Arcana: Books on the Arts

Arcana: Books on the Arts Purveyors of the finest photography, art, fashion, cinema, design, and architecture books and catalogues since 1984.

Yee, don’t Demeulemeester my Van Beirendonck or I’ll have to Van Saene your van Noten all over the Bikkembergs! Anyway, ...
06/06/2026

Yee, don’t Demeulemeester my Van Beirendonck or I’ll have to Van Saene your van Noten all over the Bikkembergs! Anyway, we love a tasty movement—even if it was engineered by the media, and they kind of all are—and the Antwerp Six, that storied coterie of Belgian fashion cracks (apparently that’s a way to say “genius” over there) are now frozen in time in a massive group tome entitled, what else, “The Antwerp Six.” So, yes: Da waren stuk voor stuk cracks! Book of the day. (Fashion Museum Antwerp / Hannibal, 2026)

Relax, man /Cos Nan’s got a plan /She can’t do what she can’t /Bit she’ll do what she canThank you for reading our poem ...
06/05/2026

Relax, man /
Cos Nan’s got a plan /
She can’t do what she can’t /
Bit she’ll do what she can

Thank you for reading our poem regarding the illustrious and regal Nan Goldin, whose new book “Sisters, Saints and Sibyls” is a characteristically poignant and scarred collection of photos exploring female trauma and strength. Book of the day… hey hey hey? (Thames & Hudson, 2026)

Duuuuuudes when was the last time you took a moment to trip out on birds’ nests? (And please don’t say, “Never.”) We wou...
06/04/2026

Duuuuuudes when was the last time you took a moment to trip out on birds’ nests? (And please don’t say, “Never.”) We would like to invite you now to put your anxieties aside and take that trip again. Look at these things. BIRDS MADE THEM. Most of the samples seen in this wondrous book, “Dwellings: Fragile Architecture,” date to the 19th century. Book of the day. (Hartmann Books, 2026)

Sisterhood is powerful and so is this new book “Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage.” T...
06/01/2026

Sisterhood is powerful and so is this new book “Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage.” There’s a lot here, so we’re going to pass the mic to the publisher for a minute.

Arcana: “Tell the people about your new book, Thames & Hudson!”

Thames & Hudson: “I can’t!”

A: “Why not?”

T&H: “ … I’m shy.”

A: “Don’t be! You’re eloquent!”

T&H: “Female artists have long employed collage to reflect the ways in which identity is often constructed from conflicting, contrasting, and contradictory parts. Cut Out explores the relationship between photography and feminist collage, foregrounding the use of femmage—a radical reclaiming of craft traditionally associated with women—as a resilient method within feminist and political art.
Cut Out presents an expanded definition of collage and cutting techniques to encompass photomontage, assemblage, and the photogram. Tracing a lineage from nineteenth-century makers to contemporary practitioners, this fascinating volume covers Victorian album makers; modernist, surrealist, and Dadaist innovators; and radical, second-wave feminist artists. Thematic sections include profiles written by expert contributors on key individuals, including Hannah Höch, Dora Maar, and Lorna Simpson. Looking to the future as much as the past, Cut Out also reveals how the pioneering work of contemporary and digital artists continues to subvert dominant narratives and foster everexpanding forms of photographic collage.”

A: “Thanks. Now give us our mic back.”

T&H: *flees across the Atlantic with our mic*

(Book of the Day; Thames & Hudson, 2026)

“Serious Tings a Gwan” is the new zine of dancehall ephemera by the brilliant Arcana-friend Raj Debah. We suggest grabbi...
05/30/2026

“Serious Tings a Gwan” is the new zine of dancehall ephemera by the brilliant Arcana-friend Raj Debah. We suggest grabbing it while you can because not only are serious tings a gwan, they’ve been gwanning and will continue to gwan into the foreseeable future. For those reasons, only an iration of this variety will do. Book of the day!

Dear Reader: We (NB: by “we” we mean I, the manager of Arcana, an actual individual human who believes that the royal we...
05/29/2026

Dear Reader: We (NB: by “we” we mean I, the manager of Arcana, an actual individual human who believes that the royal we is appropriate in IG captions from a retail entity) do not know how “we” feel about hippies. Pro: The best ones were committed to building a new world in the margins of the square world and they didn’t shy away from transgression or crime. Con: The worst ones confused liberation for hedonism and fashion. Ugh. Help “we” out here. What are your thoughts?

Anyway, the book of the day today is “In Case You Missed It” by Jerry de Wilde, and “we” love it. There is more than hippies in here, but “we” focused on the hippie chapters because, screw it, “we” probably are a hippie. Or a punk. Or both? (Angel City Press, 2026)

Ring the bell! Sound the alarm! Legendary soul, R&B, and funk photographer (and tight friend of Arcana) Bruce Talamon wi...
05/28/2026

Ring the bell! Sound the alarm! Legendary soul, R&B, and funk photographer (and tight friend of Arcana) Bruce Talamon will be HERE this Saturday, May 30th, from 4 until 6PM to sign copies of the new edition of his legendary book featuring absolute undeniable soulful ICONS between the years of 1972-1982 (AD). You must decide now: hit it or quit it. We know you will make the right call. You know how we know? Because we know you’ve got soul. See you there. (Taschen, 2026)

What happens when an insatiable need meets a bottomless well? Another book of Raymond Pettibon’s Black Flag flyers appea...
05/24/2026

What happens when an insatiable need meets a bottomless well? Another book of Raymond Pettibon’s Black Flag flyers appears! And we can’t resist grabbing them all. Can you? If the answer is no, then come visit us soon or smash that link in our bio to purchase online. Book of the day, punk.

Me: “Dang, these photos feel like a Yorgos Lanthimos movie!” You: “That’s because he took them, dummy. God, I thought yo...
05/23/2026

Me: “Dang, these photos feel like a Yorgos Lanthimos movie!”
You: “That’s because he took them, dummy. God, I thought you worked at a bookstore.”
Me: “You don’t have to be a dick about it. Anyway, I think I’ll make this our book of the day. It was published this year by Mack Books.”
You: “Why are you telling me all this?”
Me: “You know what? Delete my number. Have fun trying to find cool books at Barnes & Noble!”

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