The World of Art

For 'Art' read 'Western Art' for, apart from a section on art in the ancient world, a nod to Japan and a look at world crafts the book concentrates largely on the great and the good of Europe and the US. In 96 pages it's bound to be something of a quick tour but there is an interesting section on materials and methods, the development of the different styles is succinctly explained and it's good to see photography included. There is also a useful glossary of artists and a shorter one of art terms. There are plenty of high quality illustrations but constraints of space mean that many are quite small and so lose much of their power and impact.