How To Live An Artful Life

How did artists become the way they are? What mantras do they live by? How do they see the world with eyes wide-open, and in turn make us see something we thought we knew so well anew? How do those, who choose to live, day after day, as producers of creativity - from painters, sculptors, filmmakers, to potters - keep going, and consistently see wonder in the ordinary? I''ve spent my life studying and speaking to artists, whose work and ideas have had a profound impact on me. Their wisdom has taught me how to see the world and how to treat it and its citizens better; how to make something out of nothing and keep on going. Just as Tracey Emin said, "Creativity is the antidote to stagnation and complacency," or Frida Kahlo, who reminds us that ''Everything can have beauty, even the worst horror.'' 365 Ways To Be Creative // To Bring Art Into Your Life will feature artists'' quotes, exercises or snippets of wisdom for each day of the calendar year. This day-by-day almanack will offer seasonal entries with a short introduction written at the start of each month (or season). The aim of the book is to guide the reader in leading a more artistically-influenced life, to get them to look closer at the world around them, and show how artists are in the world. 365 is designed for readers with great or minimal artistic knowledge, and should act as a holding hand, or companion, for the year ahead. Spanning 1000 years, from medieval times to the present day - using historical documents, talks, letters and my own conversations with artists - each snippet will feature a quote by (predominantly) women and non-binary artists. Similarly to The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living - it will awaken readers'' curiosity and help them find new ways to look at the world. It will be a perfect daily touch point for those who want to lead a more curious or more artistic life.

Autorentext
Katy Hessel is an art historian and the author of The Story of Art without Men, the international bestseller and Waterstones Book of the Year 2022. Her second book for adults, How to Live an Artful Life, was published in 2025; her first book for younger readers, The Story of Art without Men: An illustrated guide to amazing women artists, was published in 2026. She runs @thegreatwomenartists on Instagram, hosts The Great Women Artists Podcast and is a columnist for the Guardian. Hessel is a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University and a Trustee of Charleston. In 2024, she launched Museums Without Men, an audio series highlighting works by women artists in museum collections worldwide, such as The Met and Tate Britain.

Klappentext

From the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Story of Art Without Men: see the world anew with artistic inspiration for every day of the year.**

The year ahead is a gift that has been given to you. What might you do with it?

Gathered from interviews, personal conversations, books and talks, How to Live an Artful Life moves through the months of the year offering you thoughts, reflections and encouragements from artists such as Marina Abramovic, Nan Goldin, Lubaina Himid, Louise Bourgeois and many more.

The year is full of the promise of work that has yet to be written, paintings that are yet to be painted, people who have yet to meet, talk, or fall in love. With this book in hand, pay attention, and see the world anew. Go out and find it, taste it, seize it, and live it - artfully.

With a thought for every day of the year, whether looking for beginnings in January, freedom in summer, or transformation as the nights draw in, this is a book to cherish and inspire.

Praise for Katy Hessel:

'Extraordinary' Harper's Bazaar

'Brilliant' Refinery29

*'*A gift' Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The Miniaturist

'Astonishing' Bella Mackie, bestselling author of How to Kill Your Family

'Essential reading' Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie and Friendaholic

'Beautifully written' The Guardian