Five New Art and Architecture Books for January 2024

Skira publishes 'Fernanda! Fernandissima' by Erica Bernardi and Giuseppina Di Gangi, a biography of Fernanda Wittgens (1903–1957), the first woman to direct Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera after WWII. Imprisoned for resisting Fascism, she later curated major exhibitions at Palazzo Reale, notably featuring Picasso's 'Guernica'. Silvana Editoriale releases 'The World of Tim Burton', the catalog for an immersive exhibition at Turin's Museo Nazionale del Cinema, showcasing over 500 original works including sketches, costumes, and sculptures. Lorenzo Giuseppe Zaffaroni's 'Arte nella fotografia' (Vita e Pensiero) examines the social and cultural legitimation of photography as art in Italy. 'Il sublime astratto' (Johan & Levi), edited by Pietro Conte, collects essays on the sublime in non-representational art, sparked by a debate between Erwin Panofsky and Barnett Newman. Mario Piana's 'Costruire a Venezia' (Marsilio) explores building techniques in the Venetian lagoon from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, with a chapter on St. Mark's Basilica's domes.