John Ruskin’s celestial city
The John Ruskin: Artist and Observer exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery includes many of his most famous illustrations of the city he idealised, Venice.
Art
The Rules of Abstraction
The Rules of Abstraction, a BBC4 documentary by the artist and writer Matthew Collings, shown last week and still available at the time of writing, was an accessible introduction to the enigmatic world of abstract art.
White and emptiness
Kenya Hara’s little book White is a meditation on the colour’s qualities as a field of imminent possibility.
Merz to Emigré and Beyond
Merz to Emigré and Beyond by Steven Heller, first published in 2003 and republished this summer, is a richly illustrated chronicle of the radical magazines, newspapers and journals published during the 20th century.
Brutalism, the sublime and everyday digital design
The avant-garde and everyday design: notes on the BBC documentary Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloodymindedness by Jonathan Meades.