- Publisher
- Phaidon
- Published
- 1997
- Shelf
- art: Reference
- ISBN
- 9780714836256
Reference
The Art Book
Phaidon Editors
Five hundred artists, one work each, one page each, in alphabetical order.
Why read it
The alphabet is the provocation: Van Gogh beside Vasarely, Goya beside Gormley, with no movement or century to soften the distance. Stripping out chronology forces exactly the comparisons an art history course trains you not to make.
Why own it
It is a reference you use by opening it anywhere, which is something only a physical book does well. Each page carries the work, the dates and a short note. It settles a question in ten seconds and then costs you twenty minutes.
Who it is for
Studios, and anyone building a visual vocabulary from a standing start.
Opens a search on AbeBooks, a network of independent and antiquarian sellers, which is where a good part of this shelf has to be found, because it is out of print.
Read next
Chosen because they argue with this one, not because a machine noticed they share a category.
