As summer continues to surge forth, we hope you’ve found time to get lost in a good book – it's one of the season’s piquant pleasures. If you are after your next read, we’ve put together our Summer Art Reading Guide, a collection of books about art, its world and ideas curated by the Art & Collectors team. If a picture says a thousand words, these books do it artfully.

Angela’s Pick: Appreciation (2024) by Liam Pieper 

Billed as a raucous and searing satire, Liam Pieper’s Appreciation delves into the machinations of the Australian art world. It is a work of fiction that strikes a chord, cutting to the culture’s fixation on money, celebrity and ego. If you’re curious about the intersection of art, wealth and power, this is the book for you.

Emma’s Pick: The Pursuit of Art (2019) by Martin Gayford 

A collection of stories from arts writer Martin Gayford’s illustrious career, The Pursuit of Art merges two great pleasures – art and travel. In it, Gayford treks to some unlikely and remote spots to see art and meet artists, revealing the extraordinary lengths beauty compels us. A celebration of the unbeaten track, The Pursuit of Art  is tender, funny and inspiring. 

Ella’s Pick: Funny Weather: Art in a Time of Emergency (2020) by Olivia Laing 

Olivia Laing’s Funny Weather is a balm for challenging times. In her collection of essays, reviews, profiles, occasional writings and a love letter to David Bowie, Laing explores how art resonates in times of upheaval with originality and poignance. A must read for the road ahead. 

Caitlin’s Pick: Double Nation (2023) by Ian McLean 

A major new reframing of Australian art history, Professor Ian McLean’s Double Nation is essential reading for all art history buffs. From colonial practice to modernism, McLean traces a lineage of myth-making, omission and the forming of a canon, accompanied by 170 brilliant illustrations. 

Isabel’s Pick: The Strays (2015) by Emily Britto 

This Stella Award winner is loosely based on the Heide circle. Told from the perspective of a child who finds herself at the fringes of a bohemian enclave, The Strays captures the glamor and risks of art. What or who is endangered in the pursuit of creativity? Thought-provoking and original, The Strays offers a new perspective on the golden years of Australian art.

Robert Jacks 'Fall Obliquely Against the Lamp Light' and Robert Hughes 'Self Portrait'