Art in Minutes by Susie Hodge
Subtitle: “200 key concepts explained in an instant”
I bought this at the Kemper Art Museum bookstore while attending an Italian Movie Festival there last spring (2019).
And finally started reading it in the last week or so.
This is NOT a textbook. It might be the kind of thing you take to an Art Museum where you use it to learn a little more about an Artist/Painting/Drawing/Sculpture you are viewing.
It is organized chronologically with excursions to various geographical regions during the same time periods. There is more complete coverage where there is more recorded history or it is western European art. The extensive index makes it possible to quickly lookup Artists, Periods and Movements.
The only thing I regret about this book is the fact that most/probably all the “plates” are in gray tones. You have to use your imagination to try to layer on the colors the author is talking about.
Or get another Art History book with color plates.
If you are wondering a little bit about “Art” this might be a very good book to read. It tries to place you in the historical context from which the Art was created. But it doesn’t try to bury you in minutae.
Tom M
Galenson Consulting 