by Philip Hook
Rating: ****
I enjoyed this, Hook writes in a very engaging, easy style and you feel as if you having a conversation over lunch or something. Slightly debatable whether it's an A to Z of the art world, some sections seemed slightly random (fictional artists?). If you are looking to be thoroughly educated about art, and the art world, this book is probably not it.
From a stylistic point, I felt some, if not all, of the pictures, could have been in colour. It's hard to appreciate a painting reproduced in grainy black and white when Hook is expounding on the colours, light, etc., of the picture. I also found the block initial capital for the headings slightly incongruous and there were a couple of typos throughout. A few more anecdotes from his time at both Christies and Sotheby's would have been good - those he does relate are both humorous and enlightening and leave you wanting more..
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