A Little History of Art

by Charlotte Mullins

A thrilling journey through 100,000 years of art, from the first artworks ever made to art’s central role in culture today.  “A fresh take on art history as we know it.” (Katy Hessel,  The Great Women Artists Podcast )

Charlotte Mullins brings art to life through the stories of those who created it and, importantly, reframes who is included in the narrative to create a more diverse and exciting landscape of art. She shows how art can help us see the world differently and understand our place in it, how it helps us express ourselves, fuels our creativity and contributes to our overall wellbeing and positive mental health.

Why did our ancestors make art? What did art mean to them and what does their art mean for us today? Why is art even important at all?

Mullins introduces readers to the Terracotta Army and Nok sculptures, Renaissance artists such as Giotto and Michelangelo, trailblazers including Käthe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and contemporary artists who create art as resistance, such as Ai Weiwei and Shirin Neshat. She also restores forgotten artists such as Sofonisba Anguissola, Guan Daosheng and Jacob Lawrence, and travels to the Niger valley, Peru, Java, Rapa Nui and Australia, to broaden our understanding of what art is and should be.

This extraordinary journey through 100,000 years celebrates art’s crucial place in understanding our collective culture and history. 

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Art History, Art Design, Cultural, Audiobook

336 pages, Paperback

Published May 13, 2025

About the author

Charlotte Mullins has written widely on contemporary art, architecture, design and
art history for specialist art magazines, newspapers and exhibition catalogues since 1995.

Reviews

[Daniel Nguyen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was readable, but you'd probably be better served by any other art history book. It could do with a few more images, although it is understandable why the author couldn't put every single image described. As I don't know much about art history i cant comment on the accuracy of the commentary, although for everything else, the author constantly misnames, overly simplifies (e.g. Serfdom) or outright gets historical facts and occurrences wrong (such as origin of native Easter Islanders). An unnecessary layer of current identity politics was added to commentary. Although it is meant to be a pop book, it stoops way too low.

I do not recommend, find another art history book.

[Luciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A competent, though a little bit soulless bird's-eye view of the subject.

[Corinna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf 17%; reads like a series of Wikipedia entries, lifeless and superficial.

[Geret · Rating 2 out of 5]

mullins vist tahtis nagu kõikekõike öelda ja muidugi ei öelnud ta seejuures suurt midagi. ta vist eeldab lugejast ka? et ta ju juba teab kõike? ja siis proovib nagu funny olla?

[aster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realise this was part of a series, I just saw it in a bookshop and thought it might suit my needs! And indeed it did.

It explains concepts in easily understandable language, encouraging the reader to imagine what the people of that time period felt about the art covered in the chapter - not just to see it from our modern viewpoint. A book truly aimed at just about anybody that wants a succinct crash course in art history.

I loved how often Buddhist art was mentioned in particular, along with other non-Western cultural/religious art. The same goes for highlighting lesser known female artists.

The short chapters are organised into a specific time period and style. The book does a great job of linking between chapters by organically refencing related works, styles and artists.

I suppose there could have been more pictured examples, but this didn't bother me much, I'm always happy to Google. Plus doing this inevitably led me down loads of interesting Wikipedia rabbit holes.

Generally a very pleasant and informative read. 4.5 stars.

[John W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does not entirely work. It tries to capture a vast field in a limited number of pages and frequently discusses a work of art without illustration or illustrations of small size. The book would work as an outline of a program which would include color illustrations of all the works discussed, for example, on projected slides.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much a beginners guide which flies through art history at a frenetic rate. Some interesting anecdotes and possibly a good starting point for someone but jumps around a bit too much to be truly engaging. A bit more of a narrative linking the influences of each movement/era as well as how they tied into the context of their time would have been welcome.

[Katie Griffiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like art so enjoyed reading this book. It could’ve done with some more pictures though, especially as some art work was described in great detail but the picture shown on the page was unrelated and had a sentence dedicated to it.

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got off to a slow start - Mullins writing is a little dry. She tries hard to make it engaging by starting every one of the 40 short chapters with an 'as lived' story of one character or another from the history of art. These are ok, but in truth much of this remains dry throughout the whole book. But then again if you are trying to write a complete history of art in 300 or so pages it has a lot to pack in and not a lot of space to do it.

The author of a history of art in any length book, even some of the massive volumes around on the same subject, has to be selective. Although this is a "little history of art" it is quite comprehensive. I think Mullins makes a fairly good selection, but then again I am not expert. Whilst I have been interested in art most of my life, and come from a family of artists, it is not my domain and I do not have any significant knowledge about its history.

Mullins avoids the normal trap of really writing a history of western male white artists. It is dominated by Western art but makes some reasonable nods to other cultures contributions and creativity, and includes plenty of women artists. Art for her seems to be visual art, and the book is dominated by painting and some sculpture. To make it more engaging she could have been even more selective, so less of the names, facts and dates, and written a bit more about each artist included - but then it would have been a poorer history. I was happy with her degree of selectivity.

The book is rammed full of historical facts, and contains only a couple of small pictures for each chapter. I wish there had been a few more, but this is intended as a textual description, so I suppose fair enough. Still if it had, say, 4 pictures per chapter instead of 2, I might have gone up a star on my review. If you are looking for a historical selection of images, like some coffee table book, then this is the wrong choice. On the other hand, if you want a relatively compact history, suitable for the interested novice rather than the well trained expert, that gives a good overview of the main trends in art, then I think this is a good place to start.

I stress, I found it to be is a dry read as there are lots of facts, dates, names and descriptions of paintings. However, as a book that gives an overall map of the history of art in a relatively compact form, I thought it achieves this. 3.5 stars is probably fairer, but as you all know, no half stars on goodreads.

[Kevin]

Exactly what the title says: a little bit of the history of art. As I read this I often thought of this as a conversation about art with an expert on the subject as they put a very large part of human history into a summarized form for modern consumption.
Overall this was a book I greatly enjoyed and appreciated. Mullins has stretched my art vocabulary and knowledge while letting me ponder some of the bigger ideas and movements in global art.
If you want to know more, if you want to go deeper, then keep reading more books. If you want a shorter version or an entry point, this is the book for you.

[Michał2007officialYT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takie może 3,5. Bardzo ogólnie podchodzi do tego o czym mówi, przy tym uproszczając dużą ilość anegdot, ale jako narzędzie do poznania ogólnego zarysu problematyki poszczególnych epok jest myślę że dobra bo bardzo łatwo się ją czyta. Jedna rzecz która mi przeszkadzała to to że bardzo często mimo rozległych opisów danych dzieł nie są do nich załączane zdjęcia, co sprawiło ze trochę trudno je było przyswoić bez skali porównawczej.

[Lisa Naaraat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Chelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unbelievably boring, waste of money

[JY · Rating 2 out of 5]

The flow and narration could not grip me; I struggled to finish this book but I suppose that is what you get for an intentional introduction to a diverse and politically charged topic like art. The key takeaways are the broad origins of various art movements and how various noteworthy artists/artworks were informed by one another but it was rather unsettling that the author kept mentioning at the start that "decoration can make surfaces more appealing but there is no deeper message", as if there is a definitive way to identify what art is/isn't. I also wish more time was spent on the last couple of chapters that focused on the democratisation/retelling/reclaiming of art/art history (as well as the emergence of art as social activism and critique), especially given that the author's stated intention is "so the past [of history, including art] can be rethought". I am pretty sure there are also other inaccuracies/omissions but my ignorance meant I could only catch some of them (e.g., orientalism).

I will look for a better introductory book to art, I suppose :-)

[Zhuldyzay Baki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special kudos for actually talking about female artists, in Middle Ages, renaissance and later on.

[Nick Carraway LLC · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) "It is 1305 in Padua, Italy, and Giotto is showing his assistant where to spread today's fresh plaster on the chapel wall. He is going to paint on it while it is still damp using a technique called buon fresco, so his colours sink into the plaster to form a luminous wall painting. It is quite a challenge, knowing just how much plaster to apply. He has to paint the whole lot in one day or it will dry out and his colours will no longer be locked in but will sit on top. He knows what he is doing though - he has been painting frescoes in Enrico Scrovegni's private chapel for over two years now. The chapel will soon be complete, the walls covered in frescoes and the ceiling twinkling with gold stars against a dark blue heavenly sky."

2) "It is midnight on 14 May 1504 as a giant naked man begins to move through Florence's silent streets. The man is David, Michelangelo's most ambitious sculpture to date. It has taken him two years to carve and has taken the cathedral board almost as long to agree on where to locate it. Michelangelo signed a contract to make a colossal sculpture for the top of the cathedral's façade but ultimately the board decided to give it a more public home. It is now to be placed outside the Palazzo della Signoria, home to Florence's government."

3) "Claude's collectors were not Poussin's intellectuals but the aristocracy of Europe. In Claude's paintings, trees again frame the landscape and draw us in to the view. In Pastoral Landscape from 1647 the trees flank the river, which lures us further into the scene as we follow its path to the hazy mountains in the distance. People are present only to give scale and pinpoints of colour. In many of his scenes the sun is rising, casting a golden glow over every leaf and blade of grass. The rich morning light hovers over, under and in front of everything it touches.
Landscape is not natural; it doesn't simply exist. Landscape is not the land itself but a carefully selected view that is sketched or painted to tell a particular story of man's relationship to the earth. For Poussin and Claude it is dotted with fictitious Roman temples and harks back to the dawn of classicism. For Dutch artists, by contrast, landscape reflected aspects of contemporary life. Windmills and churches rise from flat swathes of land; boats and ships set sail under heavy skies. The rise in Dutch landscape painting was fuelled by the interests of the middle-class collectors who bought them. They didn't live in private palaces or cathedral cloisters but out there, in the real world, where their ships bobbed at anchor and their windmills turned in the fields. They had fought hard for their land, battling rival nations and even the sea itself, by pumping low-lying lakes dry to create more land for farming."

4) "Shortly after this exhibition [Jacob Epstein] dismantled Rock Drill and amputated the figure at the waist. He removed one arm before casting it in bronze and later exhibited the mutilated torso without the drill. The First World War, which had started in 1914, stripped him of his enthusiasm for futuristic machinery. He wrote that the Rock Drill figure now represented the armed, sinister figure of today and tomorrow. No humanity, only the terrible Frankenstein's monster we have made ourselves into? The battle droids in Star Wars bear an uncanny resemblance to Epstein's original figure - inhuman robots each wielding an automatic weapon."

[Daria (jezykowy.koneser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Krótka historia sztuki" to przystępna i bardzo ciekawa lektura, która opisuje początki sztuki oraz jej historię aż do współczesności.

Książka ta składa się z krótkich rozdziałów. Mają one po kilka stron. Ułatwia to czytanie, bo choć książka jest bardzo dobrze napisana i wciąga to przy tematyce popularnonaukowej oraz kiedy trzeba skupić się na treści, krótkie rozdziały są na pewno na plus.

Bardzo podobało mi się, że w tym tytule znajdziemy wiele fotografii przedstawiających zabytki o których mowa w tekście. Nie wszystkie są zilustrowane ale duża ich część. Na każdy rozdział przypada jakieś zdjęcie. I to jest super! Wyobraźnia to rzecz świetna, ale kiedy nie czytam o fikcji wolę zobaczyć to co zostało opisane i jak wygląda w rzeczywistości.

Język jest łatwy w odbiorze, treść jest bardzo interesująca. Na początku każdego nowego rozdziału, znajdziemy krótki opis, historię, która przenosi nas do przeszłości, do czasu kiedy powstał dany zabytek. Początkowo nie zbyt mi się to podobało, bo nie jesteśmy w stanie stwierdzić czy tak było. To tylko wyobraźnia autorki. Jednak potem to doceniłam. Pozwoliło mi to spojrzeć z innej perspektywy. Dzisiaj to jak widzimy sztukę jest inne, zapominamy o ludziach, nie myślimy o okolicznościach. Takie krótkie wtrącenia sprawiły, że przeniosłam się w czasie i spojrzałam na pewne kwestie inaczej.

Mam jedną rzecz do zarzucenia tej lekturze. Tak, rozdziały są krótkie i niby są poświęcone głównie jednemu okresowi, państwu/cywilizacji czy nurtowi, ale nie do końca. Na przestrzeni czasem 6 stron, zostają niekiedy tylko zarysowane wydarzenia, historia etc. i autorka przeskakuje do innego. Czasami opisuje coś tylko przez akapit. Sprawia to wrażenie chaotyczności i ogromnego niedosytu.

Bardzo dobrze spędziłam czas z tą książką. Wiele się z niej dowiedziałam i nie pozostaje mi nic innego jak polecić ją Wam. Dlatego gorąco zachęcam Was do lektury tej pozycji!

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Od ukrytych w grotach malowideł pierwszych ludzi po współczesne performance artystyczne, sztuka niesie za sobą komunikat, którego nie da się wyrazić tylko słowami.
Używana jako narzędzie propagandy i sposób przypodobania się możnym. Jako sztuka sakralna utrwalała uwielbienie bogów, w grobowcach faraonów i cesarzy miała im zapewnić dobrobyt po drugiej stronie wrót. Była głosem buntowników i wielbicieli, kłamców i pochlebców ale też oddanych czcicieli i wrażliwców, widzących świat pełniej i głębiej. O tym właśnie jest ta książka, o funkcji jaką przez wieki sprawowała sztuka, o jej rozwoju i zmienności.
Krótka historia sztuki Charlotte Mullins to uporządkowany artystyczny chaos. Trochę tego, odrobina tamtego. Jak sam tytuł wskazuje jest to krótka, niewielka część światowego dziedzictwa artystycznego przedstawiona w sposób zwięzły i łatwo przyswajalny.
Jej plusem zdecydowanie jest bardzo przyjazny język i prosta forma przekazu, czytając nawet laik, który niewiele wie o świecie sztuki bez problemu zrozumie, co autorka próbowała przekazać. Niestety nie jest to działo wiekopomne, które zachwiałoby światem kulturalnym czy ruszyło zastane posady historyczne sztuki.
Jeśli szukasz kompendium wiedzy o rozwoju sztuki to trafiłeś właściwie, bowiem Krótka historia sztuki właśnie to oferuje, zebrane wiadomości od czasów malunków naskalnych pierwszych ludzi aż do współczesnych performance’ów, od techniki zdobień czarno figurowych, poprzez malarstwo, rzeźbę i wyryte w skalnym podłożu tajemnicze obrazy aż do współczesnych malarzy abstrakcyjnych.
Człowiek uczy się przez całe życie, warto dowiedzieć się co nieco także o sztuce i rolach jakie nadawali jej nasi przodkowie, myślę że Krótka historia sztuki zdecydowanie nadaje się do przybliżenia tego zagadnienia ciekawskim.

Za egzemplarz recenzencki dziękuję
Domowi Wydawniczemu Rebis

#współpracarecenzencka
#współpracabarterowa
#współpracareklamowa

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit, I only read the last quarter of this book, but skimmed the first three-quarters. I was pre-reading this for my son for his fine arts credit for our homeschool high school. I especially wanted to read the post-modernism and beyond sections, as these movements are not included in older Art History books. I greatly appreciated the tone this book takes, very matter-of-fact, about including minor and unknown artists (both female and ethnic) throughout art history and keeping the greats in the discussion. Mullins is not trying to reframe the entire view of art history. For other Christian and conservative readers of reviews, there were a few troubling paragraphs in the earlier chapters that I ultimately decided would require some discussion with my teenager, but others may choose to skip them completely. I have decided to assign my student to read both this book and an older art history one (A Child's History of Art) to get a fuller picture from both sides, with lots of examples and conversations throughout.

[Mica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Mullins, que também é autora de "A Little Feminist History of Art" - ainda não publicado no Brasil - é crítica de arte, escritora e radialista. Em Uma Breve História da Arte, a autora explica conceitos em linguagem facilmente compreensível, para não especialistas, incentivando o leitor a inserir algumas das obras mais importantes da história em seu contexto histórico. O highlight do livro, no meu ponto de vista, é o destaque que Mullins oferece para culturas não ocidentais e artistas mulheres, até mesmo as poucos conhecidas, sempre esquecidas em livros mais tradicionais. Trata-se de um excelente guia para quem está começando a estudar o assunto, dividido em capítulos curtos, com uma narrativa dinâmica e sem firulas, e bastante envolvente. Recomendo fortemente para quem deseja começar a estudar o assunto.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice, comprehensive, educational book on art history (obviously) but its broadness is also a bit of a flaw. I wish there were more pictures of the art Mullins covered as I had to stop and Google them frequently. Also, had it been longer, it might not have felt so rushed. On the other hand one can take what artists, styles, periods or eras they most enjoyed and look for books more specific to that while still learning about others.

I really enjoyed Mullins inclusiveness throughout the book. So many art books are centered on a very specific, white, male view of art. While it did cover white male traditional art it also made sure to provide a nuanced view and to increase the visibility of lesser known artists at the time who, because of race, gender, sexuality or even marital status, were often left behind in near obscurity.

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book an interesting introduction to the history of art. Most of my understanding of art history came from reading history books where some chapters would cover the art of the historical period covered. This book provides an overview of art history all the way back to prehistory including not only the life of the artists (and the environment they lived in) but also the significance of some of their art and the techniques they used. It also provided me with a better understanding of contemporary art. The book is by design superficial and doesn’t discuss some artists by lack of space (I personally regretted the absence of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a famous Flemish Renaissance painter). Overall a worthwhile read for anyone interested in art.

[365_ksiazek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wiecie, co jest najlepsze w Rebisie?
To, że wydają takie książki.

Jeżeli ciekawi Ciebie sztuka i masz ochotę na przyspieszony kurs jej historii, to ta książka z pewnością Cię zadowoli. Autorka zabiera nas w podróż przez dziesiątki tysięcy lat i przez kontynenty. Objaśnia, czym jest sztuka sama w sobie. Opowiada o powodach, dla których ludzie tworzą. O kreatywności i jej wizualnych przejawach. Opowiada o pierwszych znanych nam przejawach twórczości. Dzięki niej poznasz różne nurty. Poznasz też dziesiątki dzieł sztuki.
Lektura nie tylko przyjemna, ale jakże pożyteczna. Szeroki kontekst i dbałość o szczegół. To siła tej książki. Jest dobrym punktem wyjścia do dalszej edukacji w tym zakresie. Przedstawia zagadnienia w prosty i przystępny sposób.

[Ryan Sacker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the broad scope and quick brushes. The chapters were a bit disorienting and after a while predictive. It’s always Movement (Or topic) 1 or two artist in conversation and then counter or sometimes random other important thing. There’s some parts of the analysis when doing broad sweeps like this I wish there was more of. Specifically well done is the early 20th century reaction and thinking to art. I largely think late Braque and early 20th century art is where this book performed most strongly for me. There are one liners that try to qualify or distinguish things for time periods and they quite literally ripped me out of the book. There has to be a better way to go about this. Anyways solid read with some differing art. More pictures would have been great.

[Mat Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty solid book. It is quite a read though. As always, the choice of pictures shown and discussed is going to be an issue. I can't say I would have chosen the ones shown and the ones discussed, but it is all a matter of taste. There is also an issue concerning how much attention the 20th century gets compared with other centuries.

For me, I would have liked it to have included a few more Gobekli Temple. Van Gogh's Les Prisoners rather than the cafe, and something more edgy about Japanese art such as Shunga. Nonetheless, a good overview with some interesting connections made regarding inspiration from abroad, and integration into classic pieces (Gogh, Picasso etc).

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew a lot about art, but, hey, for 311 pages the author takes us from cave paintings to 2022 experimental multi-media works. How does Rococo relate to Baroque? And is Jackson Pollock an “artist” or a scam artist. No mention of Andrew Wyeth but she did cover Edward Hopper, No reference to Fra Angelico, but covered Piero della Francesca (for some reason, my favorite period of art). Good discussion on how Impressionism evolved, and then on to Post-Impressionism and and to Cubism. As I said, a nice overview of Art, including Asian, Islamic, African, and a turn to issues affecting us all today, And Yoko’s early performance art!

[Davina Bisaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. It’s good if you’re like me u know? Into art. I could read fucking anything about art and I’m dialed in. It was kinda like spitting facts but honestly it did all bleed into each other w the different movements, which I enjoyed. Sometimes u need a book like that that keeps me in the reality of my life. Not tons of asian representation except for the giants that are ai Weiwei and kusama but did make an effort to highlight women. I’m glad I read it. But don’t read it expecting to remember everything and be an expert

[c_r_i_ss_y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to an interesting perspective in analysing the history of art.

However... I would like to add that, especially by the end of the book, the author who so far had achieved a shocking, yet great, level of objectivity, now shows a visible political and cultural subjective commentary. Makes sense, coming from the US...

So, overall it is a wonderful little book, full of anecdotes and curious analyses...as long as you erase from your mind the unpleasant and short-sighted dives into political and cultural inconsistencies the author brings at certain times.

[Shindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, it got a bit boring for me. I found myself checking the internet for artwork that wasn’t even included in the book. The book does a decent job of covering art history, but it just didn’t keep me as engaged as I hoped.

On the positive side, the writing is clear and straightforward, and it gives a good overview of art history, especially if you're new to the topic. It’s nice for getting a broad understanding of different art movements, even if it didn't fully capture my attention. If you're into art history and don’t mind browsing for extra details, this might work for you.

[Yuugen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sitede bu kitabın Türkçe versiyonunu, yani Alfa Yayınları tarafından basılan (430 sayfa) "Sanatın Kısa Tarihi" kitabını bulamadığım için orijinal halini kütüphaneme ekledim. Genel bir sanat tarihi anlatımı için yeterli, ancak elbette daha fazla ve derin araştırma yapmaya uygun değil. Merakımdan okudum, zaten bildiğim çoğu şeyi tekrar hatırlamak iyi geldi. Sanat tarihine ilişkin hiçbir bilginiz yoksa giriş seviyesi için yeterli olacaktır. Ayrıca Asya, Orta Doğu sanatına değil de daha çok Avrupa sanatı odaklı bir yaklaşımı var Bu da taraflı gibi hissettirdiğinden 3 yıldız adam olana çok bile.