The Artist's Studio. A Cultural History. A Times Best Art Book of 2022

A revealing chronicle and visual history of the artist's studio, examining the myth and reality of the creative space from early times to the present day.

The artist's workplace has always been an idealized utopia as well as the domain of dirty, backbreaking work. Written descriptions, paintings, prints, and even photographs of the artist's atelier distort as much as they document. This illuminating cultural history of the artist's studio charts the myth and reality of the creative space from Ancient Greece to the present.

Tracing a history that extends far beyond the bohemian, romantic, and renaissance cults of the artist, each chapter focuses on key developments of the studio space as seen in a variety of familiar and unfamiliar images.