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Holiday Gift Guide 2019: The Top Photography And Design Books

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This holiday season, there are many books for the design, interiors and photography minded aesthetes on your gift list. From contemporary fashion photographers, to floral designers and interior designers there’s a tome to entertain everyone.

Cindy Sherman (Rizzoli) chronicles the work of the preeminent female photographer who uses herself as her own model. Playing roles in front of the camera and behind, as stylist, make-up artist and hairstylist, Sherman transforms herself with each shot.

Rooms With A History by Ashley Hicks (Rizzoli) charts the English designer’s creative process and showcases his furniture, interior and artistic designs. Hicks is the son of aristocratic decorator David Hicks, who’s best known for using geometric designs, vibrant colors and mixing modern designs and antiques in his iconic projects.

Linda McCartney: The Polaroid Diaries (Taschen) features the late photographer’s candid polaroid works from the 1970s through the 1990s including of her husband Beatle Paul McCartney.

Flower Color Guide by Darroch and Mikey Putnam (Phaidon), founders of New York-based floral design firm Putnam & Putnam, features 400 flower types organized by color and includes tips on flower care and design. Putnam & Putnam has become the in-demand florist for weddings and fashion shows working with people like Gwyneth Paltrow , Chrissy Teigen, Jason Wu and Brandon Maxwell to create organic arrangements in their signature dusty antique color palettes.

Dior By Peter Lindbergh (Taschen) showcases the late photographer Peter Lindbergh’s photography for the French fashion house Christian Dior. Included are shots of actresses and brand ambassadors Marion Cotillard and Charlize Theron, models Alek Wek, Karen Elson and Amber Valletta as well as many never-before-seen images.

The Atlas of Furniture (Vitra Design Museum) is an A-Z compendium of the most iconic 1,700 plus objects designed by 550 designers. Some of the luminaries whose work is included in the encyclopedic tome are Le Corbusier, Gerrit Rietveld, Charlotte Perriand and Marcel Breuer.

Italian Views by Gail Albert Halaban (Aperture) is a continuation of the photographer’s series “Out My Window” but, this time, the artist has sight her sights on Italy. Albert Halaban invites the reader to see Italy through her lens and view the lives of these stylish but ordinary denizens.

Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style (Abrams) features the best of the interiors that the magazine has showcased over its century in print. From homes designed by iconic California architects like John Lautner and Frank Gehry to the New York City apartments of Truman Capote and Michael Kors, there are many masterpieces therein.

Bauhaus by art historian Magdalena Droste (Taschen) is a bible of the German art school period that lasted from 1919 to 1933 and featured artists like Josef Albers and Paul Klee and designers including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Axel Vervoordt: Portraits of Interiors by Michael Gardner (Flammarion) features 18 homes that the Belgian designer has created using his minimalist aesthetic. Whether used in a Tokyo apartment or a New England mansion, the designer’s signature interiors are always light-filled, modern and compelling.

Cats: Photographs 1942-2018 by late artist Walter Chandoha (Taschen) is a coffee table book of the artist’s photography of our feline friends. Throughout his career, the photographer shot more than 90,000 portraits of cats and seeing some of these images will surely have cat lovers rejoicing.

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