Wow! eBook
Art Work: On the Creative Life
Author(s): Sally Mann (Author)
- Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
- Publication Date: September 9, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 272 pages
- ISBN-10: 1419780719
- ISBN-13: 9781419780714
Book Description
“A big and beautiful gift-worthy holiday art book” (New York Times), this new bookby artist Sally Mann about the challenges and transcendent pleasures of the creative process, is now a New York Times bestseller.
“Erudite, frank, and funny.” ―Amor Towles, bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway
Offering a spellbinding mix of wild and illuminating stories, practical (and some impractical) advice, and life lessons, Art Work, by photographer and writer Sally Mann, is not to be missed.
Written in the same direct, fearless, and occasionally outrageous tone of her bestselling memoir, Hold Still, this new book reaffirms Mann as a unique and resonant voice for our times and is destined to become a classic.
Illustrated throughout with photographs, journal entries, and letters that bring immediacy and poignancy to the narrative, Art Work is full of thought-provoking insights about the hazards of early promise; the unpredictable role of luck; the value of work, work, work, and more hard work; the challenges of rejection and distraction; the importance of risk-taking; and the rewards of knowing why and when you say yes.
In sparkling prose and thoughtfully juxtaposed visuals and ephemera, Art Work is a generous, provocative, and compulsively readable exploration of creativity by one of our most original thinkers.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Filled with wisdom, energy and immense hope for what can still be made from a life well lived.”
―THE WASHINGTON POST
“Profane, literary, adventuresome.”
―THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“Mann is a clear-eyed, self-deprecating guide, framing her many mistakes as part of a lifelong creative practice. In the process, she reminds readers that there’s nothing static about still photography. This entertains as much as it enlightens.”―PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Candid, kickass, and wise . . . As she recounts crucial moments of serendipity and misery, mistakes and breakthroughs with verve, precision, rueful self-critiques, and spirited insights, Mann is galvanic, funny, and profound.”―BOOKLIST
“It is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s irreverent. And it’s refreshingly practical as she guides the reader through her experience and process of being an artist.”
―THE CULTURE SHOW PODCAST
“If it’s possible to learn fearlessness—or cussedness or dust-yourself-offedness or stick-to-itiveness—Sally Mann is the one who could teach it to you. Sally Mann may be the only one who could teach it to you. This book will make you brave.”―MARGARET RENKL, bestselling author of The Comfort of Crows
“I love this book. It’s not just about art—if anyone’s asking me—it’s about being a human. And it is really wise about that business.”―JAMES REBANKS, bestselling author of The Shepherd’s Life
“In this erudite, frank, and funny book, Mann gives us wonderful new insights into her photography and her life as an artist. Full of inspiration and sage advice, it should be required reading for young artists setting out to work in any medium.”―AMOR TOWLES, bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway
