9 beautiful books to slip under the tree at Christmas

What if we focused on beautiful books for the holidays? Exhibition catalogue, fashion bible, inspiring portfolio… Here is our guide to the works that marked the year to give (or be given) at Christmas.

Portraits of Tina Barney

The look of Tina Barney is intriguing. The photographer has, throughout her life, endeavored to depict the domestic lives of the white American bourgeoisie – the famous WASPs, of which she herself is a member. However, far removed from a character like Ralph Laurento which it has often been compared, Tina Barney has traced a work imbued with a disturbing strangeness, marked by distancing as well as by a very slight shift in his compositions, almost invisible to the naked eye. This is perhaps the greatest quality of the retrospective which is currently being held, and until January 19, 2025, at the Jeu de Paume. Titled Tina Barney, Family Tiesthe exhibition presents numerous very large format prints of the artist’s photographs, and in particular of his obvious obsession with the family unit, its rituals and the spaces in which his subjects evolve. To continue admiring them directly from home, Aperture editions have brought them together in a beautiful book.

The love story between Yves Saint Laurent and his dogs

As for the painter Joan Mitchell or the art collector Peggy Guggenheimthe love ofYves Saint Laurent for its dogs is as famous as it is endearing. “I am, as they say, a dog man”he said about his relationship with his four-legged companions. Constantly present in his intimate and artistic life, from his childhood in Oran to his years of creation in Paris, dogs marked his interior landscape very early on. Discreet in his fashion, they appear here and there on his sketches and inspiration boards. A few outfits are also named after her beloved dogs, but nothing more. It was not until October 1979 that the canine animal appeared on the catwalk for the first time, dressed in a suit matching the suits worn by the model. Mounia Orosemane who then paraded for the spring-summer 1980 collection of the Parisian label. A memorable event, reported in a new book, Yves Saint Laurent and his dogsled by Martin Bethenod for Norma editions. Sketches, greeting cards and youthful drawings, in oil or pastels, accumulate between the pages of the work to bring back to life these beings filled with tenderness who have always been part of the personal and personal universe. creativeYves Saint Laurent.

When filmmakers make their fashion

How Directors Dress rises to the top of our desires for beautiful books that we would like to receive for the holidays this year. Created by independent studios A24, the book uses fashion to tell exciting new stories about filmmakers, their lives, their films and the era in which they were made. With more than 200 archive photographs where we see the directors in their work outfits (Sofia Coppola in his iconic button-up shirt, Hayao Miyazaki in her aprons and Spike Lee with his sports caps and his university jackets), we sail from a foreword by the director Joanna Hogg to an introduction to Charlie Porter through original texts written by leading fashion journalists and writers. All ending with an afterword signed by the creator Yohji Yamamoto.

Patti Smith vue par Lynn Goldsmith

“It’s always so easy with you” once said Lynn Goldsmith by capturing her favorite subject: the iconic musician and poet Patti Smith. Their collaboration, of infinite richness, spans more than four decades – as does their unwavering friendship. Their paths crossed for the first time in the heart of the 1970s, while New York City vibrated to the rhythm of a buzzing rock scene, including Patti Smith is part of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen or even Debbie Harry. Today, Rizzoli Editions honors the long-term collaboration between the two women with Before Easter Aftera work focused on their first years spent together, around the release of the third album of Patti Smith, Easter. The opportunity to leave a little rock’n’roll under the tree.

In the eye of Audrey Tautou

After starting out in comedy Venus Beautyof Tony Marshallwhich earned her the César for Most Promising Actress in 2000, and the global success of Fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain, Audrey Tautou has continued to appear in films where sensitivity and strength intertwine. At the same time, she enjoys practicing photography. Captured during his filming or on a daily basis, almost always from the angle of a self-portrait, his intimate, funny and poetic images are now brought together in a beautiful book published by Fisheye. In Superfacialthe photographs mix with personal texts, fan letters and other surprises previously reserved for the actress’s secret garden (the images fromAudrey Tautou are mainly taken in places that are dear to him: his apartment, his parents’ house, with objects that belong to him, etc.). La Française also presents previously unpublished prints, including a series made up of more than 500 portraits of journalists taken during the promotion of her films over the years, thus questioning the process of media coverage.

Harriet Backer’s colors

We know the names of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir et Edvard Munch. However, many are unaware of that ofHarriet Backera key artist of the Impressionist period. Indeed, she was one of the most renowned painters in Norway in the 19th century. At a time when women were not considered full citizens, Backer made a place of choice in the society of his time. Famous for her use of rich colors, she is also known for her portraits of the rural world. The artist pays particular attention to variations in light. His paintings represent interior scenes, but also outdoor scenes such as Laundry bleachinghis bucolic painting showing women washing a sheet, straight out of a novel by the sisters Bronte. In the spotlight of a major retrospective at the Musée d’Orsay this season (the exhibition Harriet Backer, the music of colors is ongoing until January 25, 2025), the work ofHarriet Backer is also told between the pages of a beautiful book published by Flammarion.

A retrospective of Barbie looks

2023 was the year of girls, the year of pink, the year of Barbie. It must be said that the success of blockbuster directed by Greta Gerwig exceeded all expectations. With some $150 million spent on marketing alone, it’s an understatement to say that the film’s promotional campaign has occupied the media space like few other films in recent years, from the moment the first photos were released. filming, displaying a Margot Robbie and a Ryan Gosling on rollerblades on the Venice Beach promenade in a multi-colored outfit, inspired by 80s influences. The promotional tour of Barbiewhich spanned from Canada to Australia via South Korea and England, marked the history of pop culture like no other. This is why the Rizzoli publishing house has made a beautiful book, bringing together the looks Chanel, Versace, Armani or even Schiaparelli worn by the superstar Margot Robbie, who was having fun with her stylist Andrew Makumal to multiply references as precise as they are pointed to the doll.

Women photographers

Since the beginnings of photography, almost two centuries ago, women have used this medium as a means of expression, even of provocation or of questioning artistic, social and political codes. The book Women behind the lensof Boris Friedewaldhonors nearly 60 international artists who, from yesterday to today, have largely contributed to the development of the discipline. Among them: Lee Millerthe most famous photojournalist of the 20th century, currently highlighted in a biopic ofEllen Kuras with Kate Winslet in the title role, but also Diane Arbus, Collected by Kawauchi, Germaine Krull, Susan Meiselas, Tina Modotti, Cindy Sherman…Pioneering cyanotypesAnna Atkins to the militant work of Zane Muholieach of the portfolios is accompanied by a brief biography and a concise analysis which gives these women their rightful place in the history of photography.

A fascinating dialogue between Peter Lindbergh and Dior

Until May 4, 2025, more than a hundred emblematic images of Peter Lindberghcaptured between 1988 and 2018, are exhibited at the Galerie Dior at 30 Montaigne, offering a unique immersion in the visual universe of the photographer and his close link with the history of the house Dior. It is now known, Peter Lindbergh had the ambition to transport fashion creations out of the studios in order to place them in “the movement of life”. The excitement of New York has long served as a backdrop for these legendary pieces, revealing a new vision, both modern and vibrant, of haute couture and ready-to-wear. The photographs resulting from this collaboration are now brought together in a book, published by Taschen.

Also find on Vogue.fr:
With Superfacial, Audrey Tautou signs a beautiful book on her personal photographs
Yves Saint Laurent and his dogs, a love (and fashion) story
The 10 best books to read when going through a breakup

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