25.49 / Used from: $19.00 |
 | Simon Schama's Power of Art
Buy new: $33.99 / Used from: $29.95 Deals with historical western artists. Including Turner, Van Gogh, Bernini, Rembrandt and others. Schama does an excellent job of getting into the historical contexts of when these artists were working.
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 | Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing (Themes) by Emma Dexter
Buy new: $44.07 / Used from: $49.94 Part of a series of Phaidon books that feature over 100 contemporary artists using drawing today.
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 | Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting by Barry Schwabsky
Buy new: $26.37 / Used from: $24.88 |
 | Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography by T.J. Demos and Editors of Phaidon Press
Buy new: $44.07 / Used from: $70.90 |
 | Drawing Now: Eight Propositions by Kai Althoff
Buy new: $23.07 / Used from: $13.97 Catalog for the 2002 show that was held at the MOMA in NY.
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 | pressPLAY: Contemporary Artists in Conversation by Editors of Phaidon Press
Buy new: $37.96 / Used from: $20.00 |
 | A Brief History of Painting by Roy Bolton
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $0.77 Excellent portable guide to the history of painting. Great starting point to flip through and find artists your intrigued by.
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 | About Modern Art by David Sylvester
Buy used from: $10.89 Collection of David Sylvesters writing on artists from the late 19th and 20th century artists.
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 | Interviews With Francis Bacon: The Brutality of Fact by David Sylvester
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $7.96 Seminal book of conversations with Francis Bacon, a must read for any contemporary painter.
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 | History of Beauty by Umberto Eco
Buy new: $29.70 / Used from: $14.00 Excellent reproductions and texts are collected by Umberto Eco in this and On Ugliness.
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 | On Ugliness by Umberto Eco
Buy new: $29.70 / Used from: $25.25 |
 | Broken Screen: Expanding The Image, Breaking The Narrative by Doug Aitken
Buy new: $29.64 / Used from: $23.58 A series of interviews with contemporary artists dealing with new media.
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 | Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (California Studies in the History of Art)
Buy new: $23.95 / Used from: $15.74 Collections of Artists writing and interviews mostly from the late 20th century.
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 | Matt's Old Masters: Titian, Rubens, Velasquez, Hogarth by Matthew Collings
Buy new: $20.94 / Used from: $3.64 Insightful book where Modern Painters writer Matthew Collings focuses on 4 giants of western painting. Excellent reproductions.
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 | The Prisons (Le Carceri : the Complete First and Second States) by Giovanni Batista Piranesi
Buy used from: $55.48 Dover publishes many affordable and useful books on many artists.
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 | Vito Acconci (Contemporary Artists) by Frazer Ward
Buy used from: $28.25 Part of Phaidons excellent series on Contemporary Artists.
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 | Maurizio Cattelan (Contemporary Artists) by Francesco Bonami
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $8.98 One of my personal favorites of the Phaidon series focuses on the court jester of the art world.
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 | Matthew Barney & Joseph Beuys: All in the Present Must Be Transformed by Nancy Spector
Buy new: $32.85 / Used from: $21.80 Matthew Barney is something of a love him or hate him figure. Looking at his work through its connection with Joseph Beuys puts his work in context.
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 | Seeing Out Loud: The Voice Art Columns Fall 1998 - Winter 2003 by Jerry Saltz
Buy used from: $17.00 Jerry Saltz is one of my favorite writers on art and this is a collection of his writings when he wrote for the village voice. Now he writes for New York Magazine.
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 | Painters on Painting by Eric Protter
Buy new: $9.31 / Used from: $4.90 |
 | Artwords: Discourst On The '60s And '70s (Quality Paperbacks Series) by Jeanne Siegel
Buy new: $16.50 / Used from: $2.36 From the horses mouth. Its useful to have some knowledge about the arists work before reading the interviews since there are few reproductions.
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 | Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy by Dave Hickey
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $5.45 |
 | The Responsibility of Forms: Critical Essays on Music, Art, and Representation by Roland Barthes
Buy new: $20.47 / Used from: $15.95 |
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