World Famous Comics: The Story of Art: Pocket Edition
The Story of Art: Pocket Edition
By: E.H. Gombrich Publisher: Phaidon Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Phaidon Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1044 Publication Date: October 07, 2006
Product Description: New Format and Redesign of the World's Best Selling Art Book
"Gombrich (1909-2001) had a gift for clear, conversational language, a narrative approach, and an interest in pop culture--he even included mass media and cartoons in The Story of Art. The book, which receives high praise in the CAA report [a recent assessment of art history textbooks by the College Art Association], is today the world's best selling art history textbook, with total sales of 8 million copies." -Art News, February 2006
E.H. Gombrich's warm, lively, opinionated--yet never patronizing--authorial voice brings history to life in a way that attracts both adults and young readers alike. Last year the first English translation of A Little History of the World, originally written in 1935 in German, was a surprise publishing success. Yet, this isn't even Gombrich's most popular work. The Story of Art has sold over 8 million copies, has been translated into more than 30 languages and served as the standard introduction to art history for students around the world for the past century. Now, the book will be available in a new affordable format, in wide release for the general public, just in time for the holidays.
Phaidon Press is pleased to announce the publication of THE STORY OF ART: POCKET EDITION by E.H. Gombrich, a re-designed, re-formatted compact edition of one of the best-known and best-loved books on art ever written. This new edition combines smoothly flowing text with a clear, simple design in a convenient and accessible format. The new edition allows this classic work to continue its triumphant progress for another generation, and to remain the first choice for all newcomers to art.
Phaidon Press commissioned Gombrich during World War II to write a history of art for young people. In 1950, The Story of Art was published and so a classic was born. Gombrich dictated the whole text from memory, using illustrations from books in his library as prompts. The outcome was a seminal work of criticism and one of the most accessible introductions to the visual arts. Starting with the cave paintings at Lascaux and stretching as far as Postmodernism, the whole of art history is presented as a chronological narrative. Using vivid imagery, storytelling and sly humor, Gombrich's voice draws in all--the student, connoisseur, or amateur.
The Story of Art has always been admired for two key qualities: it is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to handle. The pocket edition is no exception. With this new edition this classic work is now as accessible as the story inside. Gombrich's extraordinary knowledge and wisdom will continue to teach and inspire generation after generation.
Be careful with this book. This book is getting many superlative reviews, but I have to disagree with those who think it is nearly perfect.
I think I can understand why he gets such praise. The man knows his subject. He also has the erudition to create a convincing narrative of the art that he thinks defines the Western canon, the art that matters above all else even if states otherwise in the book. He loves art and clearly thinks it is vital to the human experience, a belief that both he and I share. He wants to get people excited about the subject, to make the reader want to delve further into the great mysteries of art. He is lucid about this from the start. All of this I can appreciate and even praise.
The problem is that this book is full of value judgments about a lot of art that a budding reader might not explore because of his opinions. I got very annoyed with this, which I will discuss in greater depth below. First, I would simply say that, if he wants readers to explore art in greater depth, he might have given it some thought -- before writing -- to control his intention to expose the reader to such a limited canon. This is even if it is granted that this canon is the best that the historical West has to offer.
Furthermore, his writing style features an intimate conversational tone that uses lots of "we", "right", correct, and other such adjectives that essentially state nothing about the art other than his own preferences. Thus there is considerable exposure to artist like Rubens, van Dyck, and others of the older canon that he thinks are masters, while the last two hundred or so years of are given cursory write-ups -- sometimes he skips entire movements and artists that have had a huge impact on the art world! It happens because he does not agree with those artists' goals; this is not a good approach for a book that needs more objectivity towards its topic.
For example:
-- no mention of Dada or Duchamp, except for a few derogatory remarks in a chapter that was later attached on at the request of others; one that he did not seem to enjoy writing
-- completely skipping Klimpt! (one of my personal favorites)
-- basically snubbing the last two-hundred years of art as inferior to that of who he thought were past masters because of the need for art to be judged by a standard
-- not taking enough time to examine non-Western art, such as the skimpy chapters on Chinese, Islamic, and Japanese art; I wasn't expecting nearly as much from this part of the narrative, but his contributions were far worse than I could have imagined before reading
-- the above mentioned obsession with artists like Rubens, for instance, while hardly mentioning El Greco, Vermeer, or others who I think are just as interesting when judged by different standards
-- no mention of Gaudi and only a brief mention of Horta, little about art nouveau in general!
At the end of the day, you could do a lot worse than this book for a sort of introduction to Western art; as some other commentators have been wise enough to write, however, you should be careful not to trust Gombrich too much in his opinions. Happy exploring!
I just either liked a work of art or not, but wasn't able to appreciate the artistry behind it I normally find portraits and religious paintings with all those angels boring and battle fields or works in broad format seem too "crowded" to me, so basically I did not think much of the art performed before the Flemish painters of the XVI century, which started painting rural life and landscapes. I am glad I bought Mr. Gombrich's "Story of Art", since it introduced me to a subject that I thought was only interesting to art lovers and true "conoisseurs"; it helped me appreciate paintings I do not like and see art in a different way. This book is probably aimed at people like me, if you already know more about art, a deeper treatise on technique, composition or else will maybe suit you better.
I am of those who believe that one of the characteristics of great expertise is the ability to explain complicated things in a simple way, which shows that the author not only understands but fully masters the topic. Well, this is the case, the "Story" of art is not a dry "history of art", it truly narrates a story; it puts the artists and their works in a well explained historical and artistical context and allows you to appreciate equally works of art from different time periods. As the author puts it: "the purpose and technical resources may change, but art itself does not progress in the same sense as science", a work of art is complete as such in each time period. I also appreciated that the author included some architecture, not only paintings and sculptures, to frame the master pieces in their full context.
My first encounter with Mr. Gombrich was his book The Image and the Eye: Further Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation which captivated me, since it combined science with art in a masterful way. Mr. Gombrich was probably one of the first art experts to be interested in the research done in the emerging neurosciences, specially regarding vision. His attention was drawn to how we receive external stimuli (light), how our brain perceives and forms a three-dimensional image, how it makes sense of a figure of which it only sees a countour like in a caricature, etc., but best of all, his insights were explained using pictures of great works of art. After reading this book, which I also highly recommend, I started searching for other books written by him and was gladly surprised to find out that he had written a "Story of Art" as well, which by the way seems to be better known and easier to understand than the Image and the eye.
16 editions supervised by the author talk of the care with which a book was written, revised and edited. My Spanish version of this 16th edition, full format is also excellent (translation inlcuded), congratulations to Phaidon Press for a beautifully presented book.
This is not merely an story of art, but history of architecture This book does not only tell the history of art, at the same time, the history of architecture, since the two are so much interrelated. Therefore, as an architecture student, I recommend you guys to read this book to gain the knowledge of how art and architecture evolve throughout history.
The story of art This is a beautiful book with comprehensive text. It is written in common English that anyone should understand. I already have a copy I received as a gift and bought this copy for my grandaughter who will enter college this year to study Art History.
A Perfect Book to Travel With That may sound a bit strange, but this is a great book to take on the plane or train with you -- or even to the beach.
It is a compact volume (though about 1 1/2 inches thick). Because of this compact format the text is in front (thin paper) with the plates in back. Phaidon provides two ribbon bookmarks. That also means that it is easiest to read using both hands.
That said, Gombrich leads the reader along with a style somewhere between a conversation and a lecture -- more like what you might expect from a learned uncle or family friend. Pleasant delivery, but leaving you no doubts about the value of the information that is to be passed along.
There may even be an advantage to having the plates in the back. I found myself dwelling on them perhaps a little longer than if they had been in with the text -- and the text calling for my attention.
You can read this book in long sessions, or in little bits. It doesn't matter, because the information is always there, and in the case of this book, the journey itself is important.
Anything Goes Trivia
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