The Art Book from Phaidon

I. Seriously. Hated. The. Cover.

Looking for a good book about art, I saw the title on the spine, "The Art Book" and thought, 'Perfect!'
And then I looked at the .......kindergarten at best, cover and thought, 'Oh hell. Nevermind.'
That saddens me that I almost put this book off because, well, the inside? Amazing.

For a quick intro to art, or a basic art reference book, or if you're just looking to read/look about art like me, this book is perfect. At 512 pages, it may seem large but it was a perfect amount. There were enough pages to feature those rare, not very well known artwork, yet not big enough that there were way too many boring artwork that I honestly did not appreciate or care about.

I liked that unlike the last art book I read, 501 Great Artists, it wasn't bogged so down by useless information. This book actually pages devoted to the actually artwork and anaylzing the technique, symbolism, colors, author's intent, and why it was well-recieved (or not so well recieved) by the critics and the public. Each paragraph is well thought out, well written, and has the perfect amount of information. Not only that, it also has snippets of the artists' lives without being too detailed. The best part? It even featured similar artists!

It also featured some of my favorite artists, and their favorite artwork. The style and time periods all varied greatly throughout the history of art! I loved this book. I originally picked it up from the library, but now I think I'd like to buy the book.

Aptly named The Art Book, I think the one word that would describe this book would be: Fabulous.