100 conceptos sobre arte

by Susie Hodge, Marcos Farina (Illustrator), NOT A BOOK (Translator)

¿Se puede resumir el maravilloso mundo del arte en tan solo 100 conceptos?

Materiales, técnicas, estilos, diseños, artistas del pasado y del presente y distintos métodos de expresión artística resumidos en 100 conceptos elegidos cuidadosamente. Susie Hodge nos muestra su gran capacidad de transmitir en pocas palabras todo lo que hay que saber sobre el arte, en un libro fascinante que incluye actividades atractivas, sugerencias y preguntas para reflexionar, inspirar, practicar y crear.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books, Juvenile

112 pages, Hardcover

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Rosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why did I opt for this book? Simple. My head doesn’t work much when it comes to abstract meanings of paintings. Nor can I understand terms like impressionism or neoclassicism. So I thought I might increase my knowledge of artistic nomenclature by at least a little through this book. And it did work to a certain extent.

Basically, this book covers definitions and a few more essential details on 100 art terms. These cover a wide range from something as common as ‘pencil’ to something esoteric such as ‘Fauvism”. Some of the included terms were absolute basic ones such as crayon or cartoon. But the accompanying information tries to provide detailed information within its limited space on even these common terms. (Like, I never knew that acrylic paints were made with plastic!) Some other were fairly popular ones which I had heard but never knew the exact meaning of. And some were completely new! So no complaints about the range of terms at all. There is an interesting timeline at the end of the book, detailing the evolution of various artistic movements.

However, the terms aren’t organised or structured in any order (at least as far as I could make out). They aren’t alphabetical nor grouped by similarity or purpose. I didn’t enjoy this randomised approach, especially as some of it didn’t even fall in a logical order. For instance, why should ‘drawing’ be explained on page 40 when there are some techniques of drawing already mentioned prior to that? ‘Mural’ and ‘fresco’ are so similar to each other but they are kept apart by many pages. So are ‘painting’, ‘watercolour’ and ‘brushwork’. Having a theme-wise grouping of the terms would have worked much better as all the related terms would be close to each other and would have made for a better and quicker cross-reference. This is the main reason why I can’t rate it higher. Structure is crucial in such encyclopaedic kind of books.

The illustrations accompanying each definition help to a great extent in understanding the concept better. At the same time, I wish the formatting of the page would have been such that the illustration and the details were given equal page space. In the current layout, the illustrations take up 3/4th of the page, leaving just the bottom 1/4th for all the details to be crammed in.

This could be an interesting resource for schools or libraries. Not really sure how much an amateur art aficionado would find it useful.


My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.



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[The Silvan Reverie | Sarah Street]

This is a fascinating and rich way to capture the essence and value of art. It's a celebration of artists, media, history, ideas, techniques, and so much more! I love this type of book, as it can introduce children to complex topics or inform them of some fascinating detail but do so in a fun and engaging way. It's definitely not boring. This book is an invitation to discover -- you wouldn't have to read this cover to cover, but could skip around to whatever you wanted.

I personally don't care for the illustration style used in this book, though -- it's modern and uses bold colors, and does a fine job showing the terms. But, it runs a little too abstract for me. This provides a challenge, then, when trying to illustrate art styles like Baroque, for example. I think overall, though, this is a beautiful and intriguing book filled with a wealth of information on all things art. I can see a lot of kids preferring to pick up a book like this as opposed to an traditional art history book.

***Note: I was given a review copy of this book via Quarto Kids. Opinions are my own.

[Mo the Lawyer✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book is probably best suited as enrichment material for upper elementary or early middle school-aged children, I found its content to be very valuable even for an older amateur art lover. The book gives an overview of 100 important art terms in just 111 pages. It is part of an "In A Nutshell" series for young people. Each of the 100 terms is summarized in a bite-sized overview accompanied by a simple illustration. The book also includes a historical timeline for context and a list of resources for further study.

As an art lover, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a few things I didn't know. From gouache to pointillism to tesselation, this book briefly explains terms in plain English that every budding artist, art lover or curious learner should know. This can be a very instrumental teaching tool for art educators for sure. I would also recommend it for every elementary school and even middle school library. Great too for parents who want to introduce the world of art appreciation to their children.

[Am Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title may be a bit too generic because it makes you wonder what exactly about art. Turns out, it covers materials used to make art (e.g. oil pastels, gouache, acrylic), types of art (e.g. watercolour, oil painting, woodcut, sculpture, pottery), styles of art (e.g. impressionism, cubism, surrealism, baroque), & more (e.g. galleries, exhibitions, auctions). It's a good book for someone wanting to know what exactly you would need to know about when talking about art. Each concept is explained simply and concisely (in 1 page), accompanied by an illustration. My only gripe was that real photos should have been used instead, as they would have been able to illustrate the concept more precisely. Many of the pictures were stylistic rather than demonstrative in nature and not really able to show what the actual thing was. Overall, still a good book if you want to know about the different media used in art, prominent artistic styles through the ages, and more.

[Holly L'Heureux · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a lot of really good information! The pictures really helped to bring the subject matter on that page to life. My main issue with the book was the layout of information. They were not in alphabetical order, they were not separated by what aspect of art you wanted to learn about. It was a bit confusing and really turned me away from the book. Overall I think it was interesting and I would like to have it in my library. It just was not exactly cohesive.

[Cília Comella Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un llibre per ampliar el vocabulari artístic. Crec que per infants pot ser una mica pesat perqué és com un diccionari, potser seria més atractiu si hi haguessin més propostes d'activitats per probar tècniques artistiques, descubrir estils... de fet, aquesta part queda una mica coixa al ser una sola ilustradora reaitzant les ilustracions que acompanyen el llibre. Tot i així, no vull desmereixer la feinada en fer el llibre!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an introduction to basic art terms with stylized illustrations accompanying the text and brief explanation of each term. It is very Euro-centric and would benefit from having actual photographs or more realistic illustrations. Skin tones for the people/figures shown are yellow, pink, and brown.

[Mari]

Another book that felt eurocentric to me. So many distinct forms of artistry found around the world came to my mind... sumi-e, arabesque, batik.... etc. but this book doesn't make mention of it. This book has basic info on art mediums, but otherwise the entries also felt somewhat random.

[Leigh's Novel Hour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this! I even learned a few things. It's a fun, concise introduction to art history. I will say that it is rather Western-centric. I'd to see another edition of this that includes more African, Asian, and South American art tradtions.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's book, with hand drawn images, a glossary of art terms, written simply and easy to understand for primary school children. Good to learn about art terms, even for older readers new to the world of art.

[Kevin Demel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a lot of miscellaneous terms used in the art world that she explained. There is so much information here that I don't even know where to start learning more about art. I'll have to choose a subject and do more research to learn more about art.

[Kat Phul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute and concise children's book about art. I loved the illustrations.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a disgrace to the "100 things to know about" series. Based on the rest of the series, I was expecting fun facts about famous artists, works of art and cool trivia like "cochineal is a dye made from ground up bugs" or "Prussian blue was first made by accident". Instead I got an illustrated glossary. ("Pencils are made from graphite, clay and wax.") Which might have been fine for a standalone book - but is completely inconsistent with the rest of this series.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entrant on to the shelf of books that discuss a hundred terms in a hundred words each, this looks at the world of art. It's very good too – telling me things I didn't have a clue about (the first use of oil paints, f'example) and still having a lightness of touch to appeal to the young student it's targetted at. It might be perfect if it were structured better – the first batch of subjects are all mediums – gouache, pencil, mixed media – only to have a technique (shading) stuffed into the middle of them. After those it's to the basic building-block terms (colour, shape, texture, subject), and on we go to more niche techniques, like calligraphy, silhouette or impasto. Bizarrely, an introduction to print-making comes after several entries already discussing it, but here are the major periods in art history to cover that up – like I say, this is very random.

The artworks illustrating each page – bold designs each, leaving just enough space for the hundred words at the bottom – are gloriously different, and cover a whole gamut of styles, allowing an adult to point out the cubism when we see it yet don't talk about it, etc. Generally, the young student is fine on her or his own with this – if only it were in a more handy order, as that does cost it a full star in my mind, leaving it with three and a half.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[MookNana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great enrichment book about art! It covers elements of several different overarching topics--media, elements of composition, techniques, styles, historical eras--in bite-size articles that are easy to understand. Each item is accompanied by a simple illustration. There is also an historical timeline included for context as well as further reading resources at the end.

I learned so much from reading this and would definitely add it to a classroom or school library. It's a manageable, accessible way to introduce several key art concepts to elementary kids.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

*A copy of this book was provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I've always been a big lover of art, but understanding it was difficult. When I was younger, I wanted to learn the timelines and movements, but it was difficult to do so on my own. Only in college was I then introduced to it formally, through Design Theory classes that fell on Thursdays after lunch, too full and sleepy to focus in class, to my dismay. However, this book is a great starting point if you're interested in learning more about art.

Susie Hodge explains art movements, painting materials, styles, and other art related terminology, such as a gallery, an exhibition and spatial design (which I am very interested in and definitely need to look into). She provides the historical context, examples and also a list of resources for extra reading.

From the cover to cover, each page was filled with fun and bright illustrations using a rather limited colour palette, but creating gorgeous, inspiring art. With a great use of texture and beautiful fonts, this is a book lover and an art lover's dream. It made me want to make some art.

Overall, this is a great book that explains concepts in a way that is easy to understand, with or without prior experience in art history. The art is beautiful and very inspiring, and it also works great as a coffee table book.

[Michael Prendergast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aimed at the younger market this gives you a brief snapshot of art and some of it's different media used within the art world. It's more like an A to Z and I wanted to know more than what I got but as a primer it is okay.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good reference book for everything about art.

Beautiful illustrations and easy to understand.

A book for all ages.