The art publishing phenomenon if 2001 was David Hockney's best-selling Secret Knowledge ( Thames & Hudson, £35 in UK), a beautifully presented, visually lavish and well-argued account of the old masters use of various optical aids in painting from the time of the Renaissance to the rise of photography.
For historical reasons, a great deal of Irish painting between the late 17th and late 19th centuries took the from of landscapes and portraits. They predictably dominate Irish Painting In The National Galley ( National Gallery, £55) by Nicola Figgis and Brendan Rooney, the first of three volumes that will catalogue Irish paintings in the collection. It is appropriately dedicated to Michael Wynne, who worked at the gallery for 32 years and whose scholarship and legendary acumen contributed hugely to the development of the collection.
This year's Irish Arts Review ( £40 hbk, £26 pbk) includes essays on the sculpture of William Trevor, a critical look at the work of Ulster artist William Conor and the paintings of Liam Belton RHA.
The painter Balthas, who died in February of this year, is one of the fascinating individualists thrown up by art history.. No one doubts his classica abilities but the frisson of transgression that attends his drawings and plaintings of adolescent girls is still a subject of debate. Jean Clair's Balthas ( Thames & Hudson, £50 in UK) gives him the scholarly treatment.
Damien Hirst apparently identifies with Francis Bacon and may have wanted to emulate David Sylvester's classic Interviews with Francis Bacon. But Sylvester saw a film by Hirst and thought it was rubbish, so instead we have On The Way To Work (Faber & Faber, £25 in UK), conversations between Hirst and writer Gordon Burn, which confirms the art star as a mixture of artist, opportunist and unreconstructed lad: Rosie Millard's The Tastemakers (Thames & Hudson, £18.95 in UK) offers an anecdotal look at the British art world, but Julian Stallabrass remains one of the few writers to offer genuine critical perspective on the 1990s Britart phenomenon in High Art Lite (Verso, pbk, £12 in UK).
