Painting Today Hardcover – November 16, 2009

-First of all in my opinion, I think I did a good investment. The quality of the book is excellent, as is usual with books produced by Phaidon. It has lots of pictures and each one has an explanation of the work or the artist who created it. The selection of artists and works pleasantly surprised me. The way in which the author classified the issues can perhaps be seen as it was not the best, but to some extent helps to more easily find the type of image you might want to review at any time without having to go page by page. I see it more as an encyclopedia makes an overall reading of gender to the author that have been treated pictorially since 1970 until today. Occasionally tells certain stories or anecdotes that we do not always come to know (and can even be fun). It has no pretensions of being a book that focuses too much on theories of aesthetics. Does not follow a specific order (even in regard to follow a chronological order), but even this "apparent" disorder makes it hard to read. Personally I do believe that is the kind of books that deserve to be part of the collection. It's worth having it.-En primer lugar en mi opinión, creo que hice una buena inversión. La calidad del libro es excelente, como es lo usual con los libros que produce Phaidon. Tiene gran cantidad imágenes y cada una tiene una explicación acerca de la obra o del artista que la creó. La selección de los artistas y de las obras me sorprendió gratamente. La forma en la que el autor clasificó los temas puede talvez percibirse como que no fue la más adecuada, pero hasta cierto punto ayuda a encontrar más fácilmente el tipo de imagen que podrías querer revisar en cualquier otro momento sin tener que ir página por página. Lo veo más como una enciclopedia que hace una lectura global de los géneros que a criterio del autor se han tratado pictóricamente desde 1970 hasta la actualidad. Ocasionalmente narra ciertas historias o anécdotas que no siempre nosotros llegamos a conocerlas (y que pueden ser inclusive entretenidas) . No tiene las pretensiones de ser un libro que se concentre demasiado en teorías sobre estética. No sigue un orden específico (ni siquiera en lo que respecta a seguir un orden cronológico), pero ni siquiera este "aparente" desorden lo vuelve complicado de leer. Personalmente yo sí creo que es ese tipo de libros que merecen ser parte de la colección. Vale la pena el tenerlo.

As a painter I'm happy to read that painting is alive and well. The commentary on the various categories of work is insightful and helps frame current painting practice and display. I had mixed feelings however. On the one hand, I'm pleased to read an account of painting's endurance. It makes me feel confident that my own studio practice could (one day?) be part of a contemporary dialog. On the other, I wonder if I'm gaining confidence in the medium through a somewhat corrupted source. Considering the author is affiliated with Sotheby's doesn't he have a vested interest in arguing for a medium that is easily commodified. Am I overthinking it?

I've just started poring over the immense tome Painting Today - wow! The scope of work covered is breathtaking.I have barely skimmed the text, but have already been inspired by the comprehensive selection of paintings reproduced, their organization into categories such as "Painting Space" and "Installation", and the breadth of techniques, content and scale. Even without words, this would be an excellent review of the state of contemporary painting. There is something for anyone who paints, is thinking about painting, or looking at contemporary art. Painting is definitely not dead!I plan to construct a syllabus for a painting course partly based on ideas gleaned from the images and essays in this book. There is something here to inspire every young artist.Highly recommended!

The book arrived ontime - I bought it used and it was offered as in "good condition"- It was. The book was really excellent - good quality paper and a lot of coloured illustrations by many artists. Will keep this for my collection.

Very interesting compendium of contemporary art. There are a number of options for this kind of book out there, and while this is my first of this kind, I am quite impressed. Plates are high quality. It will take me some time to work through the book.

Very good book for those who want to get in real touch with the contemporary painting.

I am a teacher and may I say this book was so useful for me to use with my students. It is clearly set out, contemporary and the images in the book are of excellent quality.

I like the reproductions.

I bought this heavy tome as it was recommended for a foundation painting course, and with Covid-19 around the local library was not the place to be.It cost quite a lot of money.Pros - beautiful colour reproduction of a range of modern works.(1970 to 2008)A commentary on a range of modern artists underpins the photographs.Quotes from artists about why they did their workCons - commentary is a little too opinionated at times and assumes the reader is part of the 'art world.Quotes from artists about why they did their work .I became frustrated with the commentary which I found rather pompous and irritating at times but I did learn much. Hard work to read unless you are already one of the in-crowd but packed with information and a lot of opinion. Could have made the same points without the air of superiority which oozes through the tome.

A huge doorstep of a book, this is a major survey of painting on a global scale; published in 2009, it`s a useful reference, but is already dated.A large-scale hardback with what feels like a rugged rough silk cover, the book is certainly an absorbing volume to leaf through and it's contents are as interesting for it's ommisions just as much as the inclusions.There are over 480 illustrations, mostly in colour and the work is presented over some 15 loose categories with a 16th section considering “Painting Tomorrow” (never wise to speculate, in my opinion).An artist`s directory is included at the back of the book.A pleasing, if at times amusingly selective tome; worth having on your bookshelf if you are even remotely interested in contemporary painting, but certainly not definitive.

Brilliant book

My dad was very happy

This is a large format thematic overview of international painting, mainly from 1989 to 2008ish. There are chapters on 'The Global Scene', 'Western Traditions', 'Neo-expressionism', 'Photographic', 'Pure Abstraction', 'Ambiguous Abstraction', 'The Figure', 'Painting Space', 'Landscape', 'Death and Life', 'History Painting', 'Still Life', 'Installation Painting', 'Dresden and Leipzig', 'Post-feminism' and 'Painting Tomorrow'.I read it from cover to cover and found Godfrey's back and forth discussion of some of the same artists under different themes useful as an illustration of developments over the period. I am not an art student, so I can't say how useful an art student would find this book, but it is beautifully illustrated (483 plates in colour) and gives space (448 pages) for the art to speak for itself. So you can just skim or flick or browse... Godfrey is refreshingly candid in his views on some celebrated artists but never dismissive, e.g. 'Julian Schnabel's greatest virtue as a painter was, arguably, his willingness to be embarrassing'(p.278). The arguments of the chapters are wider ranging than their titles might suggest- the art market is discussed in the chapter on post-feminism, for example. The chapter on'Death and Life' is not particularly gloomy.The book ends on a positive note. Godfrey, who has written in the past on Conceptual Art, demonstrates the vitality of the continuing and evolving tradition of painting without getting on his soap box.Finally, titles of discussed works are in the index, so you don't have to keep trawling backwards and forwards to find things.Good Stuff!My only negative thought, it's a fairly sturdy hardback and because of the size and weight not easily portable.