Allworth Press,U.S. The Joy of Art: How to Look At, Appreciate, and Talk about Art

Um dos mais úteis livros de arte que li.

The first half of the book is mostly philosophy about art, definitions, vocabulary, general and specific criteria. The second half of the book is divided into genre: figurative, abstract, landscape, still life. While there are 149 illustrations, there is very little comment on them. Most of the comment is on the artists, limited to a page or less. I found very little joy.

The book is an excellent, informative book!We find it much more than the standard coffee table book! If you’re interested in an introduction to learning and appreciating art, this is a book you’ll enjoy and return to often.This book would make a great gift!One star off: The only negative was the poor shipping! We ordered the book twice but each time the book was packaged in a box too large and during shipping the edges and corners of the cover were damaged. We liked the book so much that we just ignored the less than perfect condition and returned the second copy. The book should be shrink-wrapped and have padding around it so the edges aren’t damaged during shipping.

The book is printed on weird paper that is not conducive to quality color printing. The illustrations range from OK to terrible in quality, certainly not inspiring to look at. Apart from that, they are largely pieces you would have seen already. It was as if the author just took the most superficial aspects of everything and wrote a paragraph about each of them. You will learn what is a still life and that Cezanne liked to paint fruit but that's about it. If you know nothing about art, maybe this is for you... Middle school - high school level at best. For serious artists the book has nothing to offer.

When buying a new book, it’s good to know one is receiving a new book. The cover has a perm at scarred bend and the spine is ‘broken in’ in several places through the book. This review is only for the condition of the book received, not the content. Content is very good and I will use it for lesson planning for my high school art classes. However I will look at getting a replacement for a new, not used, book for the price I paid. Or at the very least - a price adjustment??