Customer Reviews

The Visual Arts: A History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a marvelously wide-ranging foray into art as practiced from prehistoric to modern times. What sets it apart from other surveys is the care the authors have taken to place art and artists in their cultural, political, and religious context. (For instance, the economics and theology of medieval Christendom are discussed as a background that focuses more sharply the true significance and accomplishment of the Gothic cathedral.) The book also provides time charts for each chapter, and sidebars quoting primary sources and contemporary responses to art. Over 1,300 illustrations, maps, and diagrams are included. In elegant and readable prose, the authors explore the creation of art not only through time but also across continents. Art from the Americas, Africa, and the East (Near and Far) are discussed in addition to the more familiar Western European masterpieces. I consider The Visual Arts: A History to be a lucid, thorough, and wonderfully written account of the impulse toward and creation of art as it has developed throughout history and within different cultures.

For anyone remotely interested in art & art history, this is the book to buy. This was the textbook for an art history course I took in college and since that course, I have been through the whole book twice now and referred back to it many more times. Wonderfully illustrated, cogently organized and extremely comprehensive in it's scope, this book is a tour de force in the history of the visual arts. The way in which the authors interweave and elaborate upon the social history of a particular political, religious, military, and/or economic clime's impact upon the art produced at that time is extremely valuable and effective. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in art history or even if you're looking for a great coffee table book to put out for discussion or for a guest's delectation. Five stars was an easy choice to make when rating his text!

This book is just marvelous if you don't have to carry it back and forth to class. It's approximately 6-8 llbs and it's a killer to transport. Other than that, the language is pretty concise, and the photos of the artworks are really helpful for referencing back to the artists.