The Story of Contemporary Art

This is a congenial, well informed, and very accessible introduction to contemporary art. It sketches out the outlines of the field, and introduces the reader to many of the best known or most appreciated artists. There are any number of engaging insights and perceptive observations about where it all started and where it's all headed. Plates and examples are reasonably abundant and well chosen to illustrate points being made.My only problem with the book is that for most of the artists, what they have created is of little interest, and the point seems to be for the artists to talk, unrelentingly and obliviously, about their art, their vision, and the meaning and point of their creations. Would you rather read a good book or sit through a bunch of authors at a writing conference pontificating about the act of writing? Same here. Apart from the very engaging narrative voice of the author, most of the book consists of artists blathering. It is high end, intellectual, well practiced, exquisitely artsy blather, but blather nonetheless.So, if you want to learn about contemporary art, this is a good place to start. If you have a high tolerance for art-talk this will work even better. If you are especially sensitive to pretension, well, you probably won't find reason to fault the author, but there will be plenty of quoted artists who will exhaust your patience pretty quickly. I don't know if that's a recommendation or a warning, but there it is.(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

The Story of Contemporary Art by Tony Godfrey is a wonderful survey that touches most of the threads that run through contemporary art without getting either too bogged down or too obscure.As a "story" it works very well, Godfrey makes connections and discusses what was responding to what. This is not, nor is it intended to be, an exhaustive deep history with mentions of every artist, it does include good representatives to make the story a coherent whole. If you're at all familiar with contemporary art you will likely feel that someone has been left out or someone included you don't think should be. Such is the nature of this type of book and to beat the subject to death says more about the reader doing so than the book. But thee delusional like to give the impression they are more qualified, so let the small people believe what they want, it isn't hurting anyone. This book points readers in directions to learn more or discover new movements, and that is important in keeping art alive and relevant and not an insulated unimportant luxury for the few.Many readers, like myself, will be familiar with most of the artists mentioned, though not all. What Godfrey does for us is put all of these artists and groups in conversation with each other. More accurately, perhaps, is that he shows us what those ongoing conversations are so we can better understand the why of many of the works. If you mostly just want pretty pictures without artist input to contextualize, well, maybe you won't enjoy this as much. If you like the idea of artists in conversation with each other, even if mediated by Godfrey, you'll enjoy the insights the artists offer.I would highly recommend this to both the casual art lover and the more serious connoisseur. Having a handy overview that connects some dots and contextualizes the work is always a joy to have around.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

This was an Xmas gift for my son.Arrived quickly and in excellent condition.Very pleased.