How Art Works

Composition, perspective, colour, light, texture and form are the working parts of a picture, and How Art Works: The Concepts Visually Explained takes them one at a time. DK explains what each principle does, then shows it operating in paintings, drawings and sculpture, using diagrams to isolate the decision an artist made. The book also moves through major movements and styles, placing techniques in the periods that developed them, so a reader gains both a vocabulary for looking and a rough map of art history. It suits gallery visits as much as studio practice. Where it fits: • Core visual principles explained before they are applied to examples • Diagrams isolating specific artistic choices within works • Movements and styles placed in historical order • Equally useful for making art and for looking at it Recommended for art students, practising beginners, gallery-goers and general readers, published by DK and available at Boipoka.