The Story of Contemporary Art

A concise history of international contemporary art from 1960 onwards.

What does it mean? Is it really art? Why is it so expensive? These common questions weren't E. H. Gombrich’s focus in *The Story of Art*, which ends in the 1960s. From there, Tony Godfrey picks up, exploring how artists began to challenge traditional definitions of art.

Godfrey traces the evolution of contemporary art through creative conflicts—object versus sculpture, painting versus conceptual, local versus global, and gallery versus the wider world. He examines how perceptions of art have shifted, moving beyond the dominance of white men from North America and Western Europe, in response to the changing social and political landscape. Compelling and insightful, this book shows how.