A Brief History of Painting

by Roy Bolton

This book tells the story of what painting has meant to us, and how its role has been reinvented over the centuries. In the commentary on each of 150 landmark works, Roy Bolton leads us through the development of painting until our own age, where painting as a painterly craft has been overtaken by a proliferation of new forms introduced by contemporary art.

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Art History

300 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2004

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It says from 2000 BC to AD 2000 on the cover but There’s only 15 pages for anything pre-Renaissance.

I don’t know very much about painting but I know when a book is manipulating me to agree with the authors. They have giant obvious biases, especially regarding what makes an acceptable motivation to make art, and they also seem to be ok with artists’ destroying their well-being as long as it makes for good art.

[Grace Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy, accessible introduction to art history (exactly what I was looking for!) covering some cornerstone pieces and also some surprise picks. The author definitely has fun wading through some more sensationalist details of artists' lives. It was fun to read little digestible bits of description without the expectation of knowing any theory, but next time I'll be looking for a book that goes into more in-depth analysis.

[Lukas Sotola]

A very accessible yet insightful introduction to painting. It includes many of the choices you'd expect, along with some more inspired entries.

[Cheryl Hendricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good review of art from the past to the present. I loved the pictures of the artist's works and the brief descriptions.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pablo Picasso once said "painting is another way of keeping a dairy". Reading this book felt very much like surfing through the diaries of many artists. It was very much like getting inside each and every artist's head and seeing their minds. It could be beautiful, abstract, haunting, demonic, and thought provoking. You learn a great deal of history and culture from this book. It is not just a book with pictures of very interesting and famous paintings. Each painting comes with a summary of the art style,and what the painting consists of. Along with info on the painting, it gives a brief summary of the artist. Reading this book strengthen my already immense respect and interest in art. It's made me realize that art is always changing. it goes through trends and phases. its continuous. Infinite even. I enjoyed the collection of art pieces that where shown in the book. Given that all paintings are arranged in order by year of completion, it really allows you to notice the sheer scope of the history of painting. The info is really well written. Enough for me to get the gist of the time period and the artist, but not too long where it became textbook like. I honestly felt that not enough painting were included though there already being 150. If I could change something, I would make it at least 200. However, it is called "A Brief History of Painting", so I am not too displeased. Overall, it is a fun and insightful read of the history of painting. For lovers of painting and history, there is much eye candy and info to feast on with this piece of work.

[gramakri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sort of guidebook on 4000 years of paintings (mainly of the Western World) written by an art expert associated with Christie's.
It is a very good introduction to the history of paintings.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested to develop appreciation of paintings.
More details about this book @ http://bookwormsrecos.blogspot.in/200...

[Jose Araguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding introduction to the world of painting. I collected many stories (and wrote many poems) based on reading through this book. Good stuff.