![\"\"](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_4482-copy-1230x984.jpg\")
‘It should be pretty obvious by now that the art world takes itself far too seriously’
\n\n\n\nArt historian and TV presenter Kate Bryan is on a mission: to make art accessible to all. ‘It should be pretty obvious by now that I think the art world takes itself far too seriously: it does not have a reputation for being welcoming and fun,’ she declares about one third of the way through. She’s fun though. She uses terms like ‘OG’, goes on about ‘hacks’ and compares looking at art to watching Squid Game. By now, she’s already shared her own story: a working-class background and journey into the world of contemporary art armed with nothing more than a couple of art books and a dream. She’s got a point about art residing in a socially forbidding space, and her enthusiastic writing means that you can’t help but rise up to support her revolution. But then, as she does repeatedly throughout this book, she takes a pin to that bubble. ‘I think a great way to undermine the snootiness of art world folk is to set about making your dog more cultural,’ she proclaims. Blindly assuming that her readers have one. And that the dog would need or wish to be ‘made’ more cultural.
\n\n\n\nIf you’re reading this book, you do need to be, however. Talking about artworks that have lodged in a collective public consciousness, she declares in her leaden and grammatically funky prose that ‘when you have such high expectations it’s understandable to not really “see” them properly’. Now she can school you on how proper seeing works. The problem with this campaign against ‘snootiness’ is that Bryan – with her lists of films to watch, masterpieces to see, questionnaires to write for the toddlers you’ll be taking to museums, instructions on how to make your own art and advice from her yoga teacher – never really blows off the doors of established convention. Quite the opposite. She tells us that it’s OK not to like the art everyone tells us is great and then tells us what art to like. On our journey to aesthetic emancipation we should visit the Sistine Chapel, all the while thinking about Michelangelo (inventor of the humblebrag), ‘whose feet touched this very same beautiful marble floor you are about to tread upon’. That’s when you might remember that when she’s not reclaiming the galleries, Bryan is managing an art collection for an exclusive private members’ club.
\n\n\n\nHow to Art by Kate Bryan. Hutchinson Heinemann, £16.99 (hardcover)
\n","path":"/how-to-art-by-kate-bryan-reviewed/","format":"standard","date":"05 November 2025","rawDate":"2025-11-05T13:57:00.000Z","branch":{"name":"ArtReview"},"author":{"name":"Mark Rappolt","path":"/author/mark-rappolt/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_4482-copy.jpg","caption":"","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":1500,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_4482-copy-300x240.jpg","width":300,"height":240},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_4482-copy-600x480.jpg","width":600,"height":480},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_4482-copy-1230x984.jpg","width":1230,"height":984},"wordpress_1536x1536":null,"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_artist":null,"article_video":null,"article_audio":null,"article_collaboration":"","article_custom_html_snippet":"","article_featured_title":"","article_featured_description":"","article_highlight":false,"article_custom_link_url":"","hero_image":null,"seo_title":"Book Review | ‘How to Art’ by Kate Bryan","seo_description":"‘It should be pretty obvious by now that the art world takes itself far too seriously’","article_related_articles":[{"id":115842,"title":"‘A Guardian and a Thief’ by Megha Majumdar, Reviewed","path":"/a-guardian-and-a-thief-by-megha-majumdar-review-mark-rappolt/","author":{"name":"Mark Rappolt","path":"/author/mark-rappolt/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/books.jpg","caption":"","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":1890,"height":1063,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/books-300x169.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/books-600x337.jpg","width":600,"height":337},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/books-1230x692.jpg","width":1230,"height":692},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/books-1536x864.jpg","width":1536,"height":864},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_collaboration":""}},{"id":115648,"title":"Is Art Good for Your Health?","path":"/art-cure-the-science-of-how-the-arts-transform-our-health-by-daisy-fancourtreview-jj-charlesworth/","author":{"name":"J.J. Charlesworth","path":"/author/j-j-charlesworth/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pdia-5c6525e4-ff4f-42de-8e55-6221698f00a0.jpg","caption":"James Nasymth, Back of Hand & Shrivelled Apple, 1874. Courtesy Rijksmuseum","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":2000,"height":1347,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pdia-5c6525e4-ff4f-42de-8e55-6221698f00a0-300x202.jpg","width":300,"height":202},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pdia-5c6525e4-ff4f-42de-8e55-6221698f00a0-600x404.jpg","width":600,"height":404},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pdia-5c6525e4-ff4f-42de-8e55-6221698f00a0-1230x828.jpg","width":1230,"height":828},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pdia-5c6525e4-ff4f-42de-8e55-6221698f00a0-1536x1034.jpg","width":1536,"height":1034},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_collaboration":""}},{"id":115635,"title":"Locating Luigi Ghirri","path":"/luigi-ghirri-felicita-by-alessio-bolzoni-and-luca-guadagnino-review-david-terrien/","author":{"name":"David Terrien","path":"/author/david-terrien/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LG_Felicità-3.jpg","caption":"scan vintage tab 5-3","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":1575,"height":2030,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LG_Felicità-3-300x387.jpg","width":300,"height":387},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LG_Felicità-3-600x773.jpg","width":600,"height":773},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LG_Felicità-3-1230x1585.jpg","width":1230,"height":1585},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LG_Felicità-3-1192x1536.jpg","width":1192,"height":1536},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_collaboration":""}},{"id":115847,"title":"‘As If’ by Isabel Waidner, Reviewed","path":"/as-if-by-by-isabel-waidner-review-chiara-wilkinson/","author":{"name":"Chiara Wilkinson","path":"/author/chiarawilkinson/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/asif_.jpg","caption":"","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":1890,"height":1063,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/asif_-300x169.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/asif_-600x337.jpg","width":600,"height":337},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/asif_-1230x692.jpg","width":1230,"height":692},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/asif_-1536x864.jpg","width":1536,"height":864},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_collaboration":""}},{"id":117450,"title":"‘Transcription’ by Ben Lerner Review: No Phones","path":"/transcription-ben-lerner-granta-review-julieta-caldas/","author":{"name":"Julieta Caldas","path":"/author/julietacaldas/"},"category":{"name":"Book Reviews","path":"/category/review/book-reviews/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner.jpg","caption":"","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":2486,"height":1398,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner-300x169.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner-600x337.jpg","width":600,"height":337},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner-1230x692.jpg","width":1230,"height":692},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner-1536x864.jpg","width":1536,"height":864},"wordpress_2048x2048":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lerner-2048x1152.jpg","width":2048,"height":1152}}}},"acf":{"article_collaboration":""}}]}}},"pageContext":{"wordpress_id":119916,"categorySlugs":["book-reviews"]}},"staticQueryHashes":["1047144546","1199547381","1199547381","1200741782","1200741782","2238591713","3764592887","4156135988","753543242","753543242","919364628"]}