Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In the thirty-odd years that Robert Hughes wrote for TIME, he became the most respected art critic in the English-speaking world. He was also the most eloquent: witty, trenchant, and painfully accurate, his peerless essays (which have, disgracefully, yet to be properly anthologised) both charmed and educated a generation.
He also wrote books, some prodigiously rewarding (e.g. THE FATAL SHORE, a riveting, beefy account of his beloved homeland, Australia). But little did he know, when this particular tome was first published, that it would still be going strong a third of a century later. Nor did he know that the incomparable BBC series attached to it would become a visual beacon by which modern art would be judged. Yet here we are, many moons later, not merely saluting the prescience of his critiques, but their astonishing durability.
As a one-stop guide to the rewards and mysteries of modern art, THE SHOCK OF THE NEW remains borderline peerless, even without its TV accompaniment. Deadly accurate and timelessly entertaining, it is the contemporary counterpart to Sir Kenneth Clark's equally memorable BBC series, CIVILISATION, which was shot in a hundred-plus locations and shown in sixty countries. The book that accompanied that, in which Lord Clark tackled the vast span from the Dark Ages to the moderns (to the point where Hughes takes over), was so successful that many a church rescheduled evensong to prevent their parishioners from having to choose between God and Clark.
A joy to revisit and highly recommended, either or both.
More art book reviews at bookreviewsandvideos.com/category/art-book-reviews
In the thirty-odd years that Robert Hughes wrote for TIME, he became the most respected art critic in the English-speaking world. He was also the most eloquent: witty, trenchant, and painfully accurate, his peerless essays (which have, disgracefully, yet to be properly anthologised) both charmed and educated a generation.
He also wrote books, some prodigiously rewarding (e.g. THE FATAL SHORE, a riveting, beefy account of his beloved homeland, Australia). But little did he know, when this particular tome was first published, that it would still be going strong a third of a century later. Nor did he know that the incomparable BBC series attached to it would become a visual beacon by which modern art would be judged. Yet here we are, many moons later, not merely saluting the prescience of his critiques, but their astonishing durability.
As a one-stop guide to the rewards and mysteries of modern art, THE SHOCK OF THE NEW remains borderline peerless, even without its TV accompaniment. Deadly accurate and timelessly entertaining, it is the contemporary counterpart to Sir Kenneth Clark's equally memorable BBC series, CIVILISATION, which was shot in a hundred-plus locations and shown in sixty countries. The book that accompanied that, in which Lord Clark tackled the vast span from the Dark Ages to the moderns (to the point where Hughes takes over), was so successful that many a church rescheduled evensong to prevent their parishioners from having to choose between God and Clark.
A joy to revisit and highly recommended, either or both.
More art book reviews at bookreviewsandvideos.com/category/art-book-reviews
