Rating: 
Summary: Hughes: A Huge Mistake
Review: Granted, Robert Hughes looks upons the legacies of figures like Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel "Basketcase", and the vacuous nothingness of most works that have produced in the name of that meaningless catchall "postmodernism" with the same bemused loathing that I do. Unfortunately, that's where our mutual sympathies end. For the writings of Robert Hughes are, first and foremost, about Robert Hughes. He has no credentials (he is a college drop-out), is widely, albeit patchily, educated, and is one of the laziest scholars I have ever encountered, whose work has an embarrassing number of factual inaccuracies and wildly perverse interpolations. He lacks both the humility and foundational knowledge of a useful critic. Sure, as a writer and personality he's an eloquent and persuasive stylist for the likes of TIME magazine and television, but excuse me for wanting more. God help any society that looks up to this person as an oracle for determining the ultimate worth of its own cultural heritage. Hey, don't take my word for it. Read someone like, say, Jed Perl, and compare him to Hughes. Perl is younger, saner, less abrasive and (superfically) less impressive. But at the end of the day his judgments about art stem from an informed and insightful humility, attributes that Hughes fatally will never possess. All in all, I used to think John Russell was the worst modern art critic I had ever read. Now I know better.
Rating:
Summary: Hughes: A Huge Mistake
Review: Granted, Robert Hughes looks upons the legacies of figures like Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel "Basketcase", and the vacuous nothingness of most works that have produced in the name of that meaningless catchall "postmodernism" with the same bemused loathing that I do. Unfortunately, that's where our mutual sympathies end. For the writings of Robert Hughes are, first and foremost, about Robert Hughes. He has no credentials (he is a college drop-out), is widely, albeit patchily, educated, and is one of the laziest scholars I have ever encountered, whose work has an embarrassing number of factual inaccuracies and wildly perverse interpolations. He lacks both the humility and foundational knowledge of a useful critic. Sure, as a writer and personality he's an eloquent and persuasive stylist for the likes of TIME magazine and television, but excuse me for wanting more. God help any society that looks up to this person as an oracle for determining the ultimate worth of its own cultural heritage. Hey, don't take my word for it. Read someone like, say, Jed Perl, and compare him to Hughes. Perl is younger, saner, less abrasive and (superfically) less impressive. But at the end of the day his judgments about art stem from an informed and insightful humility, attributes that Hughes fatally will never possess. All in all, I used to think John Russell was the worst modern art critic I had ever read. Now I know better.
Rating: 
Summary: More than an art book, by more than an art critic
Review: I bought and read the first edition of this book after seeing the 1979 PBS series Hughes hosted, and I heartily recommend both book (which I still have) and the TV show if you can find it anywhere. Hughes' special brilliance is his ability to show the revolution in art at the turn of the 20th century as reacting to the revolution in technology and living standards and the rapid changes in every part of society -- the "shock" of this race to "newnesss" that really starting picking up speed a hundred years ago. Also unique and priceless is Hughes' puckish sense of humor and willingness to express an opinion - even a negative opinion - about art and architectural movements. This is art history for the intelligent nonartist -- you will greatly enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult reading.
Review: I have read some past reviews on this book, and i am shocked to find that college students have been using this book for learning. I am currently in high school and my teacher is making us read this book. I find this book very hard to understand. If anyone has any information or quick summaries of this book i would appreciate it. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, sensible introduction to modern art for the curious
Review: Robert Hughes manages to do what no other contemporary critics can, see painting as a painter does, rather than as a writer--writing about painting. As someone who makes my living as a painter, I'm always frustrated by the clueless interpretations of art historians and especially critics. Often, they simply don't get it! They're looking for philosophic meaning in every nuance of a painting, when any honest painter would tell you, sometimes "It's just because it looked good like that!" I would highly recommend Mr. Hughes's book. It is a very sensible, insightful, and readable text. As a painter, I was very impressed by his observations and how he managed to communicate some idea of how painters actually create their work. (Critics would have you believe they start with a manifesto/theory/or other B.S. It's usually a lot less mysterious than that and Hughes does a great job of demystifying it. Also, it's a great book to show someone the purpose and value of art since 1900. Great Book!
Rating:
Summary: Not For a Beginner
Review: This book is very wordy, the author tends to use French and Italian phrases without translation. The book's cryptic explanations and definitions must be tediously read and re-read, since they do not appear to follow any pattern. Hughes is a pretentious attention seeker. This book is not for anyone outside art students.
Rating: 
Summary: We use it in a college course.
Review: This book was assigned as a supplement to our main textbook (although we refer to it more often than our more stodgily written "main" text) in my contemporary art history class. I highly recommend it for novices to contemporary art history or even those more learned. It is concise--not too wordy. It neither scares you away nor bores you with super-intellectual jargon and babble. Plus, Mr. Hughes gives brief historical and cultural background information when describing certain movements. This is critical in understanding where/how the art originates.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable for the curious and the more experienced
Review: This is a famous art text and justly so. If you are wondering "just what is this modern art stuff?", this book will help you. If you are thinking "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" this book will surprise you with its magnificent colour plates and images. Robert Hughes can write reviews for the art glitterati, but he can also write for the average person with an interest in Modern Art, and very well he does it too!
Rating:
Summary: Valuable for the curious and the more experienced
Review: This is a famous art text and justly so. If you are wondering "just what is this modern art stuff?", this book will help you. If you are thinking "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" this book will surprise you with its magnificent colour plates and images. Robert Hughes can write reviews for the art glitterati, but he can also write for the average person with an interest in Modern Art, and very well he does it too!
Rating:
Summary: The rise and fall of modernism
Review: This is based on the script for a BBC program. To be a good TV program, it should have a clear and plain storyline which could fit into limited timetable. You can identify such a feature in the form of book, though substantially enlarged. The author did his best to make a clear impression of what was modernism in the visual art on reader (and audience). The author begin the book with what modernist artists perceived as ¡®the new¡¯ in their time. They thought they lived in thoroughly distinct time from the tradition. The new age demanded the new art. Modernism is the logical upshot of their zeitgeist. To understand it, we should pay attention to the interaction between artists and the time.
In this regard, Hughes organized the book not in time order or changing styles but with keywords which summarize the zeitgeist of modernists like machine, power, pleasure, utopia, freedom, popular culture, or future, to endow the reader with the tangible vision to see into the deep question of modernism.
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