Paul Johnson’s much-discussed “Art: A New History,” is unexpected, writes Joe Phalen. “Johnson’s book differs from the academic tradition best exemplified by Janson’s and Gombrich’s classic histories of art in two points. He goes out of his way to explore and praise many neglected artists of the 19th century: Realist painters well worthy of attention. Secondly, Johnson dismisses the dominant trend of 20th-century modernism as being too much in the nature of “fashion” art, which is to say a combination of novelty and skills with an unhealthy emphasis on the innovation.”