The Art Book - Phaidon

Probably one of the most widely-owned art books, Phaidon’s somewhat pompously titled ‘The Art Book’ is a colourful, concise and informed pocket guide to different takes on art and its history and development from biblical scenes to lobster phones. Originally a heavyweight tome, this bestseller was scaled down to handbag size and its price thankfully reduced proportionally. There is no other difference between the two editions; the larger book is easier to read and admire, while the smaller volume is easier to carry and afford as a casual purchase or gift. Featuring 500 paintings from legendary to less renowned artists, this is an excellent, basic ...  Read the complete review

'The Art Book' published by Phaidon is a very useful companion indeed. Many a time I gratefully received help from its insightful pages whilst undertaking research for my Illustration degree. Basically, the book is an A to Z guide of artists - starting with Jacques Laurent AGASSE, and ending with Francisco de ZURBARAN. There are 500 entries in total, ranging from the old masters, all the way through to the present day. On each page the name of the artist is presented in bold, whilst underneath is an example of each painters work. There is a also a description of the work, and sometimes additional info on the artists ...  Read the complete review

Phaidon Press' compact 'The Art Book' is an easy to use and informative guide to 500 influential artists, from medieval to modern times. It is ordered alphabetically with each artist getting a single page, featuring a comment(about 170 words) and a colour image. 'The Art Book' is really handy for people with an active interest in art. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, so it's great to take to galleries. The pictures are only about 15cm tall, but they're sharp, all colour and printed on quite good paper. The comments are concise combinations of history and criticism (be warned if you need reading glasses, the print ...  Read the complete review

I bought The Art Book for a friend as a birthday present recently because I myself found it quite useful just to flick through and let some of the information seep into your memory. It isn't trying to provide detailed criticism of artists - buy a book on art criticism for that :). Any description of their method of painting or styles is limited to short phrases that can be remembered. It's like a Who's Who of popular artists - the editor's choice of pictures is nicely mainstream: for instance, Paula Rego's work is summarised by one of her most famous paintings with a good paragraph about her influences, which you can then apply to the picture below. ...  Read the complete review

The first time I returned home after visiting the Tate Modern on London's South Bank, I could remember very little of what I had seen, where I had been and why I had been there. The reason was something to do with temperature. You see, the problem with an art gallery that begins its life as a tourist attraction is that it attracts tourists - many of them, all with large coats and warm breath. And as I strolled among the Giacomettis, I remember feeling so entirely hot, with my bag full of guide books and pamphlets, my large 'city coat' which was crammed with London Underground tickets, maps and polo mints and then there were the hundreds of people that ...  Read the complete review