The Best Art Books in April 2011

I've updated my two Squidoo sites for the best art books in April 2011.

• Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books lists both the best selling and the top rated art books in April
• The Best NEW Art Books lists all the fine art books in the top 100 books in the Amazon Arts and Photography category that were published in April (or the very beginning of May re pre-publication sales).  

I've started to add in the rankings but this is a bit sporadic so far but it does indicate the relative popularity of different books.

For the very first time I've excluded a book which is in the top 100.  I just can't face including it.  If you threaten to tickle me I'll tell you why - but I give hints below.

a book produced to mark 100 years of the California Art Club

What's new this month

The Top Ten Art Books

James Gurney (Gurney Journey) has this month managed to achieve BOTH the top rated and the best selling books in the Painting section which is quite remarkable.

The only real surprise this month came with the new books - I was left wondering who Joan Mitchell is and why she should be selling so many books pre-publication.  But then ‘Second Generation’ Abstract Expressionism is not really "me".  

The Best New Art Books

The major themes this month are:

• Impressionism and impressionist painters in Europe and California
• Female artists - and their stories

Equestrian artists will be very happy as there's a new book about Albert Munnings.

There's one new book which I'm interested in maybe buying and - surprise surprise - it's a book about drawing.  I need to go back and have another read using the "look inside" but initial conclusions suggest it's a well positioned book going beyond conventional drawing instruction but at the same time not relying solely on showing you what contemporary drawing looks like.  Take a look at Contemporary Drawing: Key Concepts and Techniques by: Margaret Davidson and see what you think.  However UK readers should note that it's not yet available in the UK

There were no new books about art basics, art business or print-making.

The only thing of note is that I revolted and decided to exclude a book because when I looked inside I couldn't stomach it.  That and the fact that the publisher's fatuous description prompted a snipe from me for being so stupid.  But I thought better of it - and just excluded the book instead. :)