After graduating college with a degree in Art History and Visual Culture, I often found my memory failing me, especially when it came to dates and art isms.
During college, I had always relied on and loved E.H. Gombrich’s “The Story of Art,” I read the entire book throughout four years and numerous courses, it was my best ally. However, when I graduated, I knew I would not be able to carry Gombrich with me to every museum and I was well aware that I would probably never read it again, just because its size is incredibly intimidating.
With time, I found I was mostly interested in modern and contemporary art. I set myself the task of finding a book that would talk to me rather than lecture me, a book that I could carry with me everywhere, only to get excited about discovering, in a museum, a painting or sculpture I had just read about.
Will Gompertz, the author of “What Are You Looking At? 150 Years of Modern Art,” is pure genius. He not only managed to squeeze the incredible story of modern art into less than five hundred pages, but he also managed to tell it in such a way that art history become somewhat like chatting over coffee with your best friend.
The book doesn’t go into much detail about every artist and every painting. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for an overview of modern art and a comprehensible explanation to why it matters today, Gompertz will do the trick.