Eight Art Books Reviewed: From Gombrich to Selfie Encyclopedia

Artribune presents a curated selection of eight recent art publications. Antonio Natali, former director of the Uffizi, offers reflections in 'Il museo' (Silvana Editoriale). Angela Madesani's 'Le intelligenze dell’arte' (Nomos) argues that art has always been tied to the market, highlighting Milanese dealers from 1876 to 1950. Giorgio Croatto and Antonello Boschi's 'Filosofia del nascosto' (Marsilio) explores building and living underground, with Venice as a case study. Francesco Poli and Francesco Bernardelli's 'Mettere in scena l’arte contemporanea' (Johan & Levi) examines the spatial context of contemporary art, referencing Venice, Kassel, and Münster. Phaidon returns to publishing in Italian with a luxury edition of E.H. Gombrich's 'La storia dell’arte' (Phaidon) at €70. Georges Didi-Huberman's 'Davanti all’immagine' (Mimesis), now translated into Italian, critiques the overuse of the term 'visuale'. Giorgio Bonomi completes his two-volume encyclopedia of photographic self-portraits, 'Il corpo solitario. Vol. II' (Rubbettino), covering 1,500 artists while excluding sociological selfies. Gianni Melotti's 'art/tapes/22' (Giunti) documents Maria Gloria Bicocchi's pioneering video art program in Florence from 1974 to 1977, featuring all major video artists of the era. The article is curated by Marco Enrico Giacomelli and appears in Artribune Magazine #37.