Holiday Gift Guide | 10 Presents for Art Lovers

Photo: Holiday Evergreen Holiday Cards from the MoMA Design Store.

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Tis the season to show the people in your life just how much they mean to you, especially those discerning types who are eminently hard to please with their desire to be on the cutting edge of the scene. Crave has compiled a collection of the 10 best gifts for art lovers from all walks of life.

The Protest Button Set from the Whitney Museum Shop

Protest Button Set

The Protest Button Set from the Whitney Museum Shop is the perfect way to make a statement in style, while honoring the artistic traditions that inspired the graphics including Pro-Arts, Inc., Gross National Product, Donald Moffett, and unknown poster artists. The buttons are drawn from the current exhibition, An Incomplete History of Protest, a selection of works drawn from the museum collection that will inspire you to stand up for your rights in the on-going fight for freedom. 6 for $7.50

The Billie Holiday Secular Saint Candles from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Store

Secular Saint Candles

Secular Saints candles are dedicated to cultural icons you can believe in. Now you can choose from John Lennon, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Carl Sagan, Kurt Vonnegut, Billie Holiday, or Virginia Woolf – all available from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Store – because we all need a little light and enlightenment in this world. The front of each candle features the saint’s image and the back shows their patronage, saint’s day, and a unique prayer to inspire and enlighten. The Secular Saint Candle perfect combination of form and function during those dark winter months. $12.95

The UNIQLO Keith Haring Boombox t-shirt from the MoMA Design Store

UNIQLO x Keith Haring T-Shirt

Although Keith Haring died way too young, he left us with a body of work so on time that it still bumps. The UNIQLO Keith Haring Boombox t-shirt from the MoMA Design Store is the perfect mix of art and fashion, just like Haring himself. The basic grey shirt features a simple black drawing with gold ink, giving it just the right touch of glamour to low-key effect. $14.90

The Rude Notebooks from the Whitney Museum Shop

Rude Notebooks

Social media has made it all be impossible for people to keep their unflattering opinions to themselves, and the result has been an avalanche of social faux pas that have resulted in personal and professional ruin. Now’s the time to take it back to the analogue years, where you freely expressed your thoughts in the privacy. The Rude Notebooks from the Whitney Museum Shop are just the ways to pop off, whether keeping tabs on your Naughty List, Bad Ideas, Artists I Want to Sleep With, and People I Want to Punch in the Face – because there’s no time like the new year to get your affairs in order. $14-15

Andy Warhol print from the MoMA Design Store

Andy Warhol Print

Most people can’t afford art so they have bare walls, or the occasional family photograph hung here and there. Now you can bring those walls to life with this Andy Warhol print from the MoMA Design Store that is both in-expensive and completely relatable: “But I always say, one’s company, two’s a crowd, and three’s a party.” The perfect life advice for at home entertaining. $17.95

The Colorforms Classic from the Whitney Museum Shop

Colorforms Classic

Have you ever wanted to make a masterpiece, but didn’t know where to start? Or perhaps you didn’t have a lot of money or time to spend? The Colorforms Classic from the Whitney Museum Shop solves all your problems – by bringing back a favorite toy from childhood but with an artistic edge, allowing people to create “canvases” using any of the 350 brightly colored shapes. Suitable for children and adults alike. $60.

Statuette of a Hippopotamus Sculpture aka William from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gift Shop

“William” Statuette

Statuette of a Hippopotamus Sculpture, more casually known as William, is the unofficial mascot of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the most popular museums in the world – which boasts an extremely impressive Ancient Egyptian Art wing that includes mummies, an original temple, and countless objects from tombs. While most painted objects have faded in time, William’s bright turquoise coat is a reminder of a once-vibrant civilization that ruled for 3,000 years. $65

Fuck Snow Globe from the New Museum Store

Fuck Snow Globe

Fuck Snow Globe from the New Museum Store is perfect on so many levels – for everything from climate change to personal matters. It really gets the point across, and what’s more, the act of shaking it up and letting it snow is oddly soothing. Designed by Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, this best-selling multiple, from their limited edition series, showcases the designers’ sense of humor and multidisciplinary work using unusual materials and industrial processes. $70

James Baldwin. The Fire Next Time. Photographs by Steve Schapiro.

James Baldwin. The Fire Next Time

“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within,” James Baldwin wrote in his seminal 1963 book, The Fire Next Time. “I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.”

This insight could not be any timelier for we as a nation continue to face the issues of the past, which have not ended but merely metastasized. To that end, Baldwin lays down the blueprint by which we all may reflect on ourselves, and determine whether we are willing to align our lives in the service of truth and justice. Taschen has been recognized for doing just this, receiving the 2017 Lucie Award for Book Publisher of the Year for James Baldwin. The Fire Next Time. Photographs by Steve Schapiro. The elegant, slipcased volume pairs Baldwin’s work with the Civil Rights photographs of Steve Schapiro in a letterpress limited edition that makes the book a work of art unto itself. $200.

The KAWS Collection at the MoMA Design Store

The KAWS Collection

The KAWS Collection at the MoMA Design Store allows regular folks to afford one of the most in-demand contemporary artists and a long-time Crave fave. With a prolific body of work that straddles the worlds of art and design, KAWS is famous for his iconic character, COMPANION, which he introduced back in 1999. COMPANION has been featured in paintings, sculptures, products, and toy figures – and now can be yours its Flayed state, that exposes the creature’s internal organs. The MoMA Design Store also offers BFF, KAWS’ most recent design based on his 26-foot sculpture, in a sumptuous royal blue that evokes childhood memories. $200-280.

Miss Rosen is a journalist covering art, photography, culture, and books. Her byline has appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Online, The Undefeated, Dazed Digital, Aperture Online, and Feature Shoot. Follow her on Twitter @Miss_Rosen.