This is a book about the history of western art, which introduces the development of western art (art, sculpture, architecture) in chronological order. The first edition 1950, revised every few years thereafter, is one of the required books recommended by various art history books.

Author Gombrich, full name E.H. Gombrich (1909-2001), was born in Vienna, Austria. He received a doctorate from the University of Vienna, and then moved to Britain and became a British citizen. He is a master in the fields of art history, art psychology and art philosophy. Gombrich's works are rich in his life, and the works that have been translated into Chinese include: Art and Humanities, Ideals and Idols, Symbolic Images-A Collection of Gombrich's Imagery Works, Images and Eyes-A Re-study of the Psychology of Picture Reproduction, Art and Science-Gombrich's Conversations and Memoirs, Renaissance-The Great Age of Western Art, and Meditation on Troy.

The Chinese version of this book 1999 was published by Beijing Sanlian Bookstore and translated by Mr. Wang (20 1 1 has a new Chinese version, translated by Yang). The volume of the book is not small, except the introduction, there are as many as 28 chapters, followed by art books and four tables, nearly 700 pages. But considering the introduction of the history of art development, there are people, things, pictures and appreciation. I'm afraid this length is the result of pressure from the author.

History is inseparable from people and things, and art history is inseparable from artists and works. This book is related to history. The author used "Story" as the title, which may be considered. Or because the word history is too heavy, the author deliberately gives people a sense of relaxation and hopes to be interesting (this is my wild guess, not worrying). According to the author, he follows three principles in writing books: first, works that cannot be illustrated are not discussed; Second, discuss real works of art; Third, screen the most famous works.

In short, this book is a good starting point if you want to know what art is all about.

Second, about the introduction.

This part mainly helps beginners to establish some basic artistic concepts.

(1) The beauty of a work of art is not determined by the theme. The author says that the beauty of a painting does not depend on its subject matter, but sometimes it is related to the method of expression. People tend to like to express simple and easy-to-understand paintings. It is suggested that for those paintings that are difficult to understand, we should first learn to understand painting techniques, and then we can understand the artist's feelings. After getting to know these painting languages, we may prefer works with unclear expressions. This means that painting, architecture, sculpture and so on can also be viewed in this way.

(2) Does the painting look like a "pit" that beginners can easily enter? Beginners like paintings that look realistic best. We often hear a person comment that a painting is "really similar". What they dislike most are those works that they think are not correctly painted, especially modern art. Gombrich said that if we think a painting is not correct, we should ask ourselves two questions: first, has the artist changed the shape of things for no reason; Second, you can't accuse yourself of painting wrong unless you have proved that you are right and the painter is wrong.

(3) When appreciating great works of art, be willing to abandon bad habits and prejudices. If we throw away traditional shapes or colors, the author says that if we can throw away these traditional sayings, we can find that everything in the world can have unexpected colors. The book says, "Facts have always proved that mediocre people try to follow the rules but get nothing, while master artists can achieve unprecedented new harmony through deviant ways."

(4) Art is not mysterious. The author intends to help beginners uncover the veil of creating artistic works, and puts forward that "the so-called artistic works are not the products of mysterious actions, but what some people do for others." Every feature of a work of art is due to a certain decision of the artist, who may think hard and modify the picture again and again.

(7) Artists pursue "appropriateness". We must understand the meaning of the word "appropriate" before we can begin to understand the artist's actual pursuit. The author takes flower arrangement as an example. Generally, where to insert what flowers, higher or lower, lighter or thicker, until you feel "suitable". Artists are more than just arranging flowers. Because there is no uniform rule when it is appropriate to create a painting or a statue, it is difficult to accurately explain why we think it is a great work of art in words.

(8) Appreciating those works must have a childlike innocence, sensitively capture every hint, feel every inner harmony, and especially eliminate the interference of long and flashy rhetoric and rhetoric. The author warns that "a little knowledge leads to pretentiousness, which is far less than ignorance of art."

(9) Understand the history of art (architectural history, painting history, sculpture history). This can help us understand why artists use a special creative way or pursue a certain artistic effect. This can enhance our sensitivity to the unique nature of works of art and improve our ability to feel subtle differences. Gombrich said that understanding art history is the only way to learn how to appreciate the unique value of art works.