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Adam Butler

Susan Stirling

The Art Book Paperback – April 17, 1997

by Editors of Phaidon Press (Author)

4.5 377 ratings

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There is a newer edition of this item:

The Art Book: Mini Format
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Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

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.

Print length

515 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Phaidon Press
Publication date

April 17, 1997
Grade level

8 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

5 x 1.25 x 6.5 inches
ISBN-10

0714836257
ISBN-13

978-0714836256
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Phaidon Editors
232
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Andrew Graham Dixon
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16
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This user-friendly book is an alphabetical reference guide to 500 of the world's greatest painters and sculptors, from antiquity to the present. Measuring roughly 5 by 6-1/2 inches and now in paperback, The Art Book is not only affordable, but also light, compact, and extremely portable, completely reforming the concept of an art reference book. It is perfect for the coffee table or for the backpack or pocketbook as well. Each artist is represented by a full-color plate and by explanatory and illuminating information on both the image and the artist. Cross references are provided to other artists in the book, and glossaries of technical terms and artistic movements are also included, making the book a valuable reference tool in the art library. Presented are some of the most famous artists of all time and their greatest masterworks--never before have they been so accessible as they are in this format.

Review

used like new --used book

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Phaidon Press; 3rd edition (April 17, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 515 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0714836257
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0714836256
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1.25 x 6.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #640,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #540 in Art Encyclopedias
- #3,220 in Art History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 377 ratings

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Adam Butler
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Susan Stirling
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Claire Van Cleave
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Phaidon Press
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Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. With over 1,500 titles in print, Phaidon books are sold in over 100 countries and are printed in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, and dozens of other languages. Since the publisher's founding in Vienna in 1923, Phaidon has sold more than 42 million books worldwide.
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

377 global ratings

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James P. Giraldin

Great Reference Book

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

Learned about this book after reading an article by Kelly Richman-Abdou. She recommended it for anyone just beginning to enjoy art. It is a very easy reference book for finding an artist and understanding their style, time period, etc.

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Joyce Weathers

The book is what I wanted.

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

Although the colors are feint, this book is what I ordered.

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ILovePugs

Great Reference Book For Art Lovers and Art "learners."

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2023

Verified Purchase

I sent this book as a gift to a friend who loves to bring out the creative gifts in her two daughters. They are both home schooled and she is doing an excellent job. I decided this would be a great book for them to have for learning more about, well, artworks. They told me they really liked it ;and I don't own this book myself, I was very pleased. Based upon a review of the latest edition of The Art Book, it was suggested that the prior version was preferred. I took their advice. Thanks!

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Lisa M Petyak

Description not clear on book condition

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

The description did not say there were pages and parts cut out with some type of blade. The pages that are intact are still nice and good quality, but I will now use the book for collage art and buy a new one for my art book collection.

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Kindle-Kunde

Are your children interested on The Arts? Find it out!

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2000

Verified Purchase

Give this book to your children. Why? Because you will find out if they really have any interests on the arts. If NOT, read and see it for yourself - it's a real treasure and it will show you more about The Arts as you may see visiting galleries, museums etc. in a lifetime. If YES, when your child shows interests, read and see it too, talk about and who knows, maybe you have an artist in your family or - even this is possible: YOU are the artist! I am an artist, an Installation Art Sculptor and learned from this little handy guide how to look on art. I read it in two days from "alpha to omega". Now I know: THE ART BOOK is my book and my gallery. I wonder why our kids don't get it in schools. They would know about The Arts in some hours more than most of the teachers. Is art education needed? When yes! How much it will cost? THE ART BOOKS itself will give you a good answer. Buy it! Give it to your children, friends .... and to art teachers as a guide. Sincerely - Jan A. Loeffler, Yes2Art originator.

10 people found this helpful

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MistyM

Great Little Reference Book

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2011

Verified Purchase

If you want to find a sample artwork of many of the world's most famous artworks, this book as has one artwork by 500 of the most famous. I like that it is in alphabetical order making it easy to look up a name. Although there are a lot of artists there are not many African American Artists. I was surprised Jacob Lawrence was not included. I would have expected a few more artists from Canada and other non-American or European countries.
The text for each artist is one long paragraph focusing on the artwork featured and connected to their style or referencing other work by that artist. Its focus is not biographical.
I purchased the very small sized paperback. Which is easy to carry around, but the print is hard to read.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

FANTASTIC!!

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2011

Verified Purchase

I purchased this item with hopes that it would make it in time for the holidays and in good condition. The seller was wonderful, honest and had my book shipped to me 4 days before the estimated early date of arrival. This book is great for those who are just getting into the world of art as it includes 500 pieces from different time periods and styles. We actually used this book as a text in class! Great reference and nice little coffee table reading. Not recommended for those who are familiar with several pieces of art because there are a lot of images with short descriptions rather than a few pieces that are more in-depth.

Great starter book with a wonderful variety of classic and questionable works.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Perfect gift for an art lover!

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

My family member really liked this gift! The quality of the pages were great and the topics were interesting! It's a thick book so I feel like I got my money's worth.

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Santanu ghosh

Authentic photo of ART OBJECTS

Reviewed in India on October 27, 2022

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Very clear picture of standard size with matching description.IJ

Artylorn

Excellent book of art to the 1990s

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

This excellent book is now a little out of date, as it was first published in the 1990s. However, it includes all the good stuff up till then in a highly informative and useful format... Alphabetical order of artist, a representative image for each with a brief bio and description, plus links to art movements and other related artists. Excellent glossaries of art terms and art movements.
I also have the paperback 'pocket' version of this book. I must say that comparing the two, there are some big differences in the reproduction colour in about 10% of the images, where the hardback version seems to be lacking a green/yellow channel. I've seen 3 copies of the hardback and they are all like it.
If your eyesight is good - buy the pocket version because the colour reproduction is more reliable. Alternatively, buy the updated version which I believe includes 21st C art, but is a lot more expensive.

2 people found this helpful

Katie

The travelling informant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2009

Verified Purchase

This book is absolutely brilliant! (And thats to say the least) It provides a small, but useful, description of the deeper elements to some of the paintings or background information on a particular artist. Its highly analytical, it tells you what gallery each of the paintings are in: which is useful as some gallery websites are not very informative as to the galleries content at all. I have carried it around with me since I brought it and it is still in excellent condition (I brought a used copy as well) which is perfect for travelling needs (and considering I brought it quite a while ago.) Some examples of its content:

-Domenichino 'the sacrifice of Issac'
-Balthus 'girl and cat'
-Salvidor Dali 'sleep'
-Pieter Claesz 'A vanitas still life'
-Sandro Botticelli 'Spring'
-Hugo Van Der Goes 'The fall of man'

Just to name a few of the artists inside the book. It also includes; photo art, sculpture and textile prints and not just famous paintings. Enjoy!

(Would also highly recommend for any art student who needs to demonstrate a good understanding and analysis of artist's work but unfortunately cannot afford or lives in an area far away from any gallery...I can relate!)

4 people found this helpful

Cliente de Amazon

Genial para aprender sobre arte.

Reviewed in Mexico on April 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

De mis libros favoritos sobre arte, el tamaño es para llevarlo fácilmente pues es pequeño. No le puse cinco estrellas porque es una edición anterior, pero si necesitas aprender o apreciar obras éste libro es el indicado.

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Lisa

Good for remember all the names.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

Content: Good short summaries of a wide range of artists in alphabetical order. Each artist is introduced by a good quality photograph of one of their artworks. The only problem I had with the content was the selection of featured artworks. I would've preferred the most memorable paintings to be shown, when in fact it was rather random. Overall the descriptions were good and I think it'd really help second level students for their art history class to understand and remember specific artists work.
Form: Its quite easy to bring around due to its compact A5 size. I'd recommend to be careful when buying second hand copies, I received mine with the front cover tipped sown the centre. But if your a student like me, it's very affordable.

2 people found this helpful

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