What Are You Looking At? : The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art

from nbmars

The author, Will Gompertz, is the BBC Arts editor and former director of London's Tate Gallery. He takes us on a tour of modern art that is chronologically arranged, but focused on the question of what constitutes “art” and how that idea has unfolded over time. He includes a lot of fascinating go...

from Stromata

When I read, in relation to this book, 'Move over Gombrich - there's a new art book in town!', I thought 'in your dreams'! The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich is a classic, responsible for starting many a life-long enthusiasm for art and architecture, myself included. Will Gompertz is a delightful...

from mrmapcase

Some of you might notice my avatar; it stems from the Human condition, and defines the struggle....okay it is really just me playing around in MS Paint and has no deep meaning. But as Gompertz shows that is how art evolves, from the artists that defy the establishment and later become the establi...

from cjordan916

Too hard to get into

from tnilsson

My three star rating is an average. The text of this book deserves 5 stars; more than 5 stars. But it has one fatal flaw that makes me want to give it no stars at all: it explains modern art by reference to hundreds of specific paintings, statues, buildings, and installations of which it fails to...