Book Review: Looking at Pictures by Susan Woodford (Art Essentials Series)

This book is part of publisher Thames & Hudson's Art Essentials series, a new art book series that's meant to be small, smart and essential.

Looking at Pictures by Susan Woodford is compact-sized 176-page paperback that you can bring out easily to read on the go. This book provides a quick introduction to art and history by looking at various pieces of art created from the past and stops just before the modern art movement. The writing is concise and accessible, written for art lovers who want to know a bit more about art but don't want to be bored by lengthy text. It's light reading and I was able to go through many page at one go and still appreciate the artworks that were shown and explained.

This book looks at artworks created to make sense of their meaning, purpose or special message, to sort of understand why they were created. Like why did early humans paint bisons inside caves, why do some artists paint landscapes, portraits or still life. The book also talks about the history, mythology and art movements. There's a good selection of paintings included, some famous, others not so much, and they all serve their purpose to help you understand what the artists were trying to say in their art.

This is a nice little book for art lovers, enthusiasts and those who want to learn more about art and history but don't want to spend too much time going through a thick book.

If you like this book, another book you can check out is The Illustrated Story of Art (2013).

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This review copy is provided by book seller and distributor APD Singapore (website | facebook). You can get the book from them and major bookstores in Southeast Asia.

Looking at Pictures by Susan Woodford (Art Essentials Series) is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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