Artistic Places

Gorgeous illustrations, but unable to download text. I have had this problem with other titles in this series

Artistic Places contains beautiful illustrations of places that inspired artists accompanied by information about the place and the artists inspired by them.

This was such a creative book! It was so interesting to read through and see the spots that inspired artists. Places around the world that inspired Klimt, Munch, Picasso, and O'Keefe were a few of the featured destinations that I particularly enjoyed. Reading an art historian's perspective was fascinating when it came to examining how the locations featured inspired the work of great painters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is just beautiful - unfortunately I had real issues downloading and reading the text (I was using the Bluefire reading app and NetGalley shelf) the idea though is brilliant and what I could read was very well written, enjoyable and informative.

You'd really have to read this book in print form to truly appreciate and enjoy it. The cover is gorgeous, I'd be immediately drawn to it if I saw it sitting on the shelf. 

The illustrations are very pretty and pleasing, and the colour palette used is bright and welcoming. I especially enjoyed the reimagined artworks of the different locations.

There is a great balance of text and imagery, with a generous amount of both to please both history readers and those just here to look at the pretty art. 

Thank you so much to The Quarto Group/White Lion Publishing for allowing me access to a free e-copy, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful collection of places each artist painted.  It gives insights to the artist’s interpretation, why they chose the place, the view they had envisioned!  Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Quarto Publishing Group for a gifted copy.  This is my honest review.

The latest volume in this occasional series from these creators takes us armchair travellers to places featured in art – some that we may never fully see on canvas, some that were inspiration to sculptures, and some that were so successfully embodied by an artistic talent it feels we've been there before.  And so we begin with central London, Constable Country and St Ives (for the Hepworths), before leaving the UK and first hitting on a scrap of Portuguese coast where Paula Rego found something to imitate.  The visuals here are wholly the creative team's efforts, so it's going to annoy some people that we don't get a look at the specific Rego painting featured in the writing.  Instead we get a snapshot of what it's like to witness the general locale as a tourist now, and the design never once tries to mimic or pastiche the artworks, but to respond to a 2020s view, rendered in the established style of prior books by this partnership.

That all may make this sound a little inconsequential, and not ideal for art-lovers.  Yet, even when we go to Giverny, knowing full well what the paintings look like and having a very clear picture of what getting there would give us, it's still interesting to read these brief postcard-styled entries.  We're there, too, off our own bat, with walks to walk and buildings to visit, and not crammed in between six thousand coach loads of Japanese tourists.  Some entries sounded too close to a trashy magazine article (the juxtaposition of Paul Klee's, er, difficult art with the "ooh, you can buy this, and eat that, and drink that!" yack is really quite jarring), but on the whole I'm always happy to travel by proxy in the hands of these guides.

A beautiful and informative collection of art and places! This is such a great collection of art pieces and the info on the artists and places was such a nice read! I think this would make a great read for anyone who loves art, places, and exploring!

*Thanks Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book is so lovely and perfectly put together.  It’s a collection of places that are known for their beauty and artistic inspiration.  Beautifully crafted and illustrated, I can wholeheartedly recommend to all.

When I saw the cover for Artistic Places I knew I had to read it. I’m someone who loves travel and loves art to the point that I have literally planned vacations to Europe around the art museums I wanted to visit. I loved reading about the places I have visited (London, Giverny, Florence, Venice, Oslo, etc.) and have added a few more to my list thanks to this book (I really want to go roam around Lake Attersee where Klimt painted).

The book is roughly 50/50 split between illustrations and text. The text was easy to read and well organized. There was some information for travelers in the text (like how to get to Giverny from Paris or how to reserve a slot to visit Georgia O’Keefe’s house) and a little bit of each city’s history, but the main focus was the art and artists.

The illustrations by Amy Girmes are stunning. I liked that there was a good mix of one page and two page pictures. I also enjoyed the nods to the artists themselves found within some of the works. While illustrations were absolutely beautiful, I did find myself frustrated by the lack of depictions of the works described. While I was familiar with 18 of the main 25 artists featured, I was not familiar enough with the remaining seven and numerous other mentioned in passing to fully “get” what the author was describing. A few I Googled as I was reading and found that I actually was familiar with their works, but couldn’t connect them to the artist’s name. This is not a book for someone without a knowledge of art history.

As with most art history books, this one is very euro-centric. Only seven of the locations featured are outside of Europe and only three of the 25 main artists are not white. I know that much of art history as a discipline is focused on Europe, but there are so many non-Europeans place and artists that have been featured.

Thank you to White Lion Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a lover for both art and books, I absolutely loved the combination of the illustration and words. The illustration visionary guide transported me to another place, and I felt that I connected with the artist and the destination itself. The downside of this book is that some people might expect to just see illustrations and will have to read to really capture the landscapes and places of great art. 

This book can also help with relaxation because of the whole pandemic situation we cannot travel, but reading this book, made it feel as if I was physically there. I will definitely buy it when the the book gets publish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quatro Publishing Group - White Lion for giving me a chance to read and review this book!

Pros: Although I have not been able to physically travel during the pandemic, I’ve used books to mentally travel. This book is perfect for mentally traveling when we can’t physically travel. In another life, I would have been an art history major, so this book about the places that inspired artists’ art was a fascinating read. The illustrator’s illustrations are wonderful, and the author provides detailed and well-researched descriptions of each location. 

Cons: Some readers might pick up this book wanting photographs rather than illustrations or thinking they were going to see the resulting pieces of art that were inspired by the locations. I look at that as an opportunity to look up photos online and to learn even more about the locations and art mentioned in this book. 

One frustration about the reading experience was how this book was formatted in the NetGalley app. Although I liked being able to see the illustration of the location next to the description of the location, it made for difficult reading. Lots of zooming in was required.  That being said, this is obviously a book that is meant to be enjoyed in print, so I understand that PDF was not the intended format for reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quatro Publishing Group - White Lion for the opportunity to read this book!

I love the concept of this book. It inspires art lovers to consider planning vacations to new places, based on their inspirational nature. If a painter can be inspired by this place, I should check it out myself. This book is most useful when paired with additional information on the Internet regarding the artists, paintings,and photos of the travel destinations.

While traveling and museum visits are currently not possible, any art and travel lovers will be glad to discover this book. It transports you to cities around the world with vibrant illustrations and stories of what these cities meant to famous classical artists. I enjoyed learning more about some artists I was already familiar with, and about ones I hadn’t heard of before as well. I kept Google Arts and Culture open as I read in order to view paintings mentioned throughout the book, and this highly enhanced my reading experience. Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for a review.

A shame that I.could only download this onto my app as I couldn't read the text, but I did manage to see the pictures which were absolutely stunning. 
The artists style is simple but incredibly effective.
This will be one to look out for.

What a lovely title for armchair travelers who enjoy art. In this book, visit London with Whistler; Suffolk with Constable; St Ives with Barbara Hepworth; Guernica with Picasso; Giverny with Monet; Brussels with Magritte,; Florence with Michelangelo, Oslo with Munch; Polynesia with Gauguin; New York with Basquiat and more.

This title begins with an informative introduction on artists, the places that had meaning to them and the ways in which those places were interpreted in their art. Following this the sketches begin. Each is accompanied by an illustration; this is not a reproduction of the artist’s work but rather a rendition of the place by the book’s author. Each essay gives information about both the place over time and the artist. Readers may then well be inspired to look up the specific art works mentioned.

This is not a scholarly tome but a pleasant diversion. It offers a chance to contemplate places and art from one’s home and to enjoy spending time with artists both already loved and those new to the reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

I love the amount of information and history in this book. The artwork was also beautiful. I enjoy artwork and art history so this was a delightful and informative book. The only thing that I felt was missing was that the original art that is being referenced was not shown. I'm aware that this may have been for legal reasons but I spent some of the time that I was reading looking up the originals of the paintings. Other than that, this book was wonderful and incredibly well written.

<i>"Even if we've never been there, some places in the world can be uncannily familiar."</i>

So begins the introduction to this beautiful book. After reading <i>Literary Places</i>, I obviously became an admiring fan of the illustrator Amy Grimes' work, and I had also loved the lovely prose of the author of the text portions of the book. I was a bit wary of seeing a new author teaming up with Grimes' art for this installment, but I needn't have worried. The writing is just as lush and gorgeous as the illustrations deserve.

The book is laid out like a globetrotting tour of cities and locations around the world, as made famous by various paintings and works of art. Background information and descriptions are given for each location, always relating it back to notable art. 
The details are lovely, from the molding of the landscape, to the arrival of famous painters such as Van Gogh in the area, to how visionaries became inspired by specific locations.

Grimes' illustrations are so pretty, so vibrant and simplistically appealing. I would love to see an art gallery of her collected work one day, or have prints hanging on the walls of my house.

My only disappointment with the book was that it massively focused on European locations and art. Besides Europe, there was only 1 entry on the Middle East, 1 in Asia, and 1 in French Polynesia. There were also 4 entries on North America (3 of which were in the United States, and 1 in Mexico) and none in South America. I would have loved to see more cultures and corners of the globe represented.

A beautiful book worth a read if you are interested in travel or art. This would make a great gift for anyone interested in these topics, especially these days when museums and travel is mostly unavailable!

<i>Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing an advance ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

ARTISTIC PLACES features 25+ stunning locales beloved by iconic artists, such as Matisse’s Tangier, Klee’s Bern, O’Keefe’s Taos. Eye-catching art depicts each destination, while info-rich text explains the impact of place on creativity. A soothing read for angsty times. 

4 of 5 Stars 
Pub Date 16 Mar 2021
#ArtisticPlaces #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First up thank you for allowing me to read this book! 
I was pretty happy to see a new book in this series pop up. I loved Hidden Places (though I read it in Dutch), so I was excited for this one. However, sadly, I cannot read it. Since it has illustrations I cannot read it on Kindle as the illustrations would lose all their beauty. I thought I would be able to read it through the Netgalley app (my eyes would tire/head hurt but I would still be able to read it in parts), but sadly that also doesn't work as the book isn't one page per time, but two, so it gets smooshed. Sadly, I cannot read that much text on my PC, especially not when it is that tiny. Haha, after just one page (well two but you get what I mean) my already existing headache just exploded.. So I will just have to wait for this book to get translated to Dutch (as I am sure there won't be an English version here) and then read and review it! Hopefully soon! For now I will give it 4 stars as what I saw is something I loved/liked.

Artistic Places is another great addition to this series about literary and artistic locations. The illustrations are phenomenal, just the right of realism and whimsy. 
This collection of books would make for a lovely library addition.  They inspire day-dreams of future travel. 
I'd love to keep these on my coffee table to browse and read through periodically.

Inspiring whimsy!  These 25 iconic and recognizable places are destinations to re-live and dream of, half of which I have had the fortunate to visit, some many times.  But what the author said about "knowing" places we haven't been to is so true...through words and art we can feel we HAVE been there.  And during covid we can dream with this book which captures the essence of place.

Each entry includes paintings and descriptive paragraphs with history, what to see, beauty spots and other information.  I really like the little symbols included which are fun to identify and make each place so special.  My personal favourites include pastoral Constable Country with gentle streams, Giverny, Bern (chocolate and clock tower), Renaissance Florence (David and Florence Cathedra), incomparable iconic Venice and Elbe (romantic nature).  

The simplistic art is powerful and brings back gorgeous memories!  I love that.  If you wish to escape into art and interesting places, immerse yourself in this book.

My sincere thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this refreshing and lovely book!

This book allows some “armchair travel” during the pandemic.  It is a combination travel guide and art guide taking you to different places around the world.  The illustrations are gorgeous.  I would have liked to see some of the artwork being referenced.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second book by this author; a couple of years ago I read Why your five-year-old could not have done that: Modern Art Explained; which I loved, so I was pretty excited to find out she was coming out with a new book.

This book was very informative, and it is clear that the author has thoroughly researched the places that she mentions. Some of them are very famous (like New York, Florence or Venice) but others I was very glad to discover things about, because even though I knew of the place, I knew very little about it (like Dessau and Bern).


The illustrations are so beautiful I don’t even have the words to describe them. I kind of want to hang them in my house.

The text was very hard to read, I don’t know if this was my fault or not, because of the format, but I almost gave up a couple of times because of how much it cost me to read the words.

This is my new favourite book on art - beautifully illustrated and informative. It left me feeling inspired to paint having transported me to many different places which influenced great artists such as Monet and Gaugin. Highly recommended for art lovers worldwide.

"Artistic Places" would be a gorgeous coffee-table book! Susie Hodge discusses in this book the various places that inspired famous artists to travel to, despite the difficulty of their times, just to capture those unique landscapes. 

An interesting concept with beautiful illustrations that could have been even longer. The facts and history are interesting and there's a great balance between text and illustrations. Monet's "The Water Lily Pond" is one of my favorites, so I loved those illustrations the most!