No matter what you’re looking to read, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a book As You Like It. Taking inspiration from the most recognized line in this William Shakespeare play’s signature monologue, this roundup reinterprets the bard’s words to showcase some of the Museum’s most compelling titles, both old and new. All of these books and more can be previewed or downloaded for free on MetPublications. Books still in print are available for purchase at The Met Store.
All the World’s a Stage
Globalism is at the center of each of these four art books, which tackle topics ranging from the effects of world events on British prints to the fundamentally international character of Surrealism. Cross-cultural connections come to the fore in these volumes, making them perfect reads for those seeking to expand their worldview.
Surrealism Beyond Borders
Edited by Stephanie D’Alessandro and Matthew Gale (2021)
This groundbreaking publication provides a more inclusive and accurate look at this artistic, literary, and philosophical movement from the 1920s to the late 1970s. More than three hundred works of art by well-known and underrepresented artists—including Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Joan Miró, Maya Deren, and Hector Hyppolite—from areas as diverse as Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania, Syria, Thailand, and Turkey establish the international scope of Surrealism’s impact and legacy.
Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages
Edited by Helen C. Evans (2018)
This unprecedented volume places the first Christian nation’s works of art—from sumptuous illuminated manuscripts to handsome carvings, liturgical furnishings, gilded reliquaries, exquisite textiles, and printed books—in the context of the medieval Armenian trading routes located at the crossroads of the eastern and western worlds, from Europe to China and India to Russia. The book reveals how Armenian artists took inspiration from Roman, Byzantine, Persian, Muslim, Mongol, Ottoman, and European traditions to create a unique national style of and for their entire known world.
Modern Times: British Prints, 1913–1939
By Jennifer Farrell, with contributions by Gillian Forrester and Rachel Mustalish (2021)
The turn of the twentieth century thrust the world into war, a global pandemic, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascism and Communism while also giving rise to new technologies, women’s suffrage, and a growing focus on public access to art. This striking volume showcases the artistic ramifications of these massive geopolitical events in Great Britain. Essays discuss how artists turned to printmaking to alleviate trauma, memorialize their wartime experiences, and capture the aspirations and fears of the 1920s and 30s.
Gifts from the Fire: American Ceramics, 1880–1950
By Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and Martin Eidelberg
This vivid and accessible account of American ceramists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reveals how global sources inspired a multitude of brilliant works by artists working in the United States. Illustrations of the more than 180 exemplary ceramics in this volume showcase American interpretations of international trends such as the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements and the modernism of Matisse and the Wiener Werkstätte.
All the World’s a Stage
How do we define our world, and what happens when that definition expands or shrinks? The following three volumes explore various definitions of the world across different times and cultures, with art playing a central role in shaping these diverse understandings.
Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography
By Mia Fineman and Beth Saunders, with an introduction by Tom Hanks (2019)
In 1969 Neil Armstrong made history with the words: “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This captivating volume—created in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing—traces the history of lunar and moon-inspired photography over the past two centuries, from Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) to the present day. Fascinating essays and a foreword by Tom Hanks illuminate humanity’s enduring desire to expand its world to space and beyond.
Prints and People: A Social History of Printed Pictures
By A. Hyatt Mayor (1971)
Featuring seven hundred prints from across time and all corners of the world, this compelling volume explores the way prints expand and disseminate literacy, commerce, science, fashion, religion, and political power. Beginning with the invention of paper in China in A.D. 100 and extending to works from the middle of the twentieth century by the artists such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Jasper Johns, this comprehensive volume explores how printmaking expanded human knowledge and opened new worlds to a much wider group than could be reached through other media.
Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture
By Alisa LaGamma (2002)
Where do we come from? How did the world begin? These are but two of the many existential questions posed since earliest human history. African sculptors have long given expression to their communities’ conceptions of genesis, whether it be one of original sin or the Yoruba belief that humans were molded from clay. The seventy-five masterpieces presented in this riveting volume—including works by artists, artisans, and religious leaders from Côte d'lvoire, Mali, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Kongo, and Burkina Faso—mark how origin stories help communities define the world in which they live.
All the World’s a Stage
Bringing the quote back to the performing arts, these three spectacular publications showcase artworks that depict the performing arts or are actively used as a part of them. Featured artworks include theater costumes of the Ch’ing Dynasty and guitars used by contemporary rock and roll musicians.
The Manchu Dragon: Costumes of the Ch’ing Dynasty, 1644–1912
By Jean Mailey (1980)
This study of magnificent embroideries from the Ch’ing (Qing) dynasty highlights the theatricality of dress during Manchu rule in China. The text explores the symbolism and use of these intricately patterned garments that denoted status, profession, and occasion. The publication specifically explores theatrical costumes, ceremonial attire, ecclesiastical robes, and much more.
Watteau, Music, and Theater
Edited by Katharine Baetjer with an introduction by Pierre Rosenberg and an essay by Georgia J. Cowart (2009)
Focusing on both the visual and performing arts, Watteau, Music, and Theater explores the rich connections between painting and theater at a time when Louis XIV reigned in France. The book includes works by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and other early eighteenth-century French artists in his milieu. Explorations of depictions of stock characters from French theater, including Mezzetin, Harlequin, Crispin, and Pierrot, demonstrate the fascinating developments in music, theater, painting, and drawing that took place simultaneously in Paris during the early years of the eighteenth century.
Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll
By Jayson Kerr Dobney and Craig J. Inciardi, with Anthony DeCurtis, Alan di Perna, David Fricke, Holly George-Warren, and Matthew W. Hill (2019)
The instruments that gave rock and roll its signature sound take center stage in this engrossing volume. Jerry Lee Lewis’s baby grand piano, Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES-350T guitar, Keith Moon’s drum set, and Jimi Hendrix’s famous white Stratocaster are but a few of the instruments featured in this text. Essays written by veteran music journalists and scholars underscore how the genre’s most iconic instruments are works of art in their own right, going behind the music to offer an in-depth look at the instruments that made the songs we know and love possible.
Marquee: Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983). Constellation: Toward the Rainbow (detail), 1941. Gouache and oil wash on paper, 18 × 15 in. (45.7 × 38.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998 (1999.363.53). Image © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
