Looking to Sea

*One of The Times Best Art Books of the Year*'Looking to Sea is a remarkable and compelling book... I loved it.' Edmund de Waal'In her first, transporting book, Lily Le Brun sweeps the beaches of the past century of British art, collecting treasures from sea, shingle and shore... A book to pack in your picnic basket for shivering dips, heatwave day trips and ice-cream Sundays' The Times'A remarkable and compelling book . . . I loved it'Edmund de Waal'Ambitious . . . a chronicle of British art, unfurled against the panoramic backdrop of 20th-century history'Sunday TelegraphIn this remarkable modern history of Britain, the ebbs and flows of the twentieth century are explored through ten pivotal artworks. Each coastal piece, created between 1912 and 2015, opens a window onto the ideas that have shaped our society, from the impact of the world wars and colonialism to conceptions of class and nationhood.Bold and imaginative, Looking to Sea is an exquisite work of cultural storytelling, and a fascinating portrait of our island nation.'Le Brun's writing is at once bold and delicate, far-reaching and fine-tuned. Her book explores the inexhaustible variety of human perception.' Alexandra Harris'A smart and clear-eyed set of meditations on marine gaze, made with a painterly touch worthy of the chosen artists. Empathy and intelligence lift memoir into cultural history.' Iain Sinclair'Elegant and endlessly interesting . . . as much a rich compendium of social history as it is a hard consideration of art itself' Critic