"The World's Greatest Art" series has been hugely successful on the back of the best-selling bigger book "The World's Greatest Art". Now, to fit in with the series as a whole we've introduced this "Brief History of Art" which covers popular art from 1200.

Kerry James Marshall is one of America’s greatest living painters. History of Painting presents a groundbreaking body of new work that engages with the history of the medium itself. In History of Painting, the artist has widened his scope to include both figurative and nonfigurative works that deal explicitly with art history, race, and gender, as well as force us to reexamine how artworks are received in the world and in the art market. In the paintings in this book, Marshall’s critique of history and of dominant white narratives is present, even as the subjects of the paintings move between reproductions of auction catalogues, abstract works, and scenes of everyday life. Essays by Teju Cole and Hal Foster help readers navigate the artist’s masterful vision, decoding complexly layered works such as Untitled (Underpainting) (2018) and Marshall’s own artistic philosophy. This catalogue is published on the occasion of Marshall’s eponymous exhibition at David Zwirner, London, in 2018.

“Why do artists love books?” This volume takes this tantalizingly simple question as a starting point to reveal centuries of symbiosis between the visual and literary arts. First looking at the development of printed books and the simultaneous emergence of the modern figure of the artist, The Art of Reading appraises works by the many great masters who took inspiration from the printed word. Authors Jamie Camplin and Maria Ranauro weave together an engaging cultural history that probes the ways in which books and paintings represent a key to understanding ourselves and the past. Paintings contain a world of information about religion, class, gender, and power, but they also reveal details of everyday life often lost in history texts. Such artworks show us not only how books have been valued over time but also how the practice of reading has evolved in Western society. Featuring over one hundred works by artists from across Europe and the United States and all painting genres, The Art of Reading explores the two-thousand-year story of the great painters and the preeminent information-providing, knowledge-endowing, solace-giving, belief-supporting, leisure-enriching, pleasure-delivering medium of all time: the book.

Contains over 400 masterpieces of Western painting from the very beginnings of art to the present day. The book includes nearly 200 close-ups to allow the reader to gain knowledge of each work and artist and Sister Wendy Beckett shares her love of painting.

Here, Elkins argues that alchemists and painters have similar relationships to the substances they work with. Both try to transform the substance, while seeking to transform their own experience.

Through more than 450 masterpieces, the author unfolds the story of 800 years of Western painting from Giotto, the Renaissance and Impressionism, to Pop Art and the present day.

From the glories of the High Renaissance in Italy to the emotional visions of the Romantics, and from the groundbreaking techniques of the Impressionists to the radical canvases of the Abstract Expressionists, this book provides a fascinating look at the major movements in the history of Western painting. A clear chronological structure allows the reader to see each movement in its historical context and to appreciate the patterns that emerge. The historical framework shows the extent to which the powers of royalty, religion, and revolution have exerted their influence in the artistic sphere.