Off the shelf.

Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now.

Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now

Maggie Taft and Robert Cozzoiino (eds.)

University of Chicago Press, $65

ISBN 9780226168319

Chicago boasts a rich artistic tradition, but its story doesn't often get told in full. This volume stretches from the Great Fire of 1871 to the present day, taking in familiar material --such as the arrival of the Bauhaus--as well as neglected topics such as activist art.

Hugh Lane: The Art Market and the Art Museum, 1893-1915

Morna O'Neill

Yale University Press, 40 [pounds sterling]

ISBN 9780300236583

A welcome reappraisal of one of the leading picture dealers of late-Victorian London. Hugh Lane assembled major collections for museums in South Africa (and for himself) and later became the director of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Craft

Tanya Harrod (ed.)

Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press, 16.95 [pounds sterling]

ISBN 9780854882663

This anthology, the latest in the Documents of Contemporary Art series, explores the many applications of 'craft' for modern and contemporary artists--from ideas about handwork to thinking about both new and traditional materials.

Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art & Artists

Marina Warner

Thames & Hudson, 24.95 [pounds sterling]

ISBN 9780500021460

The cultural historian Marina Warner is well known for her writing about mythology and fairy tales--interests that weave through this collection of her essays on art, which explore the strange visions of artists from Hieronymus Bosch to Tacita Dean.

Alexander von Humboldt: The Complete Drawings from the American Travel Diaries

Ottmar Ette and Julia Maier

Prestel, 160 [pounds sterling]

ISBN 9783791383545

Humboldt was one of the great explorers; this grand volume catches the scale of his achievements, reproducing his extensive drawings and notes from his expedition to the Spanish colonies in the New World.

Lucian Freud

Martin Gayford, ed. David Dawson and Mark Holborn

Phaidon, 395 [pounds sterling]

ISBN 9780714875262

With nearly 500 illustrations to make its case, this publication is the most comprehensive survey of Lucian Freud's artistic achievements to date --and looks set to reinforce his primacy among post-war painters.