Thank you to Netgalley, the author and MIT press for an e-copy. This was released in November 2020. I am providing my honest review.

I found this book to be absolutely extraordinary and superb. Mr. Godfrey has provided the intelligent general reader an introduction and guide to worldwide contemporary art since 1980. This book was like touring the world galleries, art fairs, sculpture gardens, bienniales and urban centres with a favorite erudite uncle. This lovely uncle wears smoking jackets, smells of pipes and sandalwood and with his soft manicured hands takes you by the arm and patiently, kindly even lovingly takes you around to see all the many facets of the art world. He certainly has opinions that he shares but more importantly he provides you with context, primers on philosophy and aesthetics and provides you with questions so that you can decide for yourself what is your experience and thinking about all the strands of art that he presents.

I felt nostalgic reading about some of these artists and exhibits as I have experienced some of them if they had a residence in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, New Mexico or Arizona. I was often flooded with remembered emotion of the experience while witnessing the work and being moved, repulsed, angered or in a state of sublime bliss.

This book was such a balm for me as contemporary art is not only about beauty and wealth but for cultural exchange, healing and social justice awareness. In the most indirect way this triggered a yearning for me to keep creating my own creative pursuits whether it be through music, writing or craft and to finally set up my easel and do some intuitive painting.

This book was a pleasure to read, a joy to behold and hope that art can continue to pave the way to linking us to each other, to beauty and societal change.

Thank you Mr. Godfrey !

This gorgeous book is modeled on Ernst Gombrich's The Story of Art, and looks at the past forty-plus years of modern art. The author succeeds in his goal of not talking down to readers nor getting lost in the weeds of explication. He covers all of the major artists during this period, talking about their lives as well as explaining why/how their work is considered by many to be art. This is not a coffee table book, made for flipping through photographs, although the photos that are included are beautifully reproduced. In my view, this is a wonderfully balanced book that will elevate the reader's enjoyment and understanding of art that includes not just painting but performance art, graphic productions, etc.

What an extraordinary book about contemporary art! I enjoyed the variety of artists and I appreciate the noticeable effort to be inclusive and this simply opens so many doors to art from all around the world, on so many other artists that were not operating in open air because the world shuts its eyes.

I appreciated this being a continuation of Gombrich's own Story of Art, and as great as that is, this one is better and more challenging in many ways. It answers new questions that most people at least thought about when it comes to contemporary art, it managed to explain the ideas, the concepts, it presented artists that for the most part refuse to do art for art's sake. When it comes to contemporary art there is so much more about it. so much complexity that I think it's the precise reason many people don't understand it. Contemporary art is all about questions, whther of ideas, concepts, materials or identity.

I cannot recommend this book more!

Fascinating!
"Art can be defined as that which is different, that which is speacial, as something that is meaningful."
This was an out of the box book on Contemporary Art. I studied Art History in college and I am always looking for books that offers a clue as to the who, what, where and why of Art without the intellectual blah, blah, blah.
Although there were meanderings from Artists throughout the book, the substance was straight forward and relatable.
I thought it provided an overview of where we once were and now, where we are going, in a progressive, more unilateral approach that does not get caught up in logistics.
In the end, who really knows?
jb
https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/

A very enjoyable book! The text is written in a relatable, engaging way, and doesn't talk down to the reader or talk over the reader's head. The author doesn't overwhelm the text with hundreds of artists, but manages to discuss quite a lot of artists nonetheless. It was interesting learning about all the changes art has gone through in a relatively short amount of time, and while I didn't like every work included in the book, I found some cool new artists to appreciate! New to me, anyway! Perfect for any art student, art aficionado, or anyone who wants to learn more about contemporary art.

#TheStoryofContemporaryArt #NetGalley

Explosion, devolution, decoherence, the story of contemporary art seems to be one of new techniques, new voices, and new ways of doing old techniques (the author spends a lot of time on the revival of paining). A book that spans painting, sculpture, installation art, conceptual art, textiles, pottery, and numerous hybrid forms is going to necessarily be slightly cursory, but it was impressive how many artists from many different countries and traditions were covered. One thing I didn't expect, and was quite interesting, was the continuous tension between art and the art market, how certain types of art and certain artistic forums (such as bienniales) seemed to be strongly influenced by what would sell. A good, compact introduction that whetted my appetite for more.

This is a very good introduction to contemporary art. It is very accessible to the average every day reader. It applies to those that are not students of art history. The images and plates are excellent and add valuable insight to the artists and there work. It is not intended to be a deep historical study of art with discussions of every artist, it does however have good selections to make a good discussion of the various periods of contemporary art.

The textual content is crisp, easily read, and very informative. The visuals are stunning. I would have preferred a little more of the latter, but for what it's worth it's not a bad book overall. Not necessarily essential but a definitely something to pick up if you have a chance.

While the world struggles with democracy’s waxing and waning, art has democratized like nothing else. Artists can be found everywhere. Exhibitions now feature women artists almost as much as men, where there had been few to none at all just within our lifetimes. Into this flood of art has stepped Tony Godfrey. His new book, The Story of Contemporary Art has set itself the rather monumental task of explaining the state of art today, and how it got here. For those of us who can’t keep possibly up, it is a valuable tool.

Godfrey is a fan. He has managed to keep up over the past 40 years. He visits the exhibitions and biennales all over the world. He patiently absorbs what he sees, trying to find a way to appreciate it. He has done the research into the lives of the artists. It is not all New York and London. It is Kenya and Germany and Indonesia, Mexico, Canada and China. As a horizon-broadener, the book succeeds wonderfully.

The problem is the art itself. As Godfrey goes through the decades, readers will discover that painting died. It was “outmoded, exhausted, obsolete and reactionary.” Artists rejected it and resented it as limited and limiting. It has of course come back from the rubbish bin, but it has been superseded by a welter of alternatives like conceptual art, performance art, altered photographs, films, videos and what are known as installations. These pop-up, usually intensely elaborate structures, take up entire halls and are promptly dismantled after the exhibition.

The films do not circulate widely, performance art is ephemeral, and sculpture has become indecipherable. The art world is tilting towards anarchy. There are “so many different types of art, it is difficult to be responsive to all of them.” Godfrey rationalizes it by saying “However precious the object, picture or installation, it is the experience we might have when viewing and thinking about it that truly matters.” So art no longer speaks for itself.

None of it seems to be led by any kind of star. There don’t appear to be any artist giants. Godfrey admits “No one working today has the range of Picasso.” On the other hand, artists are doing better than they ever have. Their pieces sell for millions. The pools of money floating around the world have spilled into the pockets of artists, some of whom have become famous primarily because some piece of theirs sold at an auction for numerous times the estimated price. It doesn’t have to make sense; it’s the art market.
Like Godfrey, I have found that artists’ films tend to be way too long – numerous hours – and nothing whatsoever happens in them. This seems to be popular among artists. Less so among viewers. Installations are disposable. Sculptures leave no impression. Performance art is here and gone in an instant. It all seems so forgettable.

The difference I have noticed, that I hoped Godfrey would dispel, is that contemporary art always seems to need a crutch. It has to be explained to be appreciated. Merely seeing it is insufficient. One has to know about the artist, what environment s/he came from, what politics they profess, and what goals they have for their art. This is a layer of complexity that prior art does not suffer from. To me, art has value when you want to keep looking at it – for years. Art that you want to have in front of you all the time, and appreciate it for just what it is: strong theme, attractive/shocking subject, excellent execution, and most of all, an emotional connection. There seems to be enormously little of this in contemporary art.

Towards the end, Godfrey admits he has a tendency to agree. He even finds the contemporary artists he really likes are inconsistent. As they age, their work varies from fascinating to clinical to dull. Worse, it can become repetitive – just more of the same. “Compared to the previous periods, there is little consensus today on what is good and what is not... Judgments are further skewed because few art critics today are keen on painting.” To that, I have my own complaint to add: innovation without inspiration. The overarching need to appear different for the sake of being different.

The book introduces readers to a long list of names that will likely be unfamiliar. He does not dawdle on the household names very long, mostly showing how much money they are making. For the rest, there are necessary examples to show what Godfrey talks about. It is well-structured and most helpful. Sadly, it did not change my mind.

David Wineberg

The author states that he intends to write a readable and accessible survey of contemporary art. I think he succeeds in doing this. Certainly a reader, and not a coffee table book, so be sure to set your expectations properly. Would have loved to see more images.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Earnest, Informative, Wide Ranging, Unconvincing

This is a congenial, well informed, and very accessible introduction to contemporary art. It sketches out the outlines of the field, and introduces the reader to many of the best known or most appreciated artists. There are any number of engaging insights and perceptive observations about where it all started and where it's all headed. Plates and examples are reasonably abundant and well chosen to illustrate points being made.

My only problem with the book is that for most of the artists, what they have created is of little interest, and the point seems to be for the artist to talk, unrelentingly and obliviously, about their art, their vision, and the meaning and point of their creations. Would you rather read a good book or sit through a bunch of authors at a writing conference pontificating about the act of writing? Same here. Apart from the very engaging narrative voice of the author, most of the book consists of artists blathering. It is high end, intellectual, well practiced, exquisitely artsy blather, but blather nonetheless.

So, if you want to learn about contemporary art, this is a good place to start. If you have a high tolerance for art-talk this will work even better. If you are especially sensitive to pretension, well, you probably won't find reason to fault the author, but there will be plenty of quoted artists who will exhaust your patience pretty quickly. I don't know if that's a recommendation or a warning, but there it is.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

If you have never understood Modern Art then you need to read this book. Well illustrated but not wordy in a high brow way. It is vey accessible A very good standard text for anyone studying or interested in art and what influences artists. You can dip into this book anywhere but it isn’t a coffee table book but must for every library.

Well, this was very much the book I expected, and yet not. In conveying a narrative history of modern art, and latching on to the story through the approach of the morals of art, the growth in female participants and those from the third world, the great wealth of the people who pretend to like it and buy it, and so on, we cover the ground lightly at first post-War, but then get into more heavy detail. It's still always readable, mind – however pompous the interview quotes get our author himself never approaches Pseuds' Corner, let along descends into it head-first like some. The book is a fine one – only a few times dumping the middle of the image down the centre of the spread between the pages, and generally respecting the reproductions presented here, and hardly ever bringing the author and his opinions into his narrative. But as I say, it wasn't quite what I expected, partly because it featured so much that was new to me. I read it and found nothing about the YBAs, and beyond Hirst being mentioned a bit they are all absent. There is no Turner Prize, no elephant dung, no concrete casts of unseen spaces (well, actually there is, but not from whom I'd thought to find it).

Our author knows his stuff, then, in packing these pages with people of whom many outside this rarefied world will never have heard. Gormley is by far the most populist this gets. It's lucky then that it is so pictorial, for mentioning so many creators the average interested reader will be new to would be little use else. There are a few instances of it being a little too insular (Joseph Beuys is held up as a sine qua non too often, and we're not fully shown why), but not enough to cause a problem. The irrefutable problem is that ninety nine per cent of the stuff the artists concerned have been represented by here is absolute cack. It's a stunt, or a film, and if it's not a pipe it's because it's a satanic bed of flame on a 'happening' floor that could well have killed someone. This book is brilliant at presenting all this to the general reader, and is a lot more salutary than witnessing much of it in the flesh. Four and a half stars.

This is an excellent book for the Art lover or a student studying contemporary art. It is brimming with details on all the individual movements and timelines in contemporary art over the years. The best story though is in the wonderful illustrations of the most impactful and famous contemporary pieces. It is a book to be perused and mulled over and to be dipped into time and time again. Would also make a great reference book for a working artist or a beautiful gift book for the contemporary art lover.