Totem

A New York Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026

A story-driven meditation on one of the oldest art forms and what it reveals about memory, creativity, and being human

Why have we always made sculpture? What draws us to carve, cast, and mold forms from the materials around us? What do these objects say about the artists who create them and the societies they belong to?

In Totem, art historian and curator Jo Baring uncovers the untold story of sculpture, not through a traditional survey but by tracing how it has shaped and been shaped by human experience across cultures and millennia. From prehistoric artifacts like the Lion-man figure found in a German cave to an ancient Mayan pyramid that conjures a serpent made of shadows, to the icons of the Italian Renaissance and the radical innovations of the twentieth century, Baring reveals how sculpture expresses power, loss, identity, and the need to make meaning through form. Along the way, she introduces us to the artists who have expanded sculpture’s possibilities—including Barbara Hepworth, Constantin Brâncuși, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, and Antony Gormley—and revisits familiar works with fresh eyes.

Featuring original illustrations by Julia Ashe—line drawings that work in concert with Baring’s lithe, intimate storytelling to bring us closer to this thoughtfully curated selection of sculptures—Totem is a powerful reflection on our need to make, to remember, and to understand ourselves through the things we shape.