Lance Avery Morgan
As the crispness of fall gives way to the festive sparkle of the holiday season, there’s no better time than now to indulge in the exquisite artistry of Rizzoli USA’s latest chic book offerings. Renowned for their breathtaking design and impeccable curation, Rizzoli’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection is a feast for the senses, delivering lush coffee-table tomes and captivating reads that are perfect for gifting—or savoring yourself by the fire. From evocative retrospectives on legendary figures to dazzling explorations of art, fashion, and culture, these titles promise to elevate every bibliophile’s collection while setting the tone for a stylish holiday season. Sure, we know you’ll be gifting these chic titles, yet sometimes gifting ourselves can be the greatest present of all, according to our resident bibliophile Lance Avery Morgan in his Top 10 List of picks, along with a few bonus books to dazzle you.
Monica Bellucci and Dolce&Gabbana have an unbreakable bond. Their first meeting took place during a casting session for a fashion show, when it was love at first sight. Since then, the muse has continued to inspire the two designers, who are now paying their respects to her wholly Italian sensuality, beauty, and charisma in Monica by Dolce&Gabbana. The unique style of the contemporary prima donna is presented in this gorgeous large-format photo book, as a celebration of the career and beauty of the model, actress, and woman. $250. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Dior by Mats Gustafson, Volume 2 encompasses Maria GraziaChiuri’s tenure through haute couture and ready-to-wear creations from her beginnings to the latest collections. Portraits of models and details of patterns complete the iconography. Celebrating the breadth of style and flair demonstrated by the illustrious fashion brand in recent years, Gustafson’s sophisticated illustrations capture Chiuri’s innovations and are an ode to the enduring allure of Dior. $115. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Spanning homes in New York, California, and Hawaii, each interior in Nicole Hollis: Artistry of Home reveals a new lesson in the creative and playful juxtaposition of artistic elements. In an elegant townhouse in San Francisco, a striking collection of contemporary paintings contrasts color and dynamism against luxuriously minimal furnishings. A loft in Tribeca pairs the organic forms of naturalistic chandeliers over sleek, modern furniture. And in a dreamlike beach house in Hawaii, custom woodwork brings into the space elements of the sublime nature outside. $60. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Curator Florence Müller explores Dolce&Gabbana’s Italian heritage and the enduring influence of Italian culture in inspiring some of the brand’s most iconic and innovative collections. The book’s ten chapters—handcraft, artistic glass, the leopard, devotion, the workshop, architecture, the white baroque, Sicilian traditions, goddesses and opera—combine runway and editorial photography with images of art, architecture, movies, and artisanal craft. From the Heart to the Hands pays tribute to the values of Fatto a Mano (hand-made), an essential part of Dolce&Gabbana since its founding in 1985. The book brings together a unique collection of Alta Moda and Alta Sartoria garments, exquisite jewelry, and archival treasures for the first time. $45. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Holly Hunt: Fearless in the World of Design showcases the design icon’s nearly forty years of collections of furniture, lighting, and textiles, as well as her partnerships with the designers she championed, such as the French minimalist Christian Liaigre, whom she introduced to an American audience. Acclaimed for popularizing modernism with mainstream American homeowners, Hunt curated and created chic modern furniture that made high-end design accessible to audiences beyond New York and Los Angeles. An influential figure on the design scene since the 1980s, she is recognized for being the first to design gallerylike showrooms with a mix of high-end furnishings and art. Her signature design line, with its focus on craftsmanship, exacting proportions, and impeccable materials, is credited with elevating standards across the design world. $65. At RizzoliUSA.com.
One of the most original and respected talents in design, Classic by Design’s Michael S. Smith is revered for his impeccable taste and style. Informed by a deep understanding of design history and the art world, his work is the ultimate in elegance and luxury, reflecting an uncommon sense of scale and drama and a deft use of craftsmanship and materials. His interiors have earned him enduring accolades throughout the industry, as well as a devoted following of notable clients, from Hollywood mega talents such as Shonda Rhimes to former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.The projects range from a contemporary beach house in East Hampton to a Moroccan-influenced Mallorca escape, as well as two of Michael’s own homes, including his extraordinary apartment in a nineteenth-century palace in Madrid. $75. At RizzoliUSA.com.
A long overdue survey of this exceptional artist, Deborah Remington celebrates her legacy as an original member of the Beat Generation in San Francisco and abstract painter in New York. The first comprehensive monograph on Remington (1930–2010) examines her extraordinary career through paintings, prints, and drawings. An enthusiastic participant in the Bay Area’s Beat scene in the early 1950s, Remington made her way to New York in 1965, where she joined the prestigious Bykert Gallery and quickly gained critical attention. Luminous and saturated, her hard-edged abstractions of the 1960s and 1970s are well known; yet the work from the last twenty-five years of her life is not as familiar to art world audiences. Beautifully illustrated, the book traces the arc of these evolutions through illustrations as well as a broad range of texts that includes scholarly essays, remembrances, an interview, and a narrative chronology. $65. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Widely celebrated as the father of the Studio Furniture Movement, Wharton Esherick (1887–1970) is one of the most important furniture designers of the twentieth century. The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick showcases seven decades of innovative woodwork and sculpture, embodying his influence on American art and design. Now known as the Wharton Esherick Museum, the artist’s self-proclaimed “autobiography in three dimensions” on Valley Forge Mountain, constructed between 1926 and 1966, served as his creative epicenter and a vibrant community hub. To introduce Esherick’s visionary work to a broader public, the book draws on the museum’s collection of almost 3,000 objects, many never before seen outside his home and studio, following his evolution from paintings and woodcut illustrations to his revolutionary fusion of furniture and organic sculpture. $65. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Accompanying a major traveling exhibition, Venice and the Ottoman Empire: A Tale of Art, Culture, and Exchange examines the unique artistic and cultural exchange between the Republic of Venice and Turkish Ottoman culture and identity over a three-hundred-year period. Exploring how artistic and cultural ideas originating in the Ottoman Empire arrived in Venice and were reinterpreted through the decorative arts, printed books, painting, drawing, and architecture, the book features a richly diverse selection from the collections of the Musei Civici di Venezia. With newly researched essays by esteemed international scholars on topics such as trade routes, the involvement of international communities in Venice, diplomatic interactions, and military power dynamics, this important volume offers freshly reviewed and new perspectives on the intricate artistic relationship that existed between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. $75. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Four new and exquisite jewelry titles we recommend are Solange: Jewellry for Chromantics; The World of David Morris: The London Jeweler; Divine Jewels: The Pursuit of Beauty; and Bulgari Aeterna. Over the past thirty-five years London-based jewelry designer Solange Azagury-Partridge has transformed the jewelry industry with her innovative and avant-garde designs which have set her apart from the more traditional jewelry houses. Her first book, Solange: Jewellery for Chromantics ($95), offers an exploration into the enchanting world she crafts through her fantasy-filled creations. Featuring a catalog of works curated by acclaimed jewelry historian Diana Scarisbrick, as well as all-new photography by Nils Herrmann, Divine Jewels: The Pursuit of Beauty ($115) exquisitely showcases 250 treasured pieces that have passed through the skilled hands of this unique collector. David Morris established his eponymous fine jewelry house in 1962, quickly gaining a global reputation, adorning Hollywood stars, European royals, and style icons from Elizabeth Taylor to Diana, Princess of Wales. Their first major monograph, The World of David Morris: The London Jeweler ($115),illuminates the sophistication and creativity of one of the most masterful jewelers working today. Featuring brand-new photography and newly commissioned gouaches, this sumptuously slipcased tome offers a look at the house’s history, as well as a selection of its most famous creations and innovative designs. For Bvlgari, the majesty and grandeur of Rome have always served as a source of inspiration in Bulgari AETERNA ($95), allowing this esteemed house to continuously reinvent itself, drawing inspiration from its heritage while embracing the contemporary, and envisioning the future. This pioneering spirit constantly forges new visions in the world of jewelry by experimenting with materials, aesthetics, and craftsmanship. celebrates 150 one-of-a-kind pieces from their High Jewelry collection, as well as highlighting historical pieces of Bvlgari Heritage collection. At RizzoliUSA.com.
Renowned interior designer Marie Flanigan looks at the home on a room-by-room basis, identifying common design challenges, and offering solutions on how to create rooms that are aesthetically pleasing and efficient. With examples chosen from her work, she shares seasoned wisdom and creative approaches to every decision ranging from building materials and architectural details to furnishings, color, textiles, accessories, and organization in her latest book The Perfect Room: Timeless Designs for Intentional Living. Her Houston-based firm collaborates on projects from Jackson Hole to Miami. Rooms from contemporary to traditional-style homes are featured, including the sun-drenched great room of a Shingle-style house in the Hamptons, a rustic-chic dining room with stone floors and a weathered wood ceiling in Texas, and a paneled living room in Manhattan. $55. At RizzoliUSA.com. Cullman & Kravis, an AD100 Hall of Fame design firm, creates interiors in a fresh traditional style that celebrates color, unique furnishings and finishes, vibrant modern art, and the best antiques.
Cullman & Kravis: Interiors is their most comprehensive book in many years and celebrates a renowned firm working at the peak of its forty-year practice. The homes in this book (the majority exclusive to the volume) include sumptuous Manhattan apartments; a historic house overlooking the Long Island Sound; a contemporary beach house in the Hamptons; a rambling, well-loved clapboard cottage on the coast of Massachusetts; an early-twentieth-century neo-Georgian estate on the Connecticut waterfront; and a modern minimalist Palm Beach waterfront estate. $65. At RizzoliUSA.com.
