* Art & Art History

The understanding and enjoyment of a work of art depends as much on the story it depicts as on the artist’s execution of it. But what were once biblical or classical commonplaces are not so readily recognizable today. This book relates in a succinct and readable way the themes, sacred and secular, on which the repertoire of Western art is based. Combined here in a single volume are religious, classical, and historical themes, figures of moral allegory, and characters from romantic poetry that appeared throughout paintings and sculpture in Western art before and after the Renaissance. More than just a dictionary, this text places these subjects in their narrative, historical, or mythological context and uses extensive cross-referencing to enhance and clarify the meanings of these themes for the reader. The definitive work by which others are compared, this volume has become an indispensable handbook for students and general appreciators alike. This wholly redesigned second edition includes a new insert of images chosen by the author, as well as a new preface and index to highlight the ideas, beliefs, and social and religious customs that form the background of much of this subject matter.

Volumes 1-10

The most student-friendly, contextual, and inclusive art history survey text on the market Now in its sixth edition, Art: A Brief History continues to balance formal analysis with contextual art history in order to engage a diverse student audience. Authors Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothren, both scholars as well as teachers, share a common vision that survey courses should be filled with as much enjoyment as learning, and that they should foster an enthusiastic, as well as an educated, public for the visual arts. By treating the visual arts as one component of a vibrant cultural landscape (which also includes politics, religion, economics, and more), Art: A Brief History helps students recognize and appreciate the central role that art and architecture have played in human history.

Experience the wonders of human creativity in GARDNER'S ART THROUGH THE AGES: A GLOBAL HISTORY, 16th Edition! A grand tour of the world's most celebrated works from the Stone Age to the modern era, this introductory text has been a classroom favorite for 85 years. Every chapter includes rich and compelling discussions of pivotal art works, periods and geographies in art history, as well as new artists and art forms. Of course, the bold illustrations on the pages look almost as good as the real thing, especially when you use the unique Scale feature to imagine a work's stature from the artist's point of view. And to keep your course success in focus, the text offers Quick Review Captions and Big Picture Overviews, as well as an optional ebook that enables you to zoom in on fine details of paintings, sculptures, and priceless art forms of all kinds.

A new edition of this key anthology, examining the origins, history, and contemporary developments in the field of art history through close readings of the most influential and innovative writings on the visual arts, focusing on the past two centuries. Each section is introduced by a critical overview of key issues such as art as history; aesthetics; form, content, and style; anthropology; meaning and interpretation; authorship and identity; and the phenomenon ofglobalization.

Provides an up-to-date overview of the present state Visual Cultural Studies, featuring new original content, topics, and methods The Wiley Blackwell Concise Companion to Visual Culture brings together original research by both established scholars and new voices in the dynamic field, exploring the history, current state, and possible future directions of visual cultural studies. Organized as a series of non-traditional keyword essays, this innovative volume engages readers with a diversity of ideas and perspectives to broaden and enrich their understanding of visual culture and its operations.

"Art" has always been contested terrain, whether the object in question is a medieval tapestry or Duchamp's Fountain. But questions about the categories of "art" and "art history" acquired increased urgency during the 1970s, when new developments in critical theory and other intellectual projects dramatically transformed the discipline. The first edition of Critical Terms for Art History both mapped and contributed to those transformations, offering a spirited reassessment of the field's methods and terminology. Art history as a field has kept pace with debates over globalization and other social and political issues in recent years, making a second edition of this book not just timely, but crucial. Like its predecessor, this new edition consists of essays that cover a wide variety of "loaded" terms in the history of art, from sign to meaning, ritual to commodity. Each essay explains and comments on a single term, discussing the issues the term raises and putting the term into practice as an interpretive framework for a specific work of art.

This popular anthology of twentieth-century art theoretical texts has now been expanded to take account of new research, and to include significant contributions to art theory from the 1990s. New edition of this popular anthology of twentieth-century art-theoretical texts. Now updated to include the results of new research, together with significant contributions from the 1990s. Includes writings by critics, philosophers, politicians and literary figures. The editors provide contextual introductions to 340 texts. Complements Art in Theory 1648-1815 and Art in Theory 1815-1900 to create a complete survey of the theories underpinning the development of art in the modern period.

The publication comprises the best of Art Monthly's interviews with some 65 artists, ranging from Marina Abramovic to Artur Zmijewski, which together provide an entertaining and alternative history of art. Since it was founded in 1976 the magazine has consistently publishes interviews with leading contemporary artists. The collection brought together here offers unique insights into the thought processes and working practices of artists, as well as evolution of the form of the interview.