***** 5 stars

Note: I received this book via Netgalley. This is my honest review.

I have always loved and appreciated art and always wanted to be a painter. Last winter I finally decided to stop making excuses and become the artist I wanted to be. So I started teaching myself to paint. I read, watched videos, explored museums and public art . What always find I come back to is the masterpieces, the classics. This book is my holy grail of information.

I don’t want to gush , but I kind of will. I loved everything about this book. It was easy to get through, many art books can be overly pretentious or scholarly and lose the fun of it all. This book focuses on only 100 artists and breaks the book into easy to digest sections.

The sections are :

Nudes
Figures
Landscape
Still Life
Heads
Fantasy
Abstraction
There is a lovely tips and technique part, as well as a section devoted to basic materials and basic techniques for painting.

I appreciated that I was not only given art history , but insight into the process of each piece. We are educated in technique and told to go out and copy from these masters. Learn, grow and expand from their work.

This book would make a fantastic gift for any artist , or a lovely coffee table book . The paintings inside are beautiful.

A very interesting book, perfect for artists or anyone interested in art. Books with an overview of art history certainly aren't anything new, but this book discusses the techniques used in more detail than I've seen before, including tips on how to try them yourself. That was really interesting to me, it gives a fuller understanding of the pieces covered. Definitely recommended!

#PaintingMasterclass #NetGalley

"Painting Masterclass" by Susie Hodge is a thorough, informative, and extensive art book covering many different topics from the basics of color, media, paintbrushes, and other tools used by artists to create masterpieces. This introduction then moves into the many different types of paintings by some of the greatest artists of all time.

Hodge starts with nudes, moves to faces, covers landscapes, fantasy/ancient mythology, and concludes with abstract art works. This book is more like a reference book for the artist to both glean information on the techniques and evolution of art to the styles of different periods.

There is so much information packed into this book that you could spend hours and hours reading and referring back to the works of art referenced through this meaty text.

I received this eBook free of charge from Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

So many artists, so many styles, some information about their artworks and techniques, however it remains very superficial. No exercises or useful technical how-to-dos. It's title should not include the word "masterclass". It won't take you to the next level. Actually no goal to achieve as an artist if you include Rembrandt and Pollock in the same book, you can actually experiment painting for yourself without instruction at all. On the other hand, if you have high level goals you surely don't accomplish it with the aid of this book.

I found this to be somewhat unusual, providing information about painting techniques, and as the title states, by viewing the works of 100 great artists. It goes into some detail about the subject of each work, the colours used, composition etc. I would say it's more about art history than technique though, so while it might not be suitable for the budding artist who wishes to learn step-by-step, it is nevertheless a most interesting general introduction to art for the beginner.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital review copy.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to study the work of other artists in one's own creative pursuit. In my own art and in teaching classes for all ages, the biggest leaps in creative understanding have come from discussing and attempting copying the works of other artists--and not just the old masters. This book is a good resource for artists, teachers, and students alike-- no matter what skill level. Highly recommended.

Any painter of any skill level will find this book fascinating, because it gives unique insights into many famed artists. The techniques used by the painters are described and beautifully illustrated- giving the reader knowledge of how to achieve (however modestly) the same techniques.

For someone as ham-fisted as I, and for someone who was put off art at school by an awful teacher ("how can you see three sides of a gravestone?!" - er, cubism, woman?), this seems like a great volume to teach some art techniques. It doesn't seem like the typical art class, either, for it takes several pages to start to get to mentioning us the reader, and what we might do. And in fact it does focus on what others did, that we might perchance want to copy, expand on or riff off. Therefore we get 100 major artworks, all analysed and discussed in ways helpful to the imitator. So whether the benefit of looking at a classic painting be a discussion of its layout, shading, form, or complete lack of clarity, we see enough of art history to appease the person interested in that, and also gain a few suggestions – backed up I guess by the author's own-produced demonstrations – for how things might look if we were to give them a go. As I imply, nothing will inspire me again to pick up a palette and get stuck in, but even a lay observer could tell you that this is a very assuring way to see the potential in all brush-wielders. For having what I can only judge is an accurate and all-encompassing authority, and what is to me at least a decently novel approach, this gets highest marks.

So how did they do it? You've stared at masterpieces in galleries or on the page - and wondered how on earth you could paint something like that. Maybe you can - and maybe you can't. But it's worth a try to expand your own creative practice.

Hodge simplifies the steps and explores the processes of bringing life to a 2-dimensional format. Worth a look - and worth copying some of the techniques.

When I was in high school, Art History was my favorite elective, so it was with great excitement that I requested this book in netgalley. It easily managed to surpass my expectations. This book is broken down to sections by the subject of painting (nudes, figures, still life, etc.) and for each subject, it presents a wide array of masters using many different styles. Regardless of what your favorite style is, you are likely to find something you love here.

Each page has four sections: the art, a short background of the artist (often with interesting additional tidbits), the story and details of the art including the symbolism, and then a callout section with different techniques the artist used. This isn't really teaching you the technique or breaking it out in enough detail for you to copy. It's mostly calling attention to it and explaining it in a handful of sentences.

If you buy this book thinking it's an art book to learn the masters' techniques, I think you will be disappointed. If you buy it as a book to learn more about each amazing art piece and to dive into each maters use of different techniques, all the while getting a fantastic art history class, you will love this book.

huge thanks to netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a fantastic overview for anyone interested in painting. It covers materials, technique, style, history with extensive and varied examples. For anyone wanting a broad perspective on painting, this book covers a l0t and is laid out in a very approachable format. It will also be a fantastic springboard for deciding where you would like to later explore in depth, whether it's a specific style, moment in art history, or technique, this will be a great starting point.

Subtitled "Creative Techniques of 100 Great Artists" this book of almost 300 pages does precisely what it promises, and explores well-known (and lesser-known) works by artists both classically famous and bubbling under. In each case a painting is depicted and discussed, including the paints used, the techniques employed, and imparting some information about the artist as well. Susie Hodge has an MA in Art History from Birkbeck, University of London, and has has written over 100 books not only on the topic of art.

If I have a complaint - and notwithstanding that it may seem churlish to complain about a book that has commendably assembled five-score masterpieces for our perusal and education - it would be that once again we're faced with something designed for a print version and therefore being inadequately represented in ebook format. Too many of these paintings are unfortunately - some might say scandalously - split across two pages which is never - ever - a good thing. In the ebook version it's worse, because there is a thick gray line down anything that dares to be in landscape orientation. Additionally, the book has a glossary and an index, but again the index is for the print version, and is not 'clickable' to navigate in the ebook.

If I have praises, I have too many to list here in a review that's already yeay long, but the inclusion of so many female painters is definitely praiseworthy. The history of arts isn't that of white men, but for all that's written about it, you can be excused for being bamboozled into thinking it is. You can go back as far as you like - even to cave paintings (which get some coverage in the introduction), and it seems that the thrust (the male thrust, of course) is to exclude women as creators - like the caves were solely painted by men when we have no idea who the artists actually were. This book commendably does a lot to redress that sorry imbalance (and no, Joan Miró isn't female) and is the better for it.

After some fifty pages of material that is both introductory and educational, including a history of art (not quite the same as art history!), the book is divided into seven main sections, each with a dozen or so artists representative of that category:

Nudes
I'm not sure why nudes get to be first. Sounds like naked aggression to me, but here we go (and I promise not to make fun of artist names or painting titles):
Titian - Venus of Urbino
Jacopo Tintoretto - The Origin of the Milky Way
François Boucher - The Triumph of Venus
Francisco Goya - Nude Maja
Gustave Gourbet - Sleeping Nude
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - The Turkish Bath
Gustave Caillebotte - Man at his Bath
Georges Seurat - Models
Edvard Munch - Madonna
Paul Gaugin - Nevermore
Paula Modersohn-Becker - Self Portrait on Her Sixth Wedding Anniversary
Gustave Klimt - Danaë
Amedeo Modigliani - Red Nude
Suzanne Valadon - Reclining Nude
Jenny Saville - Branded
Cecily Brown - Two Figures on a Landscape
Figures
Figures excludes portraits, which appear in 'heads'!
Michelangelo Buonarotti - The Delphic Sybil
Sofonisba Anguissola - The Chess Game
Paolo Veronese - The Wedding Feast at Cana
Pieter Breugel the Elder - Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery
El Greco - Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple
Caravaggio - Deposition from the Cross
Artemisia Gentileschi - Judith Beheading Holfernes
Frans Hals - The Laughing Cavlier
Diego Velázquez - Las Meninas
Rembrandt Van Rijn - The Jewish Bride
Jacques-Louis David - The Oath of the Horatii
Édouard Manet - Luncheon on the Grass
Honoré Daumier - Third Class Carriage
Edgar Degas - The Ballet Class
Berthe Morisot - The Cradle
Eva Gonzalès - Nanny and Child
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - At the Moulin Rouge, the Dance
Egon Schiele - Seated Woman with Bent Knee
Balthus - The Card Game
Richard Diebenkorn - Coffee
Peter Doig - Two Trees
That cavalier really isn't laughing, so I feel that portrait name has been treated rather...cavlierly. Also the Jewish bride wasn't so named by Rembrandt. Luncheon on the Grass was rather controversially imitated for an album cover by the new wave band Bow Wow Wow in the early eighties.
Landscape
These are the gray divider line pictures
Claude Lorrain - An Artist Studying from Nature
John Constable - The Hay Wain
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - The Bridge at Narni, Near Rome
Caspar David Friedrich - Mountain Peak with Drifting Clouds
JMW Turner - The Red Rigi
Jean-François Millet - Haystacks: Autumn
Oskar Kokoschka - Tre Croci Dolomite Landscape
Paul Klee - Hammamet with its Mosque
Claude Monet - Water Lilies
Edward Hopper - Haskell's House
Emil Nolde - Distant Marshland with Farmhouses
Frank Auerbach - Primrose Hill Study Autumn Evening
Julie Mehretu - Retopistics a Renegade Excavation
Hurvin Anderson - Untitled (Red Flags)
Constable's painting is known as The Hay Wain but it wasn't originally named that by him. His less memorable name for it was 'Landscape: Noon'! It was subject to minor vandalism in 2013 in the museum where it's kept, but no lasting damage was done. there is a beautifully-rendered rose on the Klee page which to me far outshines the main painting. Nolde's watercolor is equuisite and Anderson's untitled beach scene is equally entrancing.
Still Life
Isn't all painting still life, ultimately? LOL! Just kidding.
Floris van Dyck - Still Life with Fruit, Nuts, and Cheese
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin - Still Life with Peaches, a Silver Goblet, Grapes, and Walnuts
Henri Fantin-Latour - Flowers and Fruit
Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Onions
Paul Cézanne - Still life with Cherries and Peaches
Georges Braque - Violin and Palette
Juan Gris - Grapes
Fernand Léger - Still Life with a Beer Mug
Georgio Morandi - Still Life
Georgia O'Keeffe - Jimson Weed White Flower No 1
Gris's painting was curiously not done as a Grisaille. Go figure! Not sure how still a life with an empty beer mug would be, especially if it was the artist who drained it, but moving along.... Georgia O'Keeffe's painting is wonderful.
Heads
Portraits.
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa
Raphael - Madonna in the Meadow
Hans Holbein the Younger - Jane Seymour
Johannes Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl Earring
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard - Self-Portrait with Two Pupils
Mary Cassatt - Portrait of the Artist
Piere Bonnard - Self-Portrait
Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
Eugène Carrière - Self-Portrait
André Derain - Portrait of Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse - Portrait of Derain
Amrita Sher-Gill - Hungarian Gypsy Girl
Pablo Picasso - Weeping Woman
Alberto Giacometti - Anette
Marlene Dumas - Amy Winehouse (Amy Blue)
Mona Lisa is never described as The Laughing Lisa. I rest my case.... I have to say I am not convinced there was any pearl earring here. It seems to me, given the circumstances, that it was more likely that it was some sort of shiny metal - perhaps silver if it was the daughter of Vermeer's sponsor. No one knows what Vermeer titled it, but it became known as the girl with a turban until relatively recently when it became rather poetically known as "Girl with a Pearl." If you look at Vermeers featuring girls actually wearing pearls they look quite different from this one, but you pays your money and you takes your art. These were all created before the term 'selfie' came into use, so the much more formal 'self-portrait was a common title. I love the reciprocity of the Derain and Matisse works! Weeping woman was probably captured after Picasso jilted her for another woman, and 'Anette' looks like something out of a horror movie, so disturbing is it.
Fantasy
This was an unexpected, but welcome inclusion.
Sandro Botticelli - The Birth of Venus
Peter Paul Rubens - Minerva Protects Pax from Mars
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - The Finding of Moses
Eugène Delacroix - The Death of Sardanapalus
Rosa Bonheur - Highland Raid
Ilya Repin - Sadko and the Underwater Kingdom
Edward Burne-Jones - The Doom Fulfilled
Marc Chagall - I and the Village
Francis Picabia - Dances at the Spring
Leonora Carrington - Self-Portrait
Frida Kahlo - The Two Fridas
Howard Hodgkin - Robyn Denny and Katherine Reid
Philip Guston - The Street
Paula Rego - The Dance
Repin's painting is remarkable, but I think that the Best Title Award has to go to Burne-Jones's painting. It's really hard to tell if Picabia's spring is a season, a water source, or even...a bedspring.
Abstraction
I wish I could be more specific about this section but....
Wassily Kandinsky - Composition 7
Hannah Höch - Mechanical Garden
Joan Miró - The Poetess
Jackson Pollack - Autumn Rhythm (No 30)
Nicolas de Staël - Agrigente
Hans Hofmann - The Golden Wall
Helen Frankenthaler - The Bay
Gerhard Richter - Abstraktes Bild
Cy Twombly - Untitled (Bacchus)
Gillian Ayres - Suns of Seven Circles Shine
Long list! But worth it. The paintings - some you may love, others you may hate - say a lot and are well-worth seeing, as is reading the breakdown of how they were composed, and what sort of paints and materials were used in their creation. This book is as remarkable as the paintings and I commend it as a worthy read for any artist or anyone interested in art.

Painting Masterclass is a great art history and an instructional on how to book for artists. In addition too beautiful paintings it covers color theory and perspective while discussing the artists that first used these techniques in the past.

The book is organized by painting type, nudes, landscape, still life, figure, and abstractions. There are helpful insights to be gained in all styles of painting.

I found this book both educational and inspiring. An art enthusiast could spend hours engrossed in reading.

Filled with beautiful famous paintings, this would make a great coffee table book.

I received this galley from NetGalley.

Ein bisschen geschichtlicher Hintergrund, ein paar Grundlagen, etwas was-und-wie und dann gibt es lauter hilfreiche Tipps zum malenkönnen wie die großen Meister. Klar und verständlich, sehr liebevoll gestaltet.

"Painting Masterclass" looked at 100 paintings by 100 different artists, spanning the last 500 years. The paintings used different styles (from realism to abstraction) and different materials (watercolor, gouache, tempera, fresco, oils, acrylic, etc.). The author pointed out things an artist might learn and use from each of these different paintings, but this was more art history and appreciation than art instruction. You can pick up some new ideas (especially if you're a beginning artist), but we're only given a sentence or two of description on how a technique can be accomplished.

The author started with a short history of painting, including the major trends and the development of new materials and tools. She then looked at each of the selected paintings, loosely grouped together as 16 paintings of nudes, 21 of human figures, 14 landscapes, 10 still life, 15 portraits, 14 mythology and symbolism, and 10 abstraction. For each painting, we're given a brief biography of the artist and a description of the painting (these figures are these people doing this) and how it was received at the time it was made. Each painting had 1-3 side boxes with some brief tips about the techniques used in the painting under headings like: line, shape, pattern, texture, tone, composition, proportion, space, form, colors, materials, light, subject, or source. The paintings usually crossed the center of the page in a two-page spread. It was difficult to get the full impact of the painting's composition and such when read on a tablet, so this is probably best read as a physical book.

This book is amazing for anyone interested in various artists and their techniques. Each artist is analyzed and a history is given. The author then shares some of each artists work and discusses some of the techniques they use. Overall this book provides value lessons as well as inspiration.

This is a lovely informative book that I couldn’t put down. I was very interested to read about many of the historical works of art. For instance a portrait of Jane Seymour after her marriage to Henry VIII including details about her and the artist Hans Holbein. The artworks throughout are pictured beautifully and there is a section on composition and basic materials that I found of interest as I’m new to painting.

I love the scope, gorgeous artwork and descriptions of techniques featured in PAINTING MASTERCLASS. The colorful 288-page book is a lovely intro to the greatest artists, especially useful for neophytes, but would appeal to anyone who loves visual art. Organized by genre, with two pages per painting, it works not as a comprehensive guide but rather a beautiful instructive overview. Highly recommended!

Pub Date 28 May 2019.

Thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#PaintingMasterclass #NetGalley

This is a really interesting book studying some of the worlds most famous pieces of art. It looks at the techniques of the artists and what they are trying to convey. It is a must have for anyone interested in art and painting masterpieces. It would be great for schools too as a study book. I really enjoyed it, as there were so many paintings to look at. There was also advice for having a go at the techniques themselves. I liked the way the paintings were categorised in the book as you could look at a particular area such as nudes and then compare the famous artists and masterpieces who had worked in that area. This would also make a great coffee table book for mulling over and dipping in and out of at leisure. Very good book.

This is a large book, with lots of information about painting techniques taken from over 100 artists and their painting. The Book is broken up into sections of Nudes, Figures, Landscapes, Still Life, Fantasy and Abstractions.
Masterclass it is, with lots of information on technique and tips taken from each painting. The information is interesting and gives an insight on the painting styles of these great painters.
A must for anyone really interested in painting style