We a good story
Quick delivery in the UK

Art & Culture

Culture and art is many things and at Tales you find a wide selection of art and culture books. If you enjoy a trip to the museum or an evening at the theatre this is the place for you. If you are more into architecture or a well written song, fear not you also find books about that. Lastly design and fashion is also part of our art and culture selection, so what are you waiting for? Set your inner creativity free and get inspired by some of the world’s best artists, musicians, designers or architects.
Show more
Filter
Filter
Sort bySort Popular
  • Save 20%
    by Chantal Akerman
    £11.99

    In 2013, the filmmaker Chantal Akerman's mother was dying. My Mother Laughs is both the textual distillation of the themes Akerman pursued throughout her creative life, and a version of the simplest and most complicated love story of all: that between a mother and a daughter.

  • Save 16%
    - Lessons in the Classical Tradition
    by Juliette Aristides
    £14.99

    "The best way to learn about art is to make it. Discover the secrets of great figure drawing as you sketch along with past and present masters. This working artist's sketchbook guides you from beginning gestures to delicate rendering. It's your art, your tradition, your time. Take your voice and add it to the tradition as if the history of art has saved the best for now."-- Juliette AristidesFigure Drawing Atelier offers a comprehensive, contemporary twist to the very traditional atelier approach to the methods that instruct artists on the techniques they need to successfully draw and ultimately paint the figure. The book offers art instruction, practical and progressive lessons on drawing the figure, and high-quality sketchbook paper in a beautiful package that includes blank pages for sketching and copying. Artists will then have a record of their process, like with a sketchbook, which many artists like to document and save.In this elegant and inspiring workbook, master contemporary artist and author Juliette Aristides breaks down the figure drawing process into small, manageable lessons, presents them progressively, introduces time-tested principles and techniques in the atelier tradition that are easily accessible, and shares the language and context necessary to understand the artistic process and create superior, well-crafted drawings. Atelier education is centered on the belief that working in a studio, not sitting in the lecture hall, is the best way to learn about art. Every artist needs to learn to master figure drawing. Ateliers have produced the greatest artists of all time--and now that educational model is experiencing a renaissance. These studios, a return to classical art training, are based on the nineteenth-century model of teaching artists by pairing them with a master artist over a period of years. Students begin by copying masterworks, then gradually progress to painting as their skills develop. Figure Drawing Atelier is like having an atelier in a book--and the master is Juliette Aristides, a classically trained artist and best-selling art-instruction author with almost rock star popularity in the contemporary world of representational art. On every page, Aristides uses the works of Old Masters and today's most respected realist artists to demonstrate and teach the principles of realistic figure drawing and painting, taking students step by step through the learning curve yet allowing them to work at their own pace. Unique and inspiring, this book offers a serious art course for serious art students and beginners alike.

  • Save 27%
    by DJ Semtex
    £25.49

    The definitive volume on the essence, experience and energy that is hip-hop and its massive and enduring impact over the last 40 years, now in paperback.

  • Save 10%
    - Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Minerology, Anatomy and the Arts
    by Patrick Syme
    £8.99

    Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is a fascinating book penned by Patrick Syme. Published by The Natural History Museum in 2018, this work is a unique blend of art and science. The book delves into the intricate world of colours, exploring their nomenclature and classification in a way that is both engaging and enlightening. As a genre, it straddles the lines between non-fiction, art, and scientific literature, offering readers a multi-faceted look at the subject. Syme's vivid descriptions and insightful commentary make the book a must-read for anyone with an interest in the intersection of art and science. Published by the prestigious Natural History Museum, this book is a testament to Syme's extensive knowledge and passion for his subject. Don't miss out on this enlightening read!

  • Save 21%
    by Michael Freeman
    £13.49

    Covering all of the essentials, this book is all you need to master photography.

  • Save 23%
    - 200 Step-by-Step Flowers, Leaves, Cacti, Succulents, and Other Items Found In Nature
    by Peggy Dean
    £15.49

    An easy, no-skills-necessary guide to drawing flowers, leaves, and cacti with 200 step-by-step prompts.

  • - Lights Up!
    by Running Press
    £9.99

    With a continual stream of exciting experiences from the Wizarding World, including the successful launch of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, Harry Potter fans are as engaged as ever. This mini kit continues a magically successful program for Running Press.

  • Save 24%
    - A Perfect Dream
    by Ian Gittins
    £18.99

    The successes, struggles, tensions, line-up changes, substance battles, court cases and notable creative achievements of The Cure are placed on the full and informed trajectory in this insightful look at the band's multi-decade run.

  • Save 27%
     
    £21.99

    A much-needed publication celebrating the endless creativity of Anni Albers, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

  • Save 25%
    - Discovering London's Beautiful Places
    by Siobhan Ferguson
    £20.49

    Title: prettycitylondon, Author: Siobhan Ferguson, Publication Year: 2018-04-16, Publisher: The History Press Ltd, Language: eng

  • Save 11%
    - Craig Ellwood - Myth, Man, Designer
    by Michael Boyd
    £44.49

    This is the definitive volume on Craig Ellwood, a visionary architect, designer, and tastemaker often called the California Mies van der Rohe.

  • Save 23%
    - Everything Interior Designers Need to Know Every Day
    by Chris Grimley
    £15.49

    The title collects the information essential to planning and executing interior projects, and distills it in a format that is as easy to use as it is to carry.

  • Save 27%
    by Antonio Donnanno
    £21.99

    Fashion Patternmaking Technique for Kids clothes is the result of 15 years reprints and corrections based in an everyday teaching praxis, which lead to careful studies and ongoing updates taking into account changing needs. As in the other volumes of the series, the author has written a method, simple but at the same time detailed, precise and easy to understand.

  • Save 21%
    - How to Draw Essential Character Types from Simple Templates
    by Christopher Hart
    £13.49

    With easy-to-follow steps and techniques, learn how to draw popular characters of Japanese anime.

  • Save 30%
    - 1890-1959
    by Jens Muller
    £41.99

    In this mighty first volume, Jens Muller traces 70 years of graphic design, designers, and developments from the late 19th century through the economic boom after World War II, spanning designs that would form the basis for further revolutions.

  • Save 25%
     
    £14.99

    As the first thing a consumer sees when looking at a product, the packaging can make or break a sale. Each year, the Pentawards celebrate the underrated art of package design by recognizing the most influential pieces from around the world. Featuring hundreds of works and with key pieces described in detail, this book brings together the lucky...

  • Save 22%
    by Beatriz Colomina
    £13.99

    A holistic approach toward the omnipotence of design.

  • Save 31%
    by Donatella Versace
    £51.99

    A long-awaited and highly intimate visual history of Versace, the glamorous and globally renowned Italian fashion house.

  • Save 29%
    - Timeless Furniture, Textiles, and Details
    by Christiane Lemieux
    £35.49

    With a foreword by Miles Redd, this luxurious decorating resource trains the eye to recognize enduring, quality home goods and to use them to dazzling design effect.Quality matters. Just as a home's foundation should be built to stand the test of time, so, too, should the furniture, objects, and elements of our rooms speak to an enduring sense of beauty and comfort. They should outlast trends and our loving day-to-day use. But how does one recognize quality and judge whether something is well made?Christiane Lemieux set out to answer this question by interviewing the world's greatest experts. Weaving together the insights and guidance of dozens of wallpaper and paint specialists, textile fabricators, accessories artisans, and interior designers, Lemieux has curated an unparalleled education in recognizing the hallmarks of timeless, heirloom-quality pieces. Hundreds of elegant home interiors-both iconic examples from the past and stunning residences today--represent the range of luxurious and customized environments that can be created with fine décor.

  • - Third, expanded edition
    by Peter Zumthor
    £28.49

    In order to design a building with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction. In these essays, Peter Zumthor expresses his motivation in designing buildings, which speak to our emotions and understanding in so many ways, and possess a powerful and unmistakable presence and personality.

  • Save 29%
    by Ralph Lauren
    £31.99

    The landmark volume celebrating the life and work of Ralph Lauren the vision of the brand as told and presented by Lauren himself in a smaller, more portable edition, with additional photographs updated to the present.

  • Save 25%
    - The Ultimate Studio Guide from Sketchbook to Squeegee
    by Print Club London
    £20.99

    The 21st-century bible of creative screenprinting.

  • Save 31%
    by Paul McNeil
    £48.49

  • Save 27%
    - The Color Field Paintings
    by Dore Ashton
    £21.99

    The essential book on Mark Rothko for the modern art lover's library.

  • Save 15%
    by Megamunden
    £10.99

    With over sixty pages of elaborate flash sheets that depict themes from ghost trains to Venice Beach, pinball to pin-ups, this collection of tattoo art includes a full-colour, pull-out gatefold and two sticker sheets. It is of interest to anyone who loves tattoo imagery - or is looking for inspiration for their next piece of body art.

  • Save 18%
    by Mckee Robert
    £20.49

    DIALOGUE is the follow-up title to Robert McKee's hugely successful STORY.

  • Save 15%
    by Patti Smith
    £10.99

    'So honest and pure as to count as a true rapture' JOAN DIDION'A poetic masterpiece' JOHNNY DEPP'Our St John of the Cross, a mystic full of compassion' EDMUND WHITE'A roadmap to my life', from the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids: an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of cafés and haunts she has worked in around the worldREVISED EDITION WITH FIVE THOUSAND WORDS OF BONUS MATERIAL AND NEW PHOTOGRAPHS M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, and across a landscape of creative aspirations and inspirations, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to a meeting of an Arctic explorer's society in Berlin; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud and Mishima. Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith's life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith. Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable artists at work today.

  • Save 27%
    by Phillip Prodger
    £21.99

    William Eggleston's photographs are special for their eccentric, unexpected compositions, playfulness, implied narrative and, above all, his portrayals of people. This title accompanies the first exhibition to explore Eggleston's pictures of people. It includes works that span his career from the 1950s onwards.

  • Save 31%
    - 100 Years of Traditional Tattoos from the Collection of Jonathan Shaw
    by Jonathan Shaw
    £42.99

    Vintage Tattoo Flash is a one-of-a-kind visual exploration of the history and evolution of tattooing in America. A luscious, offset-printed, hardcover tome-a beautiful and serious addition to the understanding of one of the world's oldest and most popular art forms. Electric tattooing as we know it today was invented in New York City at the turn of the 19th century. In the first days of American tattooing, tattoos were primarily worn by sailors and soldiers, outlaws and outsiders. The visual language of what came to be known as "traditional tattooing" was developed in those early days on the Bowery and catered to the interests of the clientele. Common imagery that soon became canon included sailing ships, women, hearts, roses, daggers, eagles, dragons, wolves, panthers, skulls, crosses, and popular cartoon characters of the era. The first tattooists also figured out that using bold outlines, complimented by solid color and smooth shading, was the proper technique for creating art on a body that would stand the test of time. In the over 100 years since then, techniques and styles have evolved, and the customer base has expanded, but the core subject matter and philosophy developed at the dawn of electric tattooing has persisted as perennial favorites through the modern era. While most tattoos are inherently ephemeral, transported on skin until the death of the collector, a visual record exists in the form of tattoo flash: the hand-painted sheets of designs posted in tattoo shops for customers to select from. Painted and repainted, stolen, traded, bought and sold, these sheets are passed between artists through one channel or another, often having multiple useful lives in a variety of shops scattered across time and geography. The utility of these original pieces of painted art has made it so that original examples can still be found in use or up for grabs if you know where to look. Vintage Tattoo Flash draws from the personal collection of Jonathan Shaw-renowned outlaw tattooist and author-and represents a selection of over 300 pieces of flash from one of the largest private collections in existence. Vintage Tattoo Flash spans the first roughly 75 years of American tattooing from the 1900s Bowery, to 50s Texas, through the Pike in the 60s and the development of the first black and grey, single-needle tattooing in LA in the 70s. The book lovingly reproduces entirely unpublished sheets of original flash from the likes of Bob Shaw, Zeke Owen, Tex Rowe, Ted Inman, Ace Harlyn, Ed Smith, Paul Rogers, the Moskowitz brothers, and many, many others relatively known and unknown.

Culture
What defines culture you might ask? The answer is culture is what defines you. It is what makes us humans human and differentiate us from all other species on the planet. Art and culture is what we share with others, whether it is so called high culture or pop culture. High culture is typically associated with the ‘finer’, classical art forms such as opera, classical music, visual art, ballet and plays. Works that often have a certain age and artistic acknowledgement begin it, but fine culture is also sometimes seen as “high-brow” and not something everyone can understand and that’s sad, because culture and cultural books are for everyone no matter the kind. On the other end of the spectrum we have pop culture that typically is associated with more modern, popular and mainstream forms of culture. It can be pop music, cartoons or big blockbuster movies. We have cultural books from each side of the spectrum, but the best thing is that a change between the two concepts is coming and people are more open about mixing high culture and pop culture, because they are not that different at all. The most important thing about culture is that it connects us and is part of who we are. It can create communities and friendships, but also let us reflect upon ourselves. You can get wiser on that topic in some of our selection’s culture books. 

Art
In our selection you find some of the finest art books featuring some of the greatest artists in history and now. Art is a very important part of our culture. In art you have the possibility of getting engrossed in a wonderful painting, a provocative sculpture, a brilliant play or a beautiful ballet. 
In art you can get lost in the most wonderful stories and themes and identify yourself with someone who doesn’t necessarily look and act like you. By experiencing that you improve your ability of empathy. At the same time you can learn about yourself through art and art books especially when it comes to feelings that can be difficult to describe. In art the themes and problematics are universal and that’s why we feel recognized when experiencing a play, listening to a symphony, studying a great painting or reading a good art book. The art books are best enjoyed in a relaxed setting giving the art room to speak. 
Another beautiful thing about art is that it needs interpretation. When a person meets a well painted painting, a classical sculpture, or a provocative installation it makes us reflect about what it means, and what the art will tell us about society, life or yourself. Everyone can get something different out of a good artwork, because it speaks directly to you and functions as a dialog, where you will have to finish the sentence with your interpretation taking our own life and experiences into the artwork.
We also have a lot of artist books. One of the most talented and popular artists right now are the world famous Dane Vilhelm Hammershøi. Hammershøi has a very significant way of painting giving voice to the melankolic side of the world and of us humans. The painter is famous for his artworks of especially white doors in his apartment in Copenhagen. In the paintings Hammershøi plays with light and shadow in a brilliant way giving room to both sides, which also could be seen as a reflection of life that contains both. The motive also makes the art watcher wonder what is on the other side of the doors or corridors making them compose a continuation of the painting. You can read about Hammershøi in an European context in the artist book Hammershoi and Europe

Join thousands of book lovers

Sign up to our newsletter and receive discounts and inspiration for your next reading experience.