Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A very good reference book for everything about art.

Beautiful illustrations and easy to understand.

A book for all ages.

This had a lot of really good information! The pictures really helped to bring the subject matter on that page to life. My main issue with the book was the layout of information. They were not in alphabetical order, they were not separated by what aspect of art you wanted to learn about. It was a bit confusing and really turned me away from the book. Overall I think it was interesting and I would like to have it in my library. It just was not exactly cohesive.

I loved the small-bite format of this series. A little introduction to 100 different topics that could be a new door to a new topic for any reader.

Why did I opt for this book? Simple. My head doesn’t work much when it comes to abstract meanings of paintings. Nor can I understand terms like impressionism or neoclassicism. So I thought I might increase my knowledge of artistic nomenclature by at least a little through this book. And it did work to a certain extent.
Basically, this book covers definitions and a few more essential details on 100 art terms. These cover a wide range from something as common as ‘pencil’ to something esoteric such as ‘Fauvism”. Some of the included terms were absolute basic ones such as crayon or cartoon. But the accompanying information tries to provide detailed information within its limited space on even these common terms. (Like, I never knew that acrylic paints were made with plastic!) Some other were fairly popular ones which I had heard but never knew the exact meaning of. And some were completely new! So no complaints about the range of terms at all. There is an interesting timeline at the end of the book, detailing the evolution of various artistic movements.
However, the terms aren’t organised or structured in any order (at least as far as I could make out). They aren’t alphabetical nor grouped by similarity or purpose. I didn’t enjoy this randomised approach, especially as some of it didn’t even fall in a logical order. For instance, why should ‘drawing’ be explained on page 40 when there are some techniques of drawing already mentioned prior to that? ‘Mural’ and ‘fresco’ are so similar to each other but they are kept apart by many pages. So are ‘painting’, ‘watercolour’ and ‘brushwork’. Having a theme-wise grouping of the terms would have worked much better as all the related terms would be close to each other and would have made for a better and quicker cross-reference. This is the main reason why I can’t rate it higher. Structure is crucial in such encyclopaedic kind of books.
The illustrations accompanying each definition help to a great extent in understanding the concept better. At the same time, I wish the formatting of the page would have been such that the illustration and the details were given equal page space. In the current layout, the illustrations take up 3/4th of the page, leaving just the bottom 1/4th for all the details to be crammed in.
This could be an interesting resource for schools or libraries. Not really sure how much an amateur art aficionado would find it useful.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book has so much! The illustrations are beautiful. Would definitely recommend to all children's libraries. It's like an encyclopedia for practically every art term you can think of. Helpful for budding artists and students doing research.

100 Things to Know about Art is a brilliant little reference book about Art. A variety of the key elements of art styles, techniques, movements and media are covered. A succinct paragraph and an illustrated picture page are included. There is just enough information to keep a child interested, and it is written in an easy to understand style. The historical timeline is very useful and the pointers for further reading resources are excellent. Every classroom library should have a copy. A brilliant little art book.

100 Things to Know About Art is a wonderful book for young artists. 100 topics are covered from artistic media, materials, and styles of art. I loved the colorful illustrations. Overall, an informative and interesting book for kids!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

This book is perfect for beginners and children from ages +8. The illustrations are gorgeous and the text is accessible for everyone.

This is such a great enrichment book about art! It covers elements of several different overarching topics--media, elements of composition, techniques, styles, historical eras--in bite-size articles that are easy to understand. Each item is accompanied by a simple illustration. There is also an historical timeline included for context as well as further reading resources at the end.

I learned so much from reading this and would definitely add it to a classroom or school library. It's a manageable, accessible way to introduce several key art concepts to elementary kids.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Another entrant on to the shelf of books that discuss a hundred terms in a hundred words each, this looks at the world of art. It's very good too – telling me things I didn't have a clue about (the first use of oil paints, f'example) and still having a lightness of touch to appeal to the young student it's targetted at. It might be perfect if it were structured better – the first batch of subjects are all mediums – gouache, pencil, mixed media – only to have a technique (shading) stuffed into the middle of them. After those it's to the basic building-block terms (colour, shape, texture, subject), and on we go to more niche techniques, like calligraphy, silhouette or impasto. Bizarrely, an introduction to print-making comes after several entries already discussing it, but here are the major periods in art history to cover that up – like I say, this is very random.

The artworks illustrating each page – bold designs each, leaving just enough space for the hundred words at the bottom – are gloriously different, and cover a whole gamut of styles, allowing an adult to point out the cubism when we see it yet don't talk about it, etc. Generally, the young student is fine on her or his own with this – if only it were in a more handy order, as that does cost it a full star in my mind, leaving it with three and a half.