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The 20th Century Art Book
Covering the international nature of the modern art scene, this title encompasses established, iconic works of art and the classics of the future. It presents 500 artists in an alphabetical order, each represented by a full-page colour plate of a definitive work and an incisive text which sheds light on both image and creator.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Phaidon Press
276 books440 followersPhaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. -wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 18, 2022
4.5 Stars!
This is a small, tightly packed book, bursting with 500 examples of art and artists from the 20th Century. It’s one of those books which I had the pleasure of dipping into here and there over the course of many weeks and usually always came across something worthwhile.
Phaidon have squeezed so much in here, it covers so many artists, eras and movements that it soon starts to live up to its promise, we even get examples from some of the more obscure corners of the world, like Laos, Lithuania, Uruguay, Uganda and many other pockets of the globe.
There were many artists or works I came across for the first time, and some really memorable examples like the stunning project by Jeanne Claude Christo, “Wrapped Coast” where they covered a one mile strip of the rocky Australian coast back in 1969. Why had I never heard of this bizarre event before?...
Some of the most memorable little treasures I uncovered from here for the first time include, the likes of Pierre Roy’s “A Naturalist’s Study”, June Nam Pak’s “TV Garden” and Patrick Heron’s “Manganese in Deep Violet”. As well as the obscure, there is also plenty of room for more established and popular artists like Dali, Hopper, Miro, Monet, Pollock, Rothko, Hirst etc.
This book has lots of random, powerful and memorable art works. The layout is clear, the text informative and the overall presentation works really well. One of the joys of it is when you turn the page you never really know what you are going to get next, and this soon becomes a journey of many surprises, which makes for really enjoyable reading.
This is a small, tightly packed book, bursting with 500 examples of art and artists from the 20th Century. It’s one of those books which I had the pleasure of dipping into here and there over the course of many weeks and usually always came across something worthwhile.
Phaidon have squeezed so much in here, it covers so many artists, eras and movements that it soon starts to live up to its promise, we even get examples from some of the more obscure corners of the world, like Laos, Lithuania, Uruguay, Uganda and many other pockets of the globe.
There were many artists or works I came across for the first time, and some really memorable examples like the stunning project by Jeanne Claude Christo, “Wrapped Coast” where they covered a one mile strip of the rocky Australian coast back in 1969. Why had I never heard of this bizarre event before?...
Some of the most memorable little treasures I uncovered from here for the first time include, the likes of Pierre Roy’s “A Naturalist’s Study”, June Nam Pak’s “TV Garden” and Patrick Heron’s “Manganese in Deep Violet”. As well as the obscure, there is also plenty of room for more established and popular artists like Dali, Hopper, Miro, Monet, Pollock, Rothko, Hirst etc.
This book has lots of random, powerful and memorable art works. The layout is clear, the text informative and the overall presentation works really well. One of the joys of it is when you turn the page you never really know what you are going to get next, and this soon becomes a journey of many surprises, which makes for really enjoyable reading.
March 26, 2014
Well... it's a 20th-Century art book, anyway.
I read The 20th Century Art Book straight through, from Acconci to Zorio, which is perhaps not the best and certainly not the only way to use this brilliantly-conceived reference work, even though I personally enjoyed going through this book page by page, encountering old favorites and artists new to me in a sequence which owed nothing to schools, or regions, or influences. On equal terms.
Precisely equal terms, in fact. Each of the artists considered—and there are 500 of them, unified only by having done their most prominent work during the century in question—is given exactly one page to shine. Fascinating as the format is, it's also very restrictive, and does not do service to larger works, to three-dimensional pieces, or to kinetic and video art. Also, for some of the more prolific and versatile artists, the need to pick only a single piece leads to some oddly unrepresentative examples.
However, the format also privileges no gender, no race, no level of celebrity or political affiliation. My friend Kim noticed right away, though it took me awhile to tumble to the same realization, that this is a profoundly democratic presentation. Pablo Picasso faces the New Yorker Adrian Piper. The page right after Brazilian sculptor Hélio Oiticica displays Georgia O'Keeffe. The "urban street poetry" of Jenny Holzer (one of my personal favorites) gets juxtaposed with the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. Only the tyranny of alphabetical order holds sway.
That, and a certain cultural myopia. The book is British, and there is a definite (possibly-unavoidable) bias towards artists from England, or English-speaking countries, or at least countries somewhere near England. There must have been many artists working during those long hundred years from Africa, India and China, for example... but they go almost entirely unrepresented here.
So The 20th Century Art Book must be understood as an overview—very broad, but by no means all-inclusive... and nowhere is it very deep.
It is a product of the 20th Century itself, as well, with a copyright date of 1996 (but with updates in this edition up through 2007 or so, mostly in dates of death). The same book created with the perspective of 100 years from now might contain very different choices.
The 20th Century Art Book should not be your sole, or even primary, reference for the artists of its chosen period. But despite its flaws I found it to be an impressively broad survey, a beautiful artifact, and a solid springboard for further research.
I read The 20th Century Art Book straight through, from Acconci to Zorio, which is perhaps not the best and certainly not the only way to use this brilliantly-conceived reference work, even though I personally enjoyed going through this book page by page, encountering old favorites and artists new to me in a sequence which owed nothing to schools, or regions, or influences. On equal terms.
Precisely equal terms, in fact. Each of the artists considered—and there are 500 of them, unified only by having done their most prominent work during the century in question—is given exactly one page to shine. Fascinating as the format is, it's also very restrictive, and does not do service to larger works, to three-dimensional pieces, or to kinetic and video art. Also, for some of the more prolific and versatile artists, the need to pick only a single piece leads to some oddly unrepresentative examples.
However, the format also privileges no gender, no race, no level of celebrity or political affiliation. My friend Kim noticed right away, though it took me awhile to tumble to the same realization, that this is a profoundly democratic presentation. Pablo Picasso faces the New Yorker Adrian Piper. The page right after Brazilian sculptor Hélio Oiticica displays Georgia O'Keeffe. The "urban street poetry" of Jenny Holzer (one of my personal favorites) gets juxtaposed with the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. Only the tyranny of alphabetical order holds sway.
That, and a certain cultural myopia. The book is British, and there is a definite (possibly-unavoidable) bias towards artists from England, or English-speaking countries, or at least countries somewhere near England. There must have been many artists working during those long hundred years from Africa, India and China, for example... but they go almost entirely unrepresented here.
So The 20th Century Art Book must be understood as an overview—very broad, but by no means all-inclusive... and nowhere is it very deep.
It is a product of the 20th Century itself, as well, with a copyright date of 1996 (but with updates in this edition up through 2007 or so, mostly in dates of death). The same book created with the perspective of 100 years from now might contain very different choices.
The 20th Century Art Book should not be your sole, or even primary, reference for the artists of its chosen period. But despite its flaws I found it to be an impressively broad survey, a beautiful artifact, and a solid springboard for further research.
March 7, 2022
Igual es por la traducción al español, pero algunas descripciones de artistas me chirrían.
December 31, 2025
Phaidon's The 20th Century Art Book presents itself as an atlas of modernity: a compact compendium that tries, with admirable audacity, to put the century’s dizzying artistic revolutions into the reader’s hands. It is not a monograph, nor an exhaustive history; it is a curator’s pocket guide, a series of literary vignettes paired with image-plates, each entry attempting to distil an artist’s life, method and aesthetic singularity into a paragraph or two. The result is both invigorating and inevitably partial — a book whose virtues and limits are inseparable from the very structure that makes it useful.
What the volume does especially well is what any good anthology ought to do: it offers a scaffolding. Spread across its pages are flashes of formal invention — a Braque collage here, a Georgia O’Keeffe flower there, a performance photograph confronted by the flattened plane of late abstraction — that together provide a vivid catalogue of formal experiments, political gestures, and stylistic breakthroughs. The book’s economy of prose forces a kind of critical triage: the most characterful facts, the emblematic works, and a distilled interpretation are foregrounded, and the reader is left with a succession of attractively polished primers rather than a single, authoritative narrative.
That economy is at once the book’s most distinctive strength and the source of its most interesting problems. Condensing careers into capsule essays renders artists legible and comparable — which is immensely useful for teaching, for quick reference, and for reminding the general reader of key milestones in a vast chronology. But compression also risks flattening nuance. The tensions, contradictions and evolutions that define many artists’ practices are sometimes smoothed into a tidy through-line; complex relationships to politics, to patronage, or to non-Western forms can be hinted at rather than fully explored. In other words, the book excels as orientation; it is less persuasive as a site of sustained argument.
An important critical question any reader will bring to this book concerns canon formation. Which artists are included, which are omitted, and how are margins drawn? The editors’ selections — and the tone of many entries — are at once a map of art-historical consensus and a site of contemporary contestation. In places the book is pleasantly cosmopolitan, signalling the century’s global reverberations; in others it reads like a reminder that any single volume, however well-edited, bears the imprint of its curatorial assumptions. Readers attentive to issues of race, gender, and coloniality will find the book a useful starting point, but will also sense the need for supplementary texts that interrogate how institutions, markets, and power shaped visibility in the twentieth century.
Visually, the book is a lesson in editorial design. Phaidon’s reproductions are chosen with care: many plates are printed at a scale that honours the original’s material presence, and the juxtaposition of image and text creates a rhythm of pause-and-reflect that suits both casual browsing and classroom use. The typographic choices — compact but legible — shape a tone that is smart without being forbiddingly academic. Where the book truly shines is in its capacity to provoke curiosity: a brief entry can act like a key, unlocking interest in a lesser-known figure or prompting reappraisal of a canonical work.
From a scholarly standpoint, the ideal reader for The 20th Century Art Book is not the specialist seeking new archival revelations but the teacher, the student, and the interested generalist who wants a reliable, well-designed gateway into a sprawling century. For those who wish to move beyond its pages, the book functions best when paired with monographs, exhibition catalogues and critical essays that restore context, disagreement and the messy history that short entries necessarily omit.
If one were to ask for a single, summative judgment: this is a capacious and intelligent primer — an apparatus of introduction rather than a closing argument. It invites the reader to look, to question, and then to read further. In that sense it performs an important pedagogical task: it refuses to replace deep study while supplying the map most necessary to begin it. For anyone wanting an elegant companion to the century’s visual adventures — a book to keep on a desk or in a studio as a prompt and an occasional provocation — Phaidon has produced a book that is both handsome and, in its modesty, intellectually generous.
What the volume does especially well is what any good anthology ought to do: it offers a scaffolding. Spread across its pages are flashes of formal invention — a Braque collage here, a Georgia O’Keeffe flower there, a performance photograph confronted by the flattened plane of late abstraction — that together provide a vivid catalogue of formal experiments, political gestures, and stylistic breakthroughs. The book’s economy of prose forces a kind of critical triage: the most characterful facts, the emblematic works, and a distilled interpretation are foregrounded, and the reader is left with a succession of attractively polished primers rather than a single, authoritative narrative.
That economy is at once the book’s most distinctive strength and the source of its most interesting problems. Condensing careers into capsule essays renders artists legible and comparable — which is immensely useful for teaching, for quick reference, and for reminding the general reader of key milestones in a vast chronology. But compression also risks flattening nuance. The tensions, contradictions and evolutions that define many artists’ practices are sometimes smoothed into a tidy through-line; complex relationships to politics, to patronage, or to non-Western forms can be hinted at rather than fully explored. In other words, the book excels as orientation; it is less persuasive as a site of sustained argument.
An important critical question any reader will bring to this book concerns canon formation. Which artists are included, which are omitted, and how are margins drawn? The editors’ selections — and the tone of many entries — are at once a map of art-historical consensus and a site of contemporary contestation. In places the book is pleasantly cosmopolitan, signalling the century’s global reverberations; in others it reads like a reminder that any single volume, however well-edited, bears the imprint of its curatorial assumptions. Readers attentive to issues of race, gender, and coloniality will find the book a useful starting point, but will also sense the need for supplementary texts that interrogate how institutions, markets, and power shaped visibility in the twentieth century.
Visually, the book is a lesson in editorial design. Phaidon’s reproductions are chosen with care: many plates are printed at a scale that honours the original’s material presence, and the juxtaposition of image and text creates a rhythm of pause-and-reflect that suits both casual browsing and classroom use. The typographic choices — compact but legible — shape a tone that is smart without being forbiddingly academic. Where the book truly shines is in its capacity to provoke curiosity: a brief entry can act like a key, unlocking interest in a lesser-known figure or prompting reappraisal of a canonical work.
From a scholarly standpoint, the ideal reader for The 20th Century Art Book is not the specialist seeking new archival revelations but the teacher, the student, and the interested generalist who wants a reliable, well-designed gateway into a sprawling century. For those who wish to move beyond its pages, the book functions best when paired with monographs, exhibition catalogues and critical essays that restore context, disagreement and the messy history that short entries necessarily omit.
If one were to ask for a single, summative judgment: this is a capacious and intelligent primer — an apparatus of introduction rather than a closing argument. It invites the reader to look, to question, and then to read further. In that sense it performs an important pedagogical task: it refuses to replace deep study while supplying the map most necessary to begin it. For anyone wanting an elegant companion to the century’s visual adventures — a book to keep on a desk or in a studio as a prompt and an occasional provocation — Phaidon has produced a book that is both handsome and, in its modesty, intellectually generous.
July 5, 2017
I love this small book, when Im trying to derive inspiration from something in order to start a piece of my own.
It features tons and tons of amazing works from Picasso, to O'Keefe, Matisse, Cezanne, Pollock, Klimt (Big Breath) Brancussi, Boccioni and Rodin.
My absolute favorite artist being Frida Kahlo because of her feminism, and weakness to her true love Diego, and beautiful bright colored works boldly portraying brutal agony of living life as a mexican woman in an age that wasn't ready for such honesty.
One piece you have to check out is Chuck Close's "John" Acrylic on Canvas, an astonishingly life like painting that you'd swear at first glance is a photograph of a man wearing glasses, however is in fact a painstakingly accurate dipiction of the subject rendered through true mastery of acrylic medium.
It features tons and tons of amazing works from Picasso, to O'Keefe, Matisse, Cezanne, Pollock, Klimt (Big Breath) Brancussi, Boccioni and Rodin.
My absolute favorite artist being Frida Kahlo because of her feminism, and weakness to her true love Diego, and beautiful bright colored works boldly portraying brutal agony of living life as a mexican woman in an age that wasn't ready for such honesty.
One piece you have to check out is Chuck Close's "John" Acrylic on Canvas, an astonishingly life like painting that you'd swear at first glance is a photograph of a man wearing glasses, however is in fact a painstakingly accurate dipiction of the subject rendered through true mastery of acrylic medium.
October 9, 2023
"The 20th Century Art Book" by Phaidon Press is a visual feast that traverses the diverse landscape of modern art. With concise yet informative entries, it acts as a comprehensive guide to key artists, movements, and groundbreaking works of the 20th century. The book's curated selection and stunning visuals make it an excellent resource for both art enthusiasts and those new to the subject. Phaidon Press strikes a balance between accessibility and depth, creating an engaging reference that celebrates the richness and innovation of 20th-century art.
April 16, 2015
Short review: I love all of the Phaidon Art books (and music books). The art books are just a wonderful collection from widely different sources and the books themselves are laid out beautifully. They are, of course, introductions to a spectrum of the artworld (time period, artist specific, genre, etc...), but a wonderful starting point for anyone curious in general, or interested in finding a direction to explore further.
April 16, 2020
Este librito me enseñó más cosas que algunos profesores de carrera... Como glosario de autores, cumple su función perfectamente: textos e imágenes bien confeccionados (con gusto, certeros y al grano), abriendo apetito para seguir investigando libre y personalmente. El formato además es carne de cañón de "mesita de noche": abrir una página al azar y descubrir algo nuevo antes de irte a dormir mola 😊.
July 25, 2018
The format's a bit weird, and the selections range from obvious to subpar, but for the most part, this is a good art reference book. It serves its purpose and I enjoyed browsing through the artworks. I wish i could get more than a simple photo of the exhibits that were explained and shown in a single image, however, as most of them require the viewer to actually be there.
June 7, 2016
Great book! Large photos on each page with limited text (the way like art books).
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April 15, 2015Increíble como libro de consulta, muy buena calidad y muy completo
May 22, 2015
Quisiera hablar de todos los artistas que se encuentran aquí pero es imposible. Me encanta este libro, saco mucha inspiración.
January 20, 2016
Se nota un buen esfuerzo de presentar una muestra de obras representativas del siglo XX, particularmente en el expresionismo abstracto, clasificadas por autor
September 22, 2023
"The 20th Century Art Book" is a fantastic read that provides a comprehensive overview of the art movements and artists that defined the 20th century. It showcases iconic works from various styles, including Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and more. This book is a visual feast, offering insights into the cultural and historical context of each artwork. It's a must-read for any art enthusiast looking to explore the vibrant and diverse art of the 20th century. 📚🎨✨
September 25, 2023
This book left me with a warm, satisfied feeling and a renewed sense of wonder. It's a story that lingers in your thoughts long after you've finished it. I would recommend it to anyone in search of an engaging and heartwarming read.
October 6, 2023
It's an unconventional and thought-provoking exploration of narrative, identity, and interpretation. If you seek a reading experience that will push the boundaries of your literary expectations, this book is a journey worth embarking upon.
September 25, 2018
Well known artists combined with little known artists would make this a confusing book for someone with a limited knowledge of influential 20th century artists.
July 18, 2020
Amazing resource for my art degree
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December 19, 2021二十世纪艺术之书
9.2 (24人评价) [英] 费顿出版社 / 邵沁韵 / 后浪丨湖南美术出版社 / 2021
现当代艺术是一面现实之镜，镜子里是每一个“你” 全景式现当代艺术图鉴，尽览莫奈、毕加索、弗里达、霍克尼等500位国际知名艺术家的代表作品 45种风格流派，来自26个国
9.2 (24人评价) [英] 费顿出版社 / 邵沁韵 / 后浪丨湖南美术出版社 / 2021
现当代艺术是一面现实之镜，镜子里是每一个“你” 全景式现当代艺术图鉴，尽览莫奈、毕加索、弗里达、霍克尼等500位国际知名艺术家的代表作品 45种风格流派，来自26个国
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2023
this is a fascinating book but god damn is also pretty euro and north america centric
September 16, 2023
"The way this story unfolded was nothing short of magical. It had all the elements of a great plot – suspense, drama, and heartwarming moments."
September 16, 2023
I couldn't get enough of this book! The storyline was a rollercoaster of emotions and surprises. It's a shining example of how a well-crafted narrative can make reading a joy.
October 25, 2023
"The 20th Century Art Book" by Phaidon Press is likely a visually stunning and informative journey through the diverse landscape of 20th-century art. Phaidon is known for producing high-quality art books, and this one is likely no exception. With concise yet insightful commentary, it likely covers key movements, artists, and works that defined the century's art scene. If you're seeking a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to the art of the 20th century, this book from Phaidon Press is likely to be a valuable addition to your collection.
July 5, 2013
Each page contains a color reproduction of an artwork (500 artworks), and a couple of paragraphs of commentary about the work and its context. There is a note about the date, place, dimensions of the work, and the date of birth and (if applicable) death of the artist. 4 - 6 names of closely related artists are listed for most. It is probably no better and no worse than most other anthologies for including women, but did have one work each for two that are not always included, Kollwitz and Modersohn-Becker. It includes the range of works you would expect in the title (western works it seems to me, but I am not familiar with 20th century non-Western works, so don't know the names of artists to look up). I might not always agree on the single work to include, but the works of Kollwitz and Becker, Morandi, O'Keefe and others seemed fairly representative of their work. There's a bit on art terms and movements at the end. Overall it is a good place to scan through artists to find those whose works you might want to explore more.
April 18, 2024
I must have put at least 30 sticky notes in this book; as a representation of the underlying page/artist whose work resonates with me. Each page gives a short visual and/or philosophical insight into each "artist work". The author writes it in an artistic prose filled with description. I recommend reading a book on modern art theory before picking up to book to maximize studying each page if that is your goal to such question like ; is this painting or is this art? I enjoy this book for its color pages and short summary and can be completed in a few days. On the downside, it is difficult to learn and know which artist to study more of from such a summary book without knowing the theory or what the artist intended as they rarely give that away. First impression is never lasting impression.
April 3, 2024
I've adorned this book with at least 80 sticky notes, each marking a page where the artwork or the underlying message deeply resonates with me. Each page offers a brief yet profound insight into the work of various artists, presented in an artistic prose brimming with vivid descriptions. For those seeking to delve deeper into the realm of art, I recommend brushing up on modern art theory before delving into this book. It provides a colorful journey through the pages, with succinct summaries that allow for completion in just a few days. However, it can be challenging to discern which artists to explore further without a deeper understanding of their intentions, as they are often not explicitly revealed. Remember, the initial impression may not always be the most enduring one.
September 13, 2015
It's a good book to dip in and out of, yet even though the size of it is handy for being able to flip through quickly, it means that the images are rather small (but still of a high quality). The best thing about this book is the snippets of information, which makes you want to know more about that artist and their work, so whatever you do don't just pass them by, sometimes they are more interesting than the artwork itself.
January 21, 2013
Although some of the art in this book is what I would class a being created by talented and inspiring people ( Bryan Organ for example).... Most of it could be have been created by a nursery school class of 4 year olds... All this is art.?... Really?
April 14, 2007
Had I bought this book 4 years ago, I wouldn't have had to go to art school. Hur hur.
January 17, 2012
I really liked it. each page is a different artist. I discovered kandinsky whom I had not heard of before. It made some names at MoMA familiar.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews