Studios of Their Own

By Alex Johnson & James Oses

Hardcover

Studios of Their Own travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals of over 50 famous artists.

From Picasso, to Hockney, to Caravaggio, discover the eclectic creative spaces used by artistic visionaries, brought to life with evocative illustrations.

Crossing centuries, continents and genres, Alex Johnson explores these artists’ workspaces and habits. How do they practise their craft? What do they look for in a studio? Do they work in silence or with music… in a shared space or in solitude? How do they harness the light? And how do their physical spaces affect and inspire their output?

This striking collection focuses on more than 50 international artists, including:

• Claude Monet, who created an inspirational garden in which to work en plein air and paint his famous water lilies
• Frida Kahlo, forced to work from her bed, inspired by the lucky talismans she surrounded herself with
• Jean-Michel Basquiat, working in an old stable, could turn anything into canvas, walking and lying on his works as he created them
• Lee Krasner’s art dramatically changed when she moved from her small studio into the larger, light-filled one that she took over when her husband, Jackson Pollock, died

In looking at the working lives of our favourite artists, readers will be transported to other worlds, as well as gaining a deeper insight into the creative process.

Travel to the sun-scorched plains of Don Quixote’s La Mancha, roam the wild Yorkshire moors with Cathy and Heathcliff or view Central Park through the eyes of J.D. Salinger’s antihero. Explore the lush and languid backwaters of Arundhati Roy’s Kerala, the imposing precipice of Joan Lindsay’s Hanging Rock and the labyrinthine streets and sewers of Victor Hugo’s Paris.

Featured locations:
Paris, Les Miserables
Dublin, Ulysses
Florence, A Room with a View
Naples, My Brilliant Friend
Berlin, Berlin Alexanderplatz
Nordland, Growth of the Soil
St Petersburg, Crime and Punishment
Sierra de Guadarrama, For Whom the Bell Tolls
La Mancha, Don Quixote
Davos, The Magic Mountain
Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion 
London, Oliver Twist
Yorkshire Moors, Wuthering Heights
Cairo, Palace Walk
Soweto, Burger's Daughter
Kerala, The God of Small Things
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), The Quiet American
Kabul, The Kite Runner
Hanging Rock, Picnic at Hanging Rock
New York, The Catcher in the Rye
Monterey, Cannery Row
Mississippi River, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Monroeville, To Kill a Mockingbird
Cartagena, Love in the Time of Cholera
Chile, The House of the Spirits

Delve into this book to discover some of the world’s most fascinating literary places and the novels that celebrate them.