The Art Book: New Edition

Product Information

Above there are a relatively small number of very familiar names, classic and (semi) modern artists such as Botticelli, Chagall, Dali, Van Gogh, Hogarth, Klimt, Matisse, Miro, Munch, Picasso, Turner. To quote an amusing and absurd part from the description, "Caro didn't transform his materials into something else". In conclusion, with either a chronological or thematical arrangement, this would have made a passable art book. My copy is a small version however the photos of the art work are printed clearly and you can see all the textures of the paintings as well. If the blurb is actually describing the painting or has some psychological/social context, chances are something imaginative or skillful follows and that something is from the nineteenth century or earlier.

What makes the book loose seriousness is the tendency of the editors to select laughable modern or conceptual art.Hundreds of artists, drawn from many times, movements, places, one page spread per artist--one work, one short explanation, a little attempt to locate the artist in time and movement. I guess I'm being narrow-minded at best or philistine at worse, anyway these are old criticisms that others have expressed better. If the blurb is talking about symbols, concepts, ideas and the philosophy of the artist, chances are something ridiculous follows and that something is from the twentieth century (with exceptions of course, the century has had its share of impressive artists). So if you re-titled this, "The (Almost Entirely Western) Painting and Sculpture (14th - 20th Century) Book, you'd know what you're in for - but it's not exactly pithy.

Glossaries of artistic movements and technical terms are included, making this a valuable work of reference as well as a feast for the eyes.A small detail, I wish the artwork dates were moved from the bottom to the top (next to the artwork's title and artist's name), so one has seen all the info/context before checking out the art. The telegram sent by the aforementioned artist when requested to paint a portrait, which since then is considered to be the "painting"]. However the captions talk about an active volcano Cotopaxi supposedly being in the painting, which actually is nowhere to be found. No more realism, no more representation objects, no more lines, colours, forms, and contours, no more pigments, no more brushstrokes.

It also seems unfair to have some amazing, iconic painters reduced to just one work of art, which is hardly representative of their overall contribution, whereas others (especially some of the more contemporary artists) could easily have been left out of the book altogether. You get the high art of Caravaggio's "doubting Thomas" followed by Caro's "rape of the sabines" (or for a better title, "a hoarder visits a scrapyard"). At two or three paintings per trip to the washroom, the enjoyment will last for the better part of a year!

A selection of 500 works of art, paintings and sculptures alike, from 500 different artists with no reference to nationality, school of thought, medium, date or topic. If however you want to own just one book on art, I recommend the immeasurably better and magnificent "Art" by DK, which is my opinion is one the best books on art ever published. Another amusing/sad detail, you can tell from each entry's blurb how good/bad the art is going to be. As a consequence, you may find your favourite genres either under-represented or too many examples from genres you don't care about.

In addition to a large number of classical nudes, to which I have less objection, there are also quite a few more modern ones some of which I would not want my kids to see.Here, by using images of the Swiss, a race associated with neutrality rather than a specific and terrible fate, Boltanski lays greater emphasis on the universality of mortality"). Minimalist in style, like all his other pieces, the work is deliberately intended not to represent, imitate or express anything. demonstrates Judd's simplification of shape, volume, colour and surface, and reduces art to its basic essential, the cube. Realizing at this point that he could take the concept no further, he reverted to figurative paintings. But if any such book should be part of every home, surely its an art book like this one, where the great Western artists and (alas only) one of their representative masterpieces is laid before you.