Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing Look at Art history.
Review: Paul Johnson has previously written definitive histories of the US and the 20th Century (Modern Times) it is only fitting that he turn to this subject.
Your personal tastes will probably determine to what degree you like this book - the earlier chapters covering Ancient and Medievel and Renaaissance periods are bring new insight to this much covered area but where he really sheds new light is on the modern age:
He is confident enough to compare Norman Rockewell to Vemeer and call Disney a great innovator and Picasso largely a fraud. He has articulated the feelings of many who have thought that abstract experssionism and the other 'art movements' were what the old folk tale 'the emperor's new clothes' warned us about.
This is a good comprehsenive art history, that compares favorably to the Jansen I read in college.
Rating: 
Summary: Art, a personal history
Review: Paul Johnson is arguably the most gifted popularizer writing today. He's certainly among the most wide-ranging, whether you consider his work to be writing or just typing. The title obviously intends to set up the book as a competitor to Anthony F. Janson' _History of Art_. Johnson needn't have done so, for, educational as the book is, it is too personal to serve as a general reference. But Johnson's opinions, insights, and pointers to further reading are the draw for his fans anyway, so that is no barrier for their enjoyment of this book. His strong but fair opinions about art from Cubism on will probably be the first section of the book friend and foe alike will turn to. The reproductions are excellent, a first-rate selection of the familiar and seldom-seen. Thanks to the internet, this is a good resource to go searching for new desktop wallpaper with! There are inevitable omissions, and some that shouldn't have been so inevitable. No mention of the 1913 Armory show, when Cubism in the form of DuChamp's _Nude Descending a Staircase_ hit America? Whatever one thinks about 20th Century modern art, such a watershed event deserves inclusion in any art history. There's no need to agonize: the author's name already tells you whether you want this book or not. I found it absorbing and educational, your mileage may vary.
Rating:
Summary: Art, a personal history
Review: Paul Johnson is arguably the most gifted popularizer writing today. He's certainly among the most wide-ranging, whether you consider his work to be writing or just typing. The title obviously intends to set up the book as a competitor to Anthony F. Janson' _History of Art_. Johnson needn't have done so, for, educational as the book is, it is too personal to serve as a general reference. But Johnson's opinions, insights, and pointers to further reading are the draw for his fans anyway, so that is no barrier for their enjoyment of this book. His strong but fair opinions about art from Cubism on will probably be the first section of the book friend and foe alike will turn to. The reproductions are excellent, a first-rate selection of the familiar and seldom-seen. Thanks to the internet, this is a good resource to go searching for new desktop wallpaper with! There are inevitable omissions, and some that shouldn't have been so inevitable. No mention of the 1913 Armory show, when Cubism in the form of DuChamp's _Nude Descending a Staircase_ hit America? Whatever one thinks about 20th Century modern art, such a watershed event deserves inclusion in any art history. There's no need to agonize: the author's name already tells you whether you want this book or not. I found it absorbing and educational, your mileage may vary.
Rating:
Summary: Too wordy; not enough photos
Review: This guy said it best: "All writers of single volume art histories must contend with the rightly ubiquitous and magisterial Janson and Gombrich" The bottom line is that Paul Johnson likes to be clean and crisp and controversial, and in this book he comes across as an art bigot and a Picasso hater. Plus the usual dissing of non-Western European (even Byzantine) art. But if you like controversy to spice up a subject, and if you like non-expert smart people talking about something they know nothing about (like Asimov), then this book is for you. But he is largely right (I hear from my art friends) that modern art is driven by fads.
Rating:
Summary: A work which places art in context
Review: This work is far better than the reviews, some of which make it sound as if the author has peculiar ideas. I find his attitude sensible and valid. For example, it is true that art is taught widely nowadays, and yet the practical skills are not. It is certain that a tradition of skilled craftsmanship, once broken, is almost never completely revived. Johnson's writing is remarkable for his ability to condense into a single sentence, with clarity, an idea which would take others a paragraph to state. As an historian, he is better able than most art critics to place art in its historical context. In order fully to understand and appreciate art, one must see it in relation to culture, history, and ideas. Johnson is an excellent writer: his prose is lively, compact, and he makes it easy - and a pleasure - to read. The selection of illustrations is good, with the pictures placed in the text for easy association with the discussion. The trade-off is that the pictures are not large and glossy, and the reader may feel moved to visit a library to see reproductions at higher-resolution. By today's standards, the book - an education in one volume - is a bargain for its price.
Rating:
Summary: A work which places art in context
Review: This work is far better than the reviews, some of which make it sound as if the author has peculiar ideas. I find his attitude sensible and valid. For example, it is true that art is taught widely nowadays, and yet the practical skills are not. It is certain that a tradition of skilled craftsmanship, once broken, is almost never completely revived. Johnson's writing is remarkable for his ability to condense into a single sentence, with clarity, an idea which would take others a paragraph to state. As an historian, he is better able than most art critics to place art in its historical context. In order fully to understand and appreciate art, one must see it in relation to culture, history, and ideas. Johnson is an excellent writer: his prose is lively, compact, and he makes it easy - and a pleasure - to read. The selection of illustrations is good, with the pictures placed in the text for easy association with the discussion. The trade-off is that the pictures are not large and glossy, and the reader may feel moved to visit a library to see reproductions at higher-resolution. By today's standards, the book - an education in one volume - is a bargain for its price.
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