| Some of my most prized possessions are the letters my grandfather wrote to me in Spanish, partially to document his day and partially, I suspect, to deprogram my burgeoning no-sabo-kid ways. (Mission half accomplished.) I thought of them while reading Lauren Moya Ford’s review of a moving book of letters between luminary art critic John Berger and his son, which gives us a glimpse into their shared world of ideas. It makes me wish I’d sent more answers to my grandfather, and to commit more exchanges to paper in the future.
Dona Ann McAdams, on the other hand, recorded decades of memories with her Leica M2 camera. Reviewing the photographer’s memoir Black Box, Melissa Holbrook Pierson writes that the images capturing historic moments, both monumental and intimate, “are emphatically her own.”
We also bring you reports on an artist-produced Old Farmer’s Almanac for 2025 and a love letter to New York City’s late Flaco the owl. And on the theme of love letters, spend the last few days of February with our list of art books on love in all its forms — from mother-daughter epistles to art historical love affairs to Mickalene Thomas’s catalog, All About Love. It’s never too late to treat your valentine, and what better gift than a new book? — Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Associate Editor |
