Stuart Woolf's Reviews > The Story of Art

I read this book alongside Bob Hughes' The Shock of the New and preferred this one, but only because this one covers (a lot) more. (The Story of Art covers everything from prehistoric cave paintings to early modernism, whereas The Shock of the New focuses entirely on 20th century art and is the only one to mention works produced after WWII.) Still, this book is also something of a catalog more than it is a comprehensive thesis about art, so I have yet to find my ideal art book.

But I'll say this: if I were to teach an introductory art history class, this is the book I would use. Again, there isn't a central thesis, but it does cover virtually everything, leaving nothing famous undiscussed. Having everything listed in chronological order is a nice convenience, and the images (on every other page, it would seem) speak for themselves.