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Summary: An outstanding guide to great art
Review: This one book will be your best companion in visiting the great art museums of the world. I purchased it before the first of two visits to St. Petersburg, Russia. During each stay I spent 5 or 6 days at the Hermitage Museum, where there were no catalogues in English to be found. I found that the rich descriptions of artists' styles, combined with key influences on each artist's work, was a virtual replacement for--I would say, even better than--a traditional museum-specific guidebook, let alone a superficial guided tour. I referred to it constantly as a walked from room to room. In fact, numerous people wanted to know where I got it! I probably could have sold a dozen of them. Before writing this review, I took a momemt to read the interview with one of the authors. There I discovered the following statement: "Just heard from a reader in California who took my book along to the Hermitage Museum in Russia. She said, "When everyone got too tired to go another step, we sat down and I gave us an art lesson from your book. Then we were off again." I am not THAT California reader, but I am certainly a very pleased OTHER reader from California. As I pack my books to ship off for my upcoming Fulbright in St. Petersburg, you can bet I am packing The Annotated Mona List.
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Summary: Art History made Easy
Review: You will find no easier way to get an overview of Art History. Despite the casual looking approach of the book, after reading it, you could hold your own with any art buff by distinguishing between art movements, artists, their works and how they relate to each other. With instructive graphics and readable text, you can progress easily or skip around and digest small amounts at a time. There are helpful charts that compare and contrast works of art at a glance, for instance, distinguishing artworks done by different artists but are in similar styles. Timelines and even a map help show where artists and their works fall chronologically and geographically. A few diagrams illustrate structures and designs of relevant architecture. The photographs of the art work are adequate, since this is not a 'picture book' like those glorious coffee table books brimming with full page colour reproductions. The greatest feature is how it puts everything in perspective. Where other books of this subject matter could be dry and plod the reader through one artwork after another, this one engages the reader with it's conversational and enthusiastic tone, facilitating comprehension of both details and larger concepts.
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