The Story of Art
Compelling
Emotional
Meaningful

The Story of Art

"The Story of Art is one of the most famous and popular books on art ever published. For 45 years it has remained unrivalled as an introduction to the whole subject, from the earliest cave paintings to the experimental art of today. Readers of all ages and backgrounds throughout the world have found in Professor Gombrich a true master, who combines knowledge and wisdom with a unique gift for communicating directly his own deep love of the works of art he describes." "The Story of Art owes its lasting popularity to the directness and simplicity of the writing, and also the author's skill in presenting a clear narrative. He describes his aim as 'to bring some intelligible order into the wealth of names, periods and styles which crowd the pages of more ambitious works', and using his insight into the psychology of the visual arts, he makes us see the history of art as 'a continuous weaving and changing of traditions in which each work refers to the past and points to the future, a living chain that still links our own time with the Pyramid age'. In its new format, the 16th edition of this classic work is set to continue its triumphant progress for future generations and to remain the first choice for all newcomers to art."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Reviews

Photo of Jody Bain
Jody Bain@ket_booger
5 stars
Oct 15, 2024

Great book that edits history of western art into a digestible and captivating narrative.

+6
Photo of Katie Chua
Katie Chua@kchua
5 stars
Aug 13, 2022

5 STARS, THIS WAS A REAL PLEASURE !!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO AN ART MUSEUM NOW

Photo of Sheila Goicea
Sheila Goicea@foalsfictionandfiligree
5 stars
Dec 23, 2021

If you are looking for a wonderful, all-encompassing (text)book about the story of art throughout history, this is a must-have, go-to, tome--for it is a big book. I read this entire book for an art history course in college, but I LOVED it. I remembered looking forward to reading it above any other class materials. (It's probably because I'm a bit of a nerd and art fanatic...) Either way, it's wonderful. It's informative, the pictures are high quality, and it takes you on a timeline through early art right up to the present era. I had lent this book out to another classmate and never got it back. So, I bought another for referencing. Whether you like reading about art history, like books with large art photos for perusing, or like collecting books (preferably about art) this is one you should add to your collection.

Photo of Jane Krauss
Jane Krauss@ladyjane95
4 stars
Aug 28, 2021

I used this book in the study of art history, I love the pocket edition as it has all the artworks in the book and as a student, I found it useful for visual and contextual analysis.

Photo of KevinCheung
KevinCheung@kevincheung
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022
Photo of Sara Gee
Sara Gee@saragee
5 stars
May 24, 2022
Photo of Konrad Lischka
Konrad Lischka@klischka
5 stars
Jul 7, 2024
Photo of Pap
Pap@alice9
5 stars
Apr 4, 2024
Photo of Tom Gregson
Tom Gregson@gregsonog
4 stars
Feb 18, 2024
Photo of Darcy Lambert
Darcy Lambert@mokehil
4 stars
Feb 5, 2024
Photo of Marc Bacvanski
Marc Bacvanski@mbacvanski
5 stars
Dec 18, 2023
Photo of César Steven Toribio
César Steven Toribio@cesarsteven
3 stars
Dec 8, 2023
Photo of Félix P.
Félix P.@flayks
4 stars
Aug 14, 2023
Photo of Kylie Frazer
Kylie Frazer@fiercek
4 stars
Jul 27, 2023
Photo of Caroline
Caroline@ballele
5 stars
Apr 17, 2023
Photo of David McDonagh
David McDonagh@toastisme
3 stars
Apr 3, 2023
Photo of Shibashankar Sahoo
Shibashankar Sahoo@shibhash
5 stars
Mar 25, 2023
Photo of poprika
poprika@poprika
5 stars
Jan 15, 2023
Photo of Christina DeLullo
Christina DeLullo@christina_275
5 stars
Jan 6, 2023
Photo of Kassandra Meyer
Kassandra Meyer@kassandra
4 stars
Nov 10, 2022
Photo of Raj
Raj@akshara
5 stars
Sep 5, 2022
Photo of Sarah Hasan
Sarah Hasan @saraay
4 stars
Sep 5, 2022
Photo of Nelson Zagalo
Nelson Zagalo@nzagalo
5 stars
Sep 3, 2022
Photo of Ahmed Abdul Majeed Zidan
Ahmed Abdul Majeed Zidan @ahmedzidan81
4 stars
Sep 1, 2022

Highlights

Photo of Samuel Barnes
Samuel Barnes@samuelbarnes

In fact, [Michelangelo] became so used to this cramped position that even when he received a letter during this period he had to hold it over his head and bend backwards to read it.

Page 308
Photo of Nat Boeken
Nat Boeken @natboeken

La obra de Grünewald nos recuerda así, una vez más, que un artista puede ser extraordinario sin ser progresista, ya que la grandeza del arte no estriba en nuevos descubrimientos.

Page 353
Photo of Nat Boeken
Nat Boeken @natboeken

recordaremos cómo lo que nosotros llamamos una belleza ideal surgió de una lenta aproximación a las formas esquemáticas de la naturaleza. Ahora, el proceso se invertía. Los artistas trataban de aproximar la naturaleza a la idea de belleza que se habían formado contemplando las estatuas clásicas, esto es, idealizaron el modelo.

Page 205