The Art Book

Now AM i GLAD it was on the list!

This book is a must have for any art student or anybody who has the slightest interest in art. It is easy to cross reference artists, it provides brief yet concise information upon the artist, their characteristic style, and to top it of a full colour image of a characteristic / typical piece of the artist.
Its size means it can be taken anywhere and will fit in your handbag :) and has kept me amused on many bus trips.
You must be crazy not to buy it at this price!


An incredible bargain   October 20, 2000
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Only a fiver for all this information! The pictures are glorious and some of them are a revelation. Don't believe the bit about "no information" either: each picture has an informative caption describing the work, the artist, and their importance. There is also a useful glossary that doubles up as a concise history of art.


Art for people who love it and people who just like looking   October 21, 2001
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

This is a well-informed book, thoroughly researched and beautifully laid out so one can leaf through it at random, letting one's eye linger over the many visual treats the book holds between its covers, or quickly flick through it in one go until a particular picture takes one's fancy. It mixes the well-known with the obscure, such as Roy Lichtenstein's In The Car (which has been an ad campaign favourite of companies on both sides of the Atlantic virtually since its 1963 creation) and Rene Magritte's Treachery Of Images (one of the artist's lesser-known but still very striking works). It is informative about each featured artist, giving a little biographical information, such as family background, when exactly in life the artist started painting, what their social circumstances were and how this affected their creative mindset, if at all. It is a very well-balanced book, giving equal space to the stars of the art world, such as Magritte and Da Vinci (it's a sign of the book's strength that Mona Lisa is just another highlight.) as it does to lesser-known artists, such as Lichtenstein. In each case, the painting, rather than the artist, is the star.