THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and "The gift book of the year, a volume that should have broad appeal and deliver many hours of pleasure to the recipient. The Work of Art is a gorgeous book. John Warner, The Chicago Tribune
From former editor of New York magazine Adam Moss, a collection of illuminating conversations examining the very personal, rigorous, complex, and elusive work of making art
What is the work of art? In this guided tour inside the artist s head, Adam Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies, songs, and more. Weaving conversations with some of the most accomplished artists of our time together with the journal entries, napkin doodles, and sketches that were their tools, Moss breaks down the work the tortuous paths and artistic decisions that led to great art. From first glimmers to second thoughts, roads not taken, crises, breakthroughs, on to one triumphant finish after another.
Featuring: Kara Walker, TonyKushner, Roz Chast, Michael Cunningham, Moses Sumney, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Meiselas, Louise Glück, Maria de Los Angeles, Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Twyla Tharp, John Derian, Barbara Kruger, David Mandel, Gregory Crewdson, Marie Howe, Gay Talese, Cheryl Pope, Samin Nosrat, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills, Wesley Morris, Amy Sillman, Andrew Jarecki, Rostam, Ira Glass, Simphiwe Ndzube, Dean Baquet & Tom Bodkin, Max Porter, Elizabeth Diller, Ian Adelman / Calvin Seibert, Tyler Hobbs, Marc Jacobs, Grady West (Dina Martina), Will Shortz, Sheila Heti, Gerald Lovell, Jody Williams & Rita Sodi, Taylor Mac & Machine Dazzle, David Simon, George Saunders, Suzan-Lori Parks
From former editor of New York magazine Adam Moss, a collection of illuminating conversations examining the very personal, rigorous, complex, and elusive work of making art
What is the work of art? In this guided tour inside the artist s head, Adam Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies, songs, and more. Weaving conversations with some of the most accomplished artists of our time together with the journal entries, napkin doodles, and sketches that were their tools, Moss breaks down the work the tortuous paths and artistic decisions that led to great art. From first glimmers to second thoughts, roads not taken, crises, breakthroughs, on to one triumphant finish after another.
Featuring: Kara Walker, TonyKushner, Roz Chast, Michael Cunningham, Moses Sumney, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Meiselas, Louise Glück, Maria de Los Angeles, Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Twyla Tharp, John Derian, Barbara Kruger, David Mandel, Gregory Crewdson, Marie Howe, Gay Talese, Cheryl Pope, Samin Nosrat, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills, Wesley Morris, Amy Sillman, Andrew Jarecki, Rostam, Ira Glass, Simphiwe Ndzube, Dean Baquet & Tom Bodkin, Max Porter, Elizabeth Diller, Ian Adelman / Calvin Seibert, Tyler Hobbs, Marc Jacobs, Grady West (Dina Martina), Will Shortz, Sheila Heti, Gerald Lovell, Jody Williams & Rita Sodi, Taylor Mac & Machine Dazzle, David Simon, George Saunders, Suzan-Lori Parks
The book is a visual feast, full of drafts, sketches, and scribbled notebook pages. Every page shows how an idea becomes a finished design. Ari Shapiro, All Things Considered
In The Work of Art, famed creators from the worlds of film, fashion, theater and more explore the hidden alchemy of their craft . . . [Moss] suggests that receptiveness to chance guides art as much as skill. It s a liberating fact. He wants to demystify creation, and often succeeds. [A] vibrant, companionable and punchily precise dossier. Walker Mimms, The New York Times
"I understand that we are barely past the midpoint of the year, nonetheless I m ready to declare the gift book of the year, a volume that should have broad appeal and deliver many hours of pleasure to the recipient. The Work of Art is a gorgeous book. John Warner, The Chicago Tribune
Moss wants to understand what makes artists tick, and he goes about it in a pragmatic, anti-Romantic way. He treats art works as a mechanically minded kid might treat a dismantled tape deck, poking and prodding their insides to figure out how all these jangled parts make a whole.[The Work of Art] is designed to be absorbed in bursts of pleasure. Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker
[D]elightful. California Review of Books
[A] lavish work that presents the doodles and rough drafts and sketches of art in progress. Parade, The 27 Best Coffee Table Books of 2024
My favorite book of the year . . . The book itself is really beautiful . . . A great bible for all of us trying to create great art. Daniel Pink, The Next Big Idea podcast
[The Work of Art] is a big, beautiful thing to behold . . . It contains 43 gorgeously illustrated interviews with artists of all stripes . . . The book is, to borrow a Yeates phrase, a meditation on the fascination of what s difficult. And it s a book the team here has not been able to stop talking about . . . It has changed the way we think about making the craft of this show. Rufus Griscom, The Next Big Idea podcast
An incredible object [and] brilliant book . . . An amazing sort of encyclopedia, document, spiritual journey, cosmological alignment of enormous of numbers of artists from Louise Gluck to Kara Walker to Stephen Sondheim. Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine Senior Art Critic
The Work of Art is a case study in creativity featuring preeminent artists of our time. Vanity Fair
"The Work of Art is Moss at his most curious and engaging... Seductive, enthralling and a joy to read." Air Mail
This book is and I really want people to hear it: It's a piece of art. Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show
Gorgeously illustrated . . . Fabulous insights into the artist s work. NBC, "Today in New York"
Very much a museum, the book shows how ideas can be taken from seed to fruition, a skill Moss honed as the editor of New York magazine. Readers will linger in these galleries as they consider the ideas of more than 40 creatives working in art forms that include sculpting, painting, cooking, writing, and even building sandcastles. The artists represented here are an extraordinary group, with such luminaries as Louise Glück, Kara Walker, Stephen Sondheim, and Ira Glass. Visitors to Moss's museum will delight in its visual styling, with every detail font, layout, design, color governed by a spare but finely appointed aesthetic. The artifacts that accompany each section prove fascinating . . . Moss strikes the perfect balance with his tone: breezy and conversational but driven by intellectual curiosity . . . Throughout The Work of Art, Moss chases the origin and evolution of creativity, a lofty but highly practical goal, especially to emerging creatives looking for inspiration. He may not solve that elusive puzzle, but readers will love the treasure trove of wisdom he uncovers. Shelf Awareness
A panoply of artists offer a rare peek into the mysteries and mundanities of the creative process in this captivating compendium . . . Moss concludes on a fascinating note, musing that while artists don t have more interesting dreams than the rest of us, they do possess an unusual ability to cross over to get entrance to that inarticulable place, and then to capture what they can make use of. It s a must-read for creatives of all stripes. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In this handsome book, [Adam Moss] interviews more than 40 creators in all disciplines who walk me through, in as much detail as they could muster, the evolution of a novel, a painting, a photograph, a movie, a joke, a song, and to supply physical documentation of their process. Many of the creators are well known, including Stephen Sondheim, Louise Glück, Twyla Tharp, and George Saunders . . . The book is amply illustrated, with sketches for dress designs, notes on animation, preliminary concepts for buildings, doodled ideas on coffee-stained napkins, and more . . . this is an inspiring work, especially for anyone struggling to create art and wondering whether the slogs and endless false starts are worth the effort. An encouraging book dedicated to the pleasures and agonies of making art. Kirkus Reviews
[A] visionary book. ... [Moss s] love for conversational, witty storytelling is clear here. . . The images elevate the book to a compendium of precious ephemera. It s possible Moss has invented a new literary genre. However it s classified, you ll read it cover to cover. BookPage
The Work of Art by Adam Moss is a handsome, strikingly designed, color-glossy book of interviews with all manner of artists . . . Moss s voice is distinct sympathetic, appreciative, confessional, generous, curious, humorous as he compares the anguish and achievements of others with his own continuing struggles to be a painter . . . The book is clearly a work of love . . . WSHU Public Radio
[A] revelatory window on the creative process at the crossing point of the mystical and the methodical through conversations with and reflections by some of the most beloved artists of our time poets, painters, novelists, musicians, filmmakers, playwrights, architects, chefs each centered on how a particular work came to be . . . The Work of Art is a magnificent read in its entirety, lush with ephemera from the understory of creativity discarded drafts, handwritten journal pages, preliminary sketches and prototypes, notes from the subconscious scribbled in the middle of the night. Maria Popova, The Marginalian
In The Work of Art, famed creators from the worlds of film, fashion, theater and more explore the hidden alchemy of their craft . . . [Moss] suggests that receptiveness to chance guides art as much as skill. It s a liberating fact. He wants to demystify creation, and often succeeds. [A] vibrant, companionable and punchily precise dossier. Walker Mimms, The New York Times
"I understand that we are barely past the midpoint of the year, nonetheless I m ready to declare the gift book of the year, a volume that should have broad appeal and deliver many hours of pleasure to the recipient. The Work of Art is a gorgeous book. John Warner, The Chicago Tribune
Moss wants to understand what makes artists tick, and he goes about it in a pragmatic, anti-Romantic way. He treats art works as a mechanically minded kid might treat a dismantled tape deck, poking and prodding their insides to figure out how all these jangled parts make a whole.[The Work of Art] is designed to be absorbed in bursts of pleasure. Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker
[D]elightful. California Review of Books
[A] lavish work that presents the doodles and rough drafts and sketches of art in progress. Parade, The 27 Best Coffee Table Books of 2024
My favorite book of the year . . . The book itself is really beautiful . . . A great bible for all of us trying to create great art. Daniel Pink, The Next Big Idea podcast
[The Work of Art] is a big, beautiful thing to behold . . . It contains 43 gorgeously illustrated interviews with artists of all stripes . . . The book is, to borrow a Yeates phrase, a meditation on the fascination of what s difficult. And it s a book the team here has not been able to stop talking about . . . It has changed the way we think about making the craft of this show. Rufus Griscom, The Next Big Idea podcast
An incredible object [and] brilliant book . . . An amazing sort of encyclopedia, document, spiritual journey, cosmological alignment of enormous of numbers of artists from Louise Gluck to Kara Walker to Stephen Sondheim. Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine Senior Art Critic
The Work of Art is a case study in creativity featuring preeminent artists of our time. Vanity Fair
"The Work of Art is Moss at his most curious and engaging... Seductive, enthralling and a joy to read." Air Mail
This book is and I really want people to hear it: It's a piece of art. Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show
Gorgeously illustrated . . . Fabulous insights into the artist s work. NBC, "Today in New York"
Very much a museum, the book shows how ideas can be taken from seed to fruition, a skill Moss honed as the editor of New York magazine. Readers will linger in these galleries as they consider the ideas of more than 40 creatives working in art forms that include sculpting, painting, cooking, writing, and even building sandcastles. The artists represented here are an extraordinary group, with such luminaries as Louise Glück, Kara Walker, Stephen Sondheim, and Ira Glass. Visitors to Moss's museum will delight in its visual styling, with every detail font, layout, design, color governed by a spare but finely appointed aesthetic. The artifacts that accompany each section prove fascinating . . . Moss strikes the perfect balance with his tone: breezy and conversational but driven by intellectual curiosity . . . Throughout The Work of Art, Moss chases the origin and evolution of creativity, a lofty but highly practical goal, especially to emerging creatives looking for inspiration. He may not solve that elusive puzzle, but readers will love the treasure trove of wisdom he uncovers. Shelf Awareness
A panoply of artists offer a rare peek into the mysteries and mundanities of the creative process in this captivating compendium . . . Moss concludes on a fascinating note, musing that while artists don t have more interesting dreams than the rest of us, they do possess an unusual ability to cross over to get entrance to that inarticulable place, and then to capture what they can make use of. It s a must-read for creatives of all stripes. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In this handsome book, [Adam Moss] interviews more than 40 creators in all disciplines who walk me through, in as much detail as they could muster, the evolution of a novel, a painting, a photograph, a movie, a joke, a song, and to supply physical documentation of their process. Many of the creators are well known, including Stephen Sondheim, Louise Glück, Twyla Tharp, and George Saunders . . . The book is amply illustrated, with sketches for dress designs, notes on animation, preliminary concepts for buildings, doodled ideas on coffee-stained napkins, and more . . . this is an inspiring work, especially for anyone struggling to create art and wondering whether the slogs and endless false starts are worth the effort. An encouraging book dedicated to the pleasures and agonies of making art. Kirkus Reviews
[A] visionary book. ... [Moss s] love for conversational, witty storytelling is clear here. . . The images elevate the book to a compendium of precious ephemera. It s possible Moss has invented a new literary genre. However it s classified, you ll read it cover to cover. BookPage
The Work of Art by Adam Moss is a handsome, strikingly designed, color-glossy book of interviews with all manner of artists . . . Moss s voice is distinct sympathetic, appreciative, confessional, generous, curious, humorous as he compares the anguish and achievements of others with his own continuing struggles to be a painter . . . The book is clearly a work of love . . . WSHU Public Radio
[A] revelatory window on the creative process at the crossing point of the mystical and the methodical through conversations with and reflections by some of the most beloved artists of our time poets, painters, novelists, musicians, filmmakers, playwrights, architects, chefs each centered on how a particular work came to be . . . The Work of Art is a magnificent read in its entirety, lush with ephemera from the understory of creativity discarded drafts, handwritten journal pages, preliminary sketches and prototypes, notes from the subconscious scribbled in the middle of the night. Maria Popova, The Marginalian