Studios of Their Own: Where Great Artists Work

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

Also in the series: Rooms of Their Own: Where Great Writers Write.

Alex Johnson is a journalist, blogger and the author of A Book of Book Lists, Improbable Libraries, Bookshelf, and Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution. He runs the web sites Shedworking at www.shedworking.co.uk and Bookshelf at www.onthebookshelf.co.uk. Alex lives in St Albans, London with his wife, three children, and plenty of books from all over the world.