Description
Book SynopsisThe story of art is not always the story of art-historical 'isms' and complex academic debate. The real history is often the story of some very simple firsts - the first time an artist painted themselves, the first time someone painted a smile, the first actual place to be depicted, the first feminist artwork, the first anti-war work.
Art evolves and revolutionises itself through these simple - but ground-breaking - creative leaps.
Art Firsts brings together 30 of these pioneering firsts to piece together an original approach to looking at and appreciating art, as well as understanding where it has come from and how it relates to you. Each first is approachable and engaging, while each work is simply and satisfyingly explained. Every work is also fully illustrated, and its significance is shown through images of the subsequent artists directly inspired by them.
Art Firsts offers a refreshing and fascinating narrative for those curious about why so-call
Trade ReviewThis is the first book by Nick Trend and it is a cracker... all in all, a highly recommended book * Daily Express *
in his intriguing, revealing and sometimes provocative book, Nick Trend looks at 30 pictures that established new genres. . . It is a neat conceit that will have readers mentally fact-checking his 30 highlighted works as well as rising to the implicit challenge and finding first works for categories of their own * New Statesman *
Recommended reading . . . Trend moves fluidly from famous moment (Picasso's distortion) to the lesser known (the first female self-portrait, by Catherine van Hermessen) * Royal Academy Magazine *
