Thinking about Art explores some of the greatest works of art and architecture in the world through the prism of themes, instead of chronology, to offer intriguing juxtapositions of art and history. The book ranges across time and topics, from the Parthenon to the present day and from patronage to ethnicity, to reveal art history in new and varied lights. With over 200 colour illustrations and a wealth of formal and contextual analysis, Thinking about Art is a companion guide for art lovers, students and the general reader, and is also the first A-level Art History textbook, written by a skilled and experienced teacher of art history, Penny Huntsman. The book is accompanied by a companion website at www.wiley.com/go/thinkingaboutart.

Product Description: The wind - a natural phenomenon both salutary and injurious - has inspired myths, literary texts, and works of art in every era and place. The Book of the Wind offers a contemporary and original reflection on one of the most intriguing questions in art history - how can the immaterial be depicted...read more

Book Description: These handsomely illustrated volumes offer insight into the lives and works of those few unique individuals whose extraordinary creative genius has affected suceeding generations of artists and altered the way we view the world around us...read more

This long-awaited book is a study of a recurring phenomenon in the history of Western art, namely the feeling that older and less sophisticated (i.e. 'primitive') works of art are somehow superior to later and more refined ones. In a closely argued and richly documented narrative Professor Gombrich traces the history of the debates on this subject from classical antiquity to the radical primitivism of modern times, attempting at the same time to provide a psychological explanation of the phenomenon.This book is a documentary study of a recurring phenomenon in the history of changing taste in the visual arts, namely the feeling that older and less sophisticated (i.e. 'primitive') works are somehow morally and aesthetically superior to later works that have become refined, soft and decadent. Gombrich traces the existence of such feelings right back to classical antiquity, and he links them with a crucial psychological observation made by Cicero to the effect that over-indulgence of the senses leads to a feeling of disgust. He also demonstrates the importance of the profoundly influential metaphor, first articulated in antiquity and taken over by Vasari, that compares the history of art to the growth of an organism: like a living organism, art is born and grows to maturity (and therefore perfection), then decays and finally dies. Successive generations of artists and critics, believing the art of their own time to be past maturity, have interpreted the smooth refinement and sensual appeal of contemporary works as symptoms of decline and corruption, and have come to admire earlier works, despite their 'immaturity', as possessing superior qualities of sincerity, innocence and ruggedstrength. With the advent of modernism at the turn of the twentieth century this admiration took a radically regressive new twist as artists turned their backs on tradition altogether and found inspiration in the art of exotic cultures and in the works of children and the insane.Summing up more than forty years of study and reflection, the book presents a closely argued narrative supported by extensive quotation of key passages that document with precision the role of authors, critics and artists in shaping and changing opinion. After reviewing the classical authors whose writings largely set the terms of the debate, Gombrich then charts its progress from its revival in the eighteenth century, documenting the often subtle shifts of taste and judgement that frequently focus on the pivotal role of Raphael as a touchstone in the history of taste. In the final chapters he turns to the truly revolutionary primitivism of the twentieth century, to much of which he has himself been an eyewitness.Important both as a personal testament and as a documentary anthology, this long-awaited new book from one of the world's most distinguished art historians provides a deep and revealing insight into the history and psychology of taste.

A guide to appreciating and understanding art gathers works from the Art Institute of Chicago to explain how artists from various cultures and periods depict faces, places, and inner thoughts, and includes related activities and projects.

Depicts five hundred paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the present, each by a different artist, in alphabetical order by artist, with a brief description of the work and its place in art history and in the artist's career.

Product Description: "In a picture I want to say something comforting as music is comforting," Vincent van Gogh confided to his friend and fellow artist, Emile Bernard. "I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize and which we seek to give by the actual radiance and vibration of our colorings...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

In a new collection of essays and criticism, the Booker Prize-winning author of G. reflects on the nature of the pocket as a small pocket of resistance in which two or more people come together to protest the inhumanity of the new world order. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Product Description: Looking at pictures can be fun. Dutch art historian Henk van Os has known this for many years, and this knowledge--along with van Os's unique presentation--has helped make his weekly television program the most popular art show in the Netherlands...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: We all know what "the political landscape" is, and politicians and journalists never tire of referring to it. But in this ingenious and original book, Martin Warnke takes that well-worn metaphor literally and uses it to reveal just how politicized the real landscape of continental Europe has been for centuries...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This book counteracts the commonly accepted belief that the expressionless stereotypical human faces in prehistoric and ancient art are the result of a consciously chosen style. Brener introduces evidence from psychology, evolutionary biology and other disciplines that suggest that something more significant may be involved...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

As he takes his argument through several categories, including the cherub, the celebration of victory, and the Virgin as Mother, there are some unexpected artists in the pantheon: not only Michelangelo, Veronese, Fragonard, and Winslow Homer but also J. C. Leyendecker, creator of covers for the Saturday Evening Post, and John Tenniel, illustrator of Alice in Wonderland. (view table of contents)

Product Description: This handbook is a valuable manual for both scholars of works of art with musical subjects and those who need a system to catalog art collections. The authors wanted to save others the time and effort of devising a workable cataloging system for their own collections...read more

Ten essays written by scholars of various periods use representative samples from each to cover the broad range of Western art, from ancient to postmodern. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Moshe Barasch, an authority on art theory, tackles the complex question of how art works as language. Barasch shows how, once an art work is seen and understood, a new, communicative function is effectively added to the work. In an engaging style Barasch moves from the art and civilization of Ancient Egypt to that of modern Europe, and effortlessly shows a full and surprising range of language in art--from the magical to the impious, from the ambiguous to the didactic, from the scientific to the propagandistic...read more

Depicts five hundred paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the present, each by a different artist, in alphabetical order by artist, with a brief description of the work and its place in art history and in the artist's career

GREAT ART BOOK