5 new art books actually worth gifting (or keeping) this holiday season

From Jenny Saville to Jean-Michel Basquiat—proof that art books aren't just decoration. 📚

Dec 12, 2025

The best art books reframe how we understand an artist’s vision, offering context and connection that even gallery walls can’t always provide. This season’s standout titles prove the point: from Greer Lankton’s haunting doll sculptures to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s obsessive exploration of the human head, these five titles aren’t just gifts that sit pretty—they’re invitations to see differently.

Kerry James Marshall: The Histories

An extensive retrospective on one of modern art’s most recognizable names, The Histories traces the half-century arc of Kerry James Marshall’s work. Pairing landmark works with scholarly essays and an interview with the artist himself, this volume spotlights the Chicago native’s unique exploration of Black life and visibility in the West. Learn more

Greer Lankton: Could It Be Love

This first-ever monograph on the late Greer Lankton’s brief but impactful life and career, Could It Be Love compiles 100 photographs of the trans visionary’s lifelike doll sculptures that took New York by storm during the 1980s. A reflection of her complex relationship with the human body, each featured image was shot by Lankton herself. Learn more

Jenny Saville: Gaze

This collection surveys two decades of paintings by Jenny Saville, zooming in on her reinterpretations of contemporary beauty standards. Her oil portraits put the human body under the microscope and dismantled its idealized forms, in a successful attempt to liberate those suffocated by it. Gaze perfectly encapsulates this process. Learn more

Gabriele Münter: Contours of a World

A supplement to the Guggenheim’s exhibition on Gabriele Münter’s output from 1908–1920, Contours of a World also spotlights her lesser-known paintings and drawings alongside a few samples of her photography. A key figure of German Expressionism, her work mounted a formidable challenge to the narratives that trivialized women artists in the 20th century. Learn more

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Head—The Mind

There’s no shortage of writings and studies about Jean-Michel Basquiat, but this book takes a unique angle by focusing on his depictions of heads and faces. In doing so, The Head—The Mind highlights how the neo-Expressionist icon used a single body part to convey the complex, intangible workings of the body. Learn more