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Intimate Geometries: The Art and Life of Louise Bourgeois, by Robert Storr (Monacelli Press; 828 pages; $150). If anyone tries to tell you that art book publishing is in trouble, direct them to this spectacular volume. At 13 pounds and 828 large-format pages with more than 1,000 handsome reproductions and its own carrying case with handle, it is a physically formidable object. Storr—a former curator at the Museum of Modern Art and among the best art writers alive—devotes an exhaustive essay in support of Bourgeois’ equally expansive intellect and intuition. What makes it even more important is that the artist was one of the great pioneers in the field among women in the 20th century, and remains a vital feminist icon even since her death, at 98, in 2010. The only downside of giving the book as a gift? The recipient will want two copies: one for reading, one to treasure as a fine collectible.

Lee Friedlander: Western Landscapes (Yale University Press; 200 pages; $75). This offering from Yale University Art Gallery is another oversize book completely appropriate to the colossal significance of its subject. Lee Friedlander, now 82, took the world of photography by storm in the 1960s. His vision reshaped the way artists depict the world and, thus, how all of us see it. One is tempted to think of the pictures in “Western Landscapes” as the philosophical reflections of an old man. But every page of this book glimmers, swirls, expands and explodes with an energy that quite forcefully rejects the tradition of landscape.

In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper, edited by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books; 288 pages; $25.95). For anyone who has puzzled over the vividly evocative—yet frustratingly enigmatic—works of the beloved Edward Hopper, this little volume is the perfect gift. Short stories by 17 writers—some famous, like Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King, some less so—dramatically start where the paintings leave off. The editor, a well-known author of suspense tales, claims the stories are “in various genres, or no genre at all.” But, at their core, they are all mysteries, as any work based upon a Hopper painting would have to be.

A Bigger Message: Conversations With David Hockney, by Martin Gayford (Thames & Hudson; 304 pages; $24.95). First published in 2011, this is a substantially expanded edition of Gayford’s intriguing hybrid of Q&A, art criticism and memoir. Five more years of conversation resulted in about 20 percent more book, including a passage describing the author’s experience of sitting for a Hockney portrait. Gayford has a formidable, if conservative, background. It serves him well in the verbal parry with Hockney, who is famous for his knowledge of art history. “A Bigger Message” enriches our own understanding not only of England’s most famous living painter but of the bigger picture, as well.

The Outlaw Bible of American Art, edited by Alan Kaufman (Last Gasp; 688 pages; $39.95). Is the person on your holiday gift list less of a museum person, more a fan of the visual pleasure—and pain—of what they see on the street, in zines or tattooed on bodies? The world is far too rich for this to be fairly called a “bible”—it’s more like a compendium of the author’s favorites—but it’s thick enough with cringe-worthy violence and kinky sex to appeal to the outlaw in your life.