The best new books to enjoy this January

Here is our pick of the best new arts and culture titles to enjoy this January

Why have there been no great women artists?

Linda Nochlin (Thames & Hudson, £9.99)

It has been 50 years since Linda Nochlin first published Why have there been no great women artists?. The hugely influential essay, which has been widely acknowledged as the first ‘feminist history of art’, considered the many ways that a male-dominated art world ignored and suppressed female agency. This new edition features a reappraisal of the original text, considering how much – or little – the world has changed since then, including a celebration of a whole new canon, which includes the likes of Cindy Sherman, Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois and more. 

© Bo Bech

The relation between us

Bo Bech (Bo Bech, £42)

Although author Bo Bech is a renowned chef, this is far from your typical cookbook. Rather, it is a celebration of all the things he loves, including food, travel, community and photography. Armed with his Leica, he documents what he terms ‘the unbreakable connection between his eyes, stomach and heart’, visiting upscale dining rooms, outdoor markets, private homes, meat lockers and more. His unusual visual pairings might draw a connection between blowfish bones in Japan and dried stockfish in the Faroe Islands, or the comparable intensity found in crowded restaurants from São Paulo to Hong Kong. All in all, it is a visual feast that reminds us how magical the art of eating can be. 

New Andean Architecture, Freddy Mamani, El Alto, Bolivia, 2005–. Image credit: © Peter Granser. From the book El Alto published by Edition Taube (page 32), Mamani uses colors inspired by traditional textiles of the region, which often mix bright complementary hues

Radical architecture of the future

Beatrice Galilee (Phaidon, £39.95)

Considering both built and imagined spaces, this book takes a look at some of the most ambitious and radical architectural projects of recent years. Far from concentrating solely on buildings, it spans interiors, digital projects, sculptural forms and more – created by artists, designers and photographers – as well as traditional architecture practices. Whether exploring the postmodern cityscapes conceived by Freddy Mamani Silvestre, or the sci-fi reality of Hito Steyerl, this book explores and challenges the parameters of contemporary architecture. 

Tracey Emin

Jonathan Jones (Laurence King, £14.99)

The newest volume in the Art File series takes an intimate look at Tracey Emin, a trailblazing and controversial artist whose talents have often been overshadowed by her celebrity. Critic Jonathan Jones examines her multifaceted career, which spans painting, sculpture, video, writing and more. Beginning with her work as a student and ending with some of her latest art (never previously published), this is a great opportunity to get to know an enigmatic yet often misunderstood artist, while the doors to her current exhibition at the Royal Academy, Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul, remain closed.