The Story of Art: 0000

This renowned volume is a compelling and fascinating tour through history (and pre-history) of how Art got to be Art. It has sold 8 million copies and in its 16th edition so that tells you just how good it is! But my review is really about choosing (see above photo for size difference) between the glossy, big format edition and the 2001 pocket format. I bought the pocket edition first. I loved it so much that I thought I would treat myself to this full size version. I’m glad I did. The full size version is for the coffee table or sitting up and reading at a desk. It’s a beautiful book with every art work mentioned shown in very high quality photographs alined with the relevant text. Ie in contrast to the pocket edition, there’s no need to flip pages to a separate part of the book to get to the matching illustration. ✅✅ worth the extra cost. But it’s not a book that I could read in bed as the glossy paper and size means that it’s a rather heavy handful. So I’m very glad I also have both editions. However if I had to get only 1 then I would choose the pocket version. All the text and all the colour illustrations and cleverly managed with much less weight.

A beautifully compiled Art book with sharp and colourful illustrations, written by a very informative and entertaining author. This book would be a great starting point for anyone interested in the world of art and includes examples of many different artistic styles. Others have already adequately stated the books shortcomings so I will not repeat these.

This is an immensely readable book, packed with interesting observations about art from prehistory to the second half of the 20th century. It is a great introduction to the history of art and helps give an overview of the subject, though for detail on artists and art movements you need to look elsewhere. The illustrations are high quality and generally arranged on the page to which they refer. There are also some glorious colour fold outs of iconic artworks. If I have one criticism, it is that Gombrich totally ignores female artists. When talking about Jackson Pollock, for example, he discusses possible sources for his inspiration for drip paintings whilst not once mentioning Lee Krasner (wife of Pollock who was producing drip paintings before they even met). Over all, though, a good read.

Actually, "opinionated" isn't quite the right word, but I can't think of a better one. The modern practice in academic writing is for the author to hide his or her personality completely; this book harks back to an era when we learned something about the writer as well as the subject. That's not a bad thing, and it isn't intrusive, but it does make reading this book a different experience from reading more modern academic material. The Story of Art focuses mostly on European art, and mostly on painting. The author is quite up-front about this: he emphasizes European art because that's what he has seen most of, and because the book is already quite long enough. He includes mostly paintings because, he says, they lose least when rendered as photographs on the printed page. Withing these strictures, the book does a good job of surveying art from prehistoric times until the relatively recent past. The Story of Art is written for a non-expert readership (that would be me, then) and uses very little jargon. It's total unpretentious, and makes little or no reference to objects that aren't illustrated in its own pages. The illustrations themselves are large and clear, and all in colour. I imagine that a child could read and understand this book, if he or she had the perseverance -- don't expect to read it properly in a couple of evenings.

This book was given to my husband many years ago as a school prize. Our 19 year old grandson is studying an Art course so we bought this latest version of a book we have both loved and enjoyed. My grandson and his father are really appreciating the thoroughness and comprehension of the work covered. I would recommend this book to all students and art lovers alike. It is clear, well written and very easy to understand with wonderful illustrations. A joy to read and refer to for many years.

Excellent book, wonderful images, interesting text. Needed this for my college course and uses it for quotes in essays. Great!

Bought used from World of Books and is in as new condition. Just over £4 and worth every penny.

For myself as a late starter to studying and appreciating Art, this book is very readable and I am so pleased it was recommended to me.

Le langage distingue l'espèce humaine, et l'Art est la forme suprême du langage. C'est ce langage que ce livre donne à apprendre et à comprendre sur une échelle de temps et d'espace qui permettent de mettre l'art en perspective. Une expérience fascinante, comme la découverte d'un ressort secret de ce qui nous fait ce que nous sommes

本書は英語で読める西洋美術の通史としては、もっとも人気があり、かつ、もっとも評価の高いものだろう。本書の著者E. H. Gombrich（1909-2001）は20世紀を代表する美術史家だ。彼の邦訳書も多く、本書も『美術の歩み』（1972）、『美術の物語』（2007）と二度にわたって翻訳されている。 本書の流れは、ラスコーやアルタミラの洞窟壁画から始まり、古代エジプト、メソポタミア、古代ギリシャ・ローマを経てヨーロッパに続き、その後は「西欧」を中心に年代記的に記述されていく。ときに中国、近世に入れば日本などについて章が割かれているとはいえ、西洋的な進歩史観を引きずっているのではないかと思われる方もいるかもしれない。しかし著者はそれを承知のうえで “わかりやすさ” を優先し、あえて単線的な美術史の流れを提示しているのだ。 また、本書は11版（1966）から15版（1989）にいたるまで、版を重ねるごとに著者自身により加筆訂正されている。そのため初版が1950年でありながら、ジャクソン・ポロック（1912-1956）やジョルジョ・モランディ（1890-1964）の後期作品など、「現代アート」の部類に括られる芸術家まで射程に入れられている。 まえがきで著者が十代の読者を想定したと述べる通り、本文はやさしい文法と語彙で書かれており、美術史家にありがちな回りくどいレトリックもない。くわえて地味にすごいのは、数千年におよぶ美術史が本書に掲載されている図版だけで説明されていること。限られた数（全413点）の作品だけで、これほど過不足なく解説できるのは偉業というほかないだろう。はじめて美術史を勉強するのなら、間違いなくおすすめできるテクストだ。 ハードカバー版であれば、かさばる分、文章と図版が同一ページに掲載されているので、絵を見ながら文字を追うことができる（ポケット・エディションは、本文ページと図版ページが分かれている）。 以下は目次。 Introduction - On art and artists 1. Strange Beginnings - Prehistoric and primitive peoples Ancient America 2. Art for Eternity - Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete 3. The Great Awakening - Greece, seventh to fifth century BC 4. The Realm of Beauty - Greece and the Greek world, fourth century BC to first century AD 5. World Conquerors - Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians, first to fourth century AD 6. A Parting of Ways - Rome and Byzantium, fifth to thirteenth century 7. Looking Eastwards - Islam, China, second to thirteenth century 8. Western Art in the Melting Pot - Europe, sixth to eleventh century 9. The Church Militant - The twelfth century 10. The Church Triumphant - The thirteenth century 11. Courtiers and Burghers - The fourteenth century 12. The Conquest of Reality - The early fifteenth century 13. Tradition and Innovation I - The later fifteenth century in Italy 14. Tradition and Innovation II - The fifteenth century in the North 15. Harmony Attained - Tuscany and Rome, early sixteenth century 16. Light and Colour - Venice and northern Italy, early sixteenth century 17. The New Learning Spreads - Germany and the Netherlands, early sixteenth century 18. A Crisis of Art - Europe, later sixteenth century 19. Vision and Visions - Catholic Europe, first half of the seventeenth century 20. The Mirror of Nature - Holland, seventeenth century 21. Power and Glory I - Italy, later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 22. Power and Glory II - France, Germany and Austria, late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries 23. The Age of Reason - England and France, eighteenth century 24. The Break in Tradition - England, America and France, late eighteenth century and early nineteenth centuries 25. Permanent Revolution - The nineteenth century 26. In Search of New Standards - The late nineteenth century 27. Experimental Art - The first half of the twentieth century 28. A Story Without End - The triumph of Modernism

About a year ago, I suddenly decided that it was about time I learned something about art history. After reading all the reviews about this book, I decided that this was the book for me. And so it was. I would never have imagined that it could be so entertaining to read about art history. A previous reviewer called this a simplified historical description of art from the perspective of an authoritarian male, white, european. Maybe it is simplified. So what! That's excactly what I needed at the time I bought this book. It has always been quite clear to me that this book was only an introduction to art. Since it was so entertaining I was able to finish it, and I have finally learnt to appreciate art. Because of this my second visit to Louvre in Paris was a lot more fun than my first visit there. I guess it's true that the author was a white, european male. What does this have to do with anything? The book is mainly about western art, so I don't see why it matters that he's european. And in the history of western art, how many non-white or female artists are there? I guess there are some from the previous century, but that is quite a small part of the book. So the author was a white, european male, like most of the artists in the history of western art. Some people have pointed to the fact that the book is a bit biased. Well, that is probably one of the things that makes it such an entertaining read. I highly recommend this book if you need an introduction to art.

Un básico para el estudio de la Historia del Arte

If you have to buy just 1 book about art history, buy this one.