The three arts books you need to read this month: May

Looking for new titles to dip into? Here’s our pick of the current crop.

A Chronology of Art: A Timeline of Western Culture from Prehistory to the Present

Iain Zaczek

We like the perspective this new book offers arts followers. Using timelines to trace cultural development from prehistory to current times, author Iain Zaczek examines key artworks in the context of contemporary political, economic, literary, scientific and social events.
 
Structured around a central timeline, Zaczek reveals the outside influences on artists at the time they created their works. By doing so, the book offers a deeper understanding of the story of art, from the earliest cave paintings to recent street art installations by artists such as Banksy. Beautifully illustrated, the work is packed with sections of information that help explain the stylistic, social and technical developments of each period.
 
Published by Thames and Hudson; thamesandhudson.com; £19.95

Whistler's Mother: Portrait of an Extraordinary Life

Daniel E Sutherland and Georgia Toutziari

Even if we’re not aware of the title of the work, so many of us know the famous work, Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1 (1871). Painted by James McNeill Whistler, it is his portrait of his mother, Anna Whistler (1804–1881). But who was the still, demure-looking woman dressed in black? Using her private diaries and correspondence, the authors’ in-depth research reveals a shrewd, resilient, deeply observant character.
 
Born in the slaveholding Southern states of America, much of Anna’s childhood was spent in New York; she then went on to live in Russia and Great Britain. Her travels brought her opportunities to observe the cultural, artistic, social and political issues of her time – and to meet characters ranging from Russian peasants to the American Confederate hero Robert E Lee. She was also a focused – and significant – force in Whistler’s life, becoming his unofficial agent and passionate promoter.
 
Published by Yale University Press; yalebooks.yale.edu; £18.99

Designing English: Early Literature on the Page

Professor Daniel Wakelin

From Anglo-Saxon gospels to early Tudor monuments, this beautifully illustrated work (with more than 90 illustrations) explores 800 years of graphic design. Focusing on the work of scribes, painters and engravers, it examines how craftspeople used the page to record the English language. Published by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, the book draws on works from the Old and Middle English collections at the library.
 
The author, Professor Daniel Wakelin, Jeremy Griffiths Professor of Medieval English Palaeography at Oxford, studied nearly 500 books in his research for this work. Among the many highlights are the Macregol Gospels, from late 8th- or early 9th-century Ireland, an elaborate 14th-century almanac and the Anglo-Saxon treasure the Alfred Jewel.
 
Published by Bodleian Library Publishing; bodleianshop.co.uk; £30