The Joy of Art: How to Look At, Appreciate, and Talk about Art Hardcover – April 7, 2020

The most amazing book I’ve ever read about how to truly acquire skills in evaluating art. I’m a visual artist and I possess quite an extensive library of art books but none that do the job this one does in clearly explaining the history of Western Art and providing the practical tools to dramatically increase your visual IQ. I only wish I had this book 20 years ago. Whether you are an artist, art appreciator or art collector this book will pull all the art knowledge fragments you have floating around in your head into a clear concise unified understanding of what you are actually looking at.I also found the book to be a portal into exploring unknown artists, particular works, styles and art periods. If I wanted to dive deeper into any subject I found keeping my iPhone handy gave me quick access to jumping off into some rather deep rabbit holes of art. The author’s style was fun, fresh and extremely informative.

The book is an excellent, informative book!We find it much more than the standard coffee table book! If you’re interested in an introduction to learning and appreciating art, this is a book you’ll enjoy and return to often.This book would make a great gift!One star off: The only negative was the poor shipping! We ordered the book twice but each time the book was packaged in a box too large and during shipping the edges and corners of the cover were damaged. We liked the book so much that we just ignored the less than perfect condition and returned the second copy. The book should be shrink-wrapped and have padding around it so the edges aren’t damaged during shipping.

Joy of Art In reading the Joy of Art by Carolyn Schlam, I was delighted as an artist to take this journey with her. Because she is not only a writer but a practicing artist, she is the perfect guide to take a reader behind the scenes of how an artist creates their work. She shows you so many images, that after reading the book as an art lover, you will be able to convey your understanding to others. Her friendly writing style draws you in. Happy reading all! Sheila Fein Artist

Readers should know that much of the information is based on the authors opinion. For instance she doesn’t think museum curators know how to select art and she feels the little explanations of art pieces are “pure poppycock.” She also states that animals do not have consciousness which to me is poppy cock. I am getting a lot of good information from this book but the authors tone is pretentious, one sided, and too opinionated.

Beautiful overview of art viewing and art making from a passionate and thoughtful artist. I learned a lot about having an expert mindset when approaching art.

Not sure author understood what was needed to support the title - for me the book was a disappointment - 'hoped to learn something - did not happenIf you know anything about fine art, this book will disappoint you

The first half of the book is mostly philosophy about art, definitions, vocabulary, general and specific criteria. The second half of the book is divided into genre: figurative, abstract, landscape, still life. While there are 149 illustrations, there is very little comment on them. Most of the comment is on the artists, limited to a page or less. I found very little joy.

This book is excellent for the Kindle version. It is full of cross referencing between text and pictures. The best part for me is the index, where you can go to anywhere in the whole book from the highlighted items.

Um dos mais úteis livros de arte que li.

The Joy of Art: How to Look At, Appreciate, and Talk about Art is a very informative book, clearly written and easy to understand

Excellent