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Title: The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich ISBN: 0-7148-3247-2 Publisher: Phaidon Press Inc. Pub. Date: 09 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: art history in the essentials
Comment: this is a wonderfully conceived and written history of western art from cave painting to the late 20th century. gombrich tells the story by focusing on the essential ideas or achievements characteristic of each artist and art epoch. each chapter is about 5 or 6 pages of text and several large format art reproductions (there are several fold out images of works such as botticelli's "birth of venus" or pollock's "one"). the narrative is conversational, concise, well informed, and extremely intelligent; the book reads as though you are strolling through an immense museum with gombrich at your side, commenting on paintings and sculptures as you go.
gombrich manages to teach the reader how to look at art at the same time he explains the main historical developments and style points of each movement or period. new students of art will find the book is a pleasurable and clear guide; experienced readers will enjoy gombrich's judicious use of detail and selection. a bibliography, chronological charts of art epochs and artists' lives, maps of europe and an index conclude the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent!
Comment: I am currently taking an introductory art history class, and Gombrich's THE STORY OF ART is the textbook. This book was an absolute pleasure to read, as I found myself going beyond the assigned readings. I finished the entire book from beginning to end within the span of two weeks!
Even if you aren't very interested in art history, THE STORY OF ART remains a must read; at worst, you will be entertained, and at best you will gain an entirely new perspective on art. The prose is masterfully written and the analysis he presents is very accessible. He discusses everything from ancient Greek sculpture to Renaissance painting to modern architecture. The reproductions of the artwork in the book are also extremely good (there are several high-quality fold-out pages included, such as one of Leonardo's Last Supper pre-restoration). I was very pleased with both the amount and breadth of coverage he provided.
Even though I haven't read any other introductory art history books, I find it hard to believe that any other book could do the job as well as Gombrich has done it here. I would highly recommend THE STORY OF ART to anyone who wants an art history primer.
Rating: 2
Summary: interesting
Comment: Simplified historical description of art from the perspective of an authoritarian male, white, European, German emigre in Britain who decided exclude quite a lot. One of the results is the canonization of what's shown.
The text is circular, uninteligent, totally ignores the socio-cultural space in which art work is produced, spends some time dealing with 'creation'. Compare Winckelmann's explantion of the character of ancient Greek Art with Gombrich's own words in the section about Greek Art. It's the same argument!
I appreciate enourmously Gombrich's work on the Renaissance but this one is a money making book! No wonder they've sold more 6 million copies! It raises no questions and 'naturalizaes' everything. That's what people like ...
Not my cup of tea!
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Title: Art and Illusion by E. H. Gombrich ISBN: 0691070008 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Stories of Art by James Elkins ISBN: 0415939437 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: History of Art: The Western Tradition: Slipcase by H. W. Janson, Anthony F. Janson ISBN: 0131828959 Publisher: Prentice Hall Press Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $95.00 |
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Title: The Essential Gombrich by Richard Woodfield ISBN: 0714834874 Publisher: Phaidon Press Inc. Pub. Date: 05 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Art: A New History by Paul Johnson ISBN: 0060530758 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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