Art That Changed the World: Transformative Art Movements and the Paintings That Inspired Them (DK Timelines)

This is the typical DK format: 400 pages, slickly glossy, superficial depth as far as analysis and formal history, but plenty of nice pictures. For some topics (science, the Civil War) this format does not work well, but for art, things generally click.

The nicest points about this book:

1) most pictures are large, very few postal stamp sized illustrations (like those that marred the DK "Battle" book...) Details of the selected works are clearly visible and the color duplication is accurate as far as I can tell.

2) DK finally has gotten the binding down - the book has not already begun to fall apart after being read, a problem with prior DK products in the past.

3) Surprising insight in the text, and no major bloopers spotted. I am moderately familiar with art history but learned a few things here, and saw nothing really dreadful in terms of mistakes. An MFA might learn less and spot some more mistakes, but most novice and intermediate art fans will enjoy and learn.

4) The timelines help to document what else was going on in the world when the various works were composed.

5) The selected masterpieces almost all include artist bios as well, on the same pages.

6) The editors show generally good taste and perceptivity in their selections.

What's Not To Like?

1) The Table of Contents lacks the level of detail of some other DK titles. The selected masterpieces for instance are not individually listed in the Table. If you want to find out what the selected Dark Ages masterpiece is, you'll have to page to the end of the section.

2) The focus of the book seems to be on how the world influenced art rather than the other way around. The timeline aspect clearly suggests that various social and historical forces influenced the various styles of art being made, and there is very little evidence of a "reverse flow", of how the art being made "changed the world". Arguably, art really doesn't change the world much, but even if you utterly disagree with that sentiment, this book gives you very little ammo to prove otherwise. In any case, I view this as mild hyperbole, not really a demerit to what is a basic to intermediate level coffee table book full of nice pictures and factual snippets.

3) Not too much focus on "outlying" art, Pacific / MesoAmerican, art brut, etc. This may or may not trouble the individual reader. I personally liked the mainly Eurocentric focus, as 400 pages can only take you so far, so not an issue for me.

4) The writers / editors are all fairly obscure. No big name curators or well known historians, critics, etc. Most of the text appears to have been written by less than a half dozen Brits with minimal academic distinction. Not an issue for me, but again an MFA might be less pleased.

All in all, a nice book with which to delight curious children and visitors lingering round the coffee table. If you don't expect a collegiate text or graduate thesis on aesthetics, you will appreciate this work.

Seems like a great book, but did not display properly on Kindle for iPad — pages were cut off.

Tremendous collection of art for the price.

This will not take you overly in depth on anything, but will give you a solid knowledge of the history of art that could make you a contributor to any conversation on the subject. Think of it as Crib notes for thousands of years of art.

great book that is well laid out in content with time lines It covers each period of art in a concise and easily understood manner. One of the best books I've seen. I teach art appreciation to adults.

Impresive book. Focuses art from the standpoint of the movements that took place instead of individual artists. Put the artist and their masterpieces in a context.

Loved this book as a resource for my class but was surprised by some of the author's choices of later art picked for the book yet other world breaking art was not included. Still happy I bought this book.

The pictures are beautiful

Perfect coffee table book. It’s both entertaining and informative. Very interesting, too.

Wonderful book, excellent presentation. Beautiful and accessible for a person interested in art, regardless of orientation.