Customer Reviews
size matters 
2008-11-09
Be advised that this wonderful book comes in different sized editions. My hardback edition of 1994 measures 10 x 12 inches, and the color quality of the large reproductions and the text size are everything you could wish for.
Read easily with a microscope!! 
2008-09-21
Due to the size of the art prints and the barely visible text,, the book is close to worthless. These paintings were never meant to be shrunken down to this size. The actual book is not much bigger than a paperback. Very disappointing. Very misleading. Total waste of money. I'm surprised Amazon chose to market it.
The Art Book 2007-09-29
Small compact paperbook can take with me when traveling. Am enjoying the brevity, but not as much the small print type, but still very enjoyable book.
A Super Book of Art 2007-06-19
I love this book. It shows a beautiful example of the artists work in alphabetical order and a great short history of each artist. I discovered a lot of artists I wasn't familiar with. It's a great quick reference and easy/enjoyable reading. It's more than I expected! A must for anyone interested in art/artists.
Indispensable 2007-04-26
A bargain at the cover price and even better at the prices listed here at Amazon. I have copies at both my homes and am always referring to it. Would that Phaidon could do the same for music and lovers of great literature.
Art Book 2007-01-18
Winner of the Illustrated Book of the Year award in 1994, The Art Book has become a publishing phenomenon and a well-known event in the art book world. Reduced in size, making it light and highly portable, this new mini edition presents the same easy-to-use alphabetical guide to 500 of the world's greatest painters and sculptors. 500 color illustrations.
Fantastic reference 2006-10-21
This little book couldn't be any more straightforward or useful. Over the span of 500 pages, each page is devoted to a different artist, with one representative work by that artist and a short description of his or her life and work. At the end, an invaluable 6-page glossary provides short and informative descriptions of the major genres and schools of art (e.g., Fauvism, Constructivism, Expressionism, etc.) that don't require a PhD to understand, as well as explanations of common art materials and techniques (e.g., gesso, fresco, tempera, etc.). It's a great value, and much more inexpensive than almost any other art book this informative. Buy it now!
small and informative 
2006-03-23
its a small printed coffee table book. i got it bc i love art and paintings and it gave me a great overveiw of a broad range of painters. i am not also interested in getting the other books by phaidon press- about photography, drawing etc.
An indispensable reference work 2005-12-27
This beautiful little book is one of the most thumbed-through volumes in my collection. I often use it as a reference work to look up one of the five hundred alphabetically-arranged artists who worked anytime from the middle ages to the present day. Sometimes, however, I just pick "The Art Book" up, open it at random, and read from the thumbnail analyses or look at the gorgeous full-color reproductions printed on high-quality paper. At less than ten dollars, this book is surely one of the greatest bargains of the publishing world.
What makes "The Art Book" truly a gem is how accessible it makes art itself, a topic many find daunting. Typically, about two-thirds of each page is given over to a piece of art representative of the artist, whether sculptor or painter, while the rest of the page contains a highly-readable analysis of the particular work depicted, the context in which it was created, and what motivated the artist. From the brief analysis, we can extrapolate much about the artist and his or her period, and from that we can learn a great deal about art, itself.
This book could provide a wonderful survey course for the dilettante. It is also an indispensable reference work for art lovers at most levels of the expertise spectrum. As for me, the only book I take off the shelf with greater frequency is my dictionary.
Excellent 2005-09-21
It's a great book that gives briefs, but very good comments, about the artists and their work.
