This companion text to the author's Learning to Look at Paintings addresses some of the questions most commonly asked about modern art, covering key movements of the modern and postmodern periods in a richly illustrated and engaging volume.

2008-03-17 Useful if a little stiff at times

Agree with the other reviewer. This is a really useful overview of the main themes and shifts of emphasis in modern art in the late 19th and 20th centuries, encouraging the reader to appreciate that "what it looks like" is only half the story - just as important is "what does it mean". It moves at a hell of a pace which makes it surprising that there is a lot of rather stiff, almost university thesis-ish "as we have discussed in chapter 7" and "Picasso, who we have already seen in Chapter 1... " type formulations which are unnecessary and jar a bit - good sub-editing would have made this a smoother read. Nonetheless it's a very good starter to this huge and important subject without being judgemental.