To begin with, the extensive biographical sketches comprise a book in themselves, invaluable to the general reader to whom many of the names will be unfamiliar and useful, as well to the less than expert art history student.Robert Rosenblum's extensive introduction is up to his usual high standards and provides some feel for the conflicting approaches to art, as traditional approaches vie with a variety of of competitors, at a point in history in which, what many consider to be Modern Art, is being pointed toward, but has not yet been given form (as viewed by the official Museum of Modern Art-NYC conceptualization published in various documents on their re-evaluation before entering their greatly enlarged quarters, something over a decade ago). What gives his essay and the organization of artists in the book its special value is the balanced treatment of the many competing art forms represented in this World's Fair (Exposition) in which the work of many nation's appeared (although French art did predominate by a large margin). Apparently all paintings and sculpture has been included in the book, allowing one to make, at least, minimal judgments as to whether the New Century did see better rather than just different art. To be clear, on the point, however, none of that New Art was represented, only some of the artists who later developed such approaches. Thus we find examples of Mondrian, Matisse and the brilliant young Picasso, among others, still working very much in the style of the 19th Century. Ensor, Munch, Vuillard, Bonnard, Klimt, are among those who have already matured the style in which they will work for decades to come, while mature Impressionists and Academics display talents that may be relatively less valued in the 20th Century, but easily support the argument (if one wanted to make one) that they have enduring value despite changing fashions.There are many pictures, all in color, but not the same size. The full page ones look quite good, and there are many, many of them. The numerous half page ones do not match them in quality, a fair number being only adequate to giving one a general impression of the work. On the criteria for size, I can recall no discussion.As one reviewer quite rightly pointed out, at the price for which good copies are available, it is a book no general reader interested in the art of the recent past should be without. Serious art history majors in colleges will also find it an admirable resource for finding talented artists to write upon whom other students are ignoring.