Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Authority on Art, October 14, 2003
This beautiful volume has been the standard textbook in Art history for many decades. Continued by Janson's son, this book has benefited from years of editing and is quite up-to-date. The size is what one would expect for a volume covering millennia of Western Art. I find the large format of the book useful and the quality of the paper excellent. Of course, the most important thing perhaps about an art book is the illustrations. This book contains thousands of beautiful full-color illustrations of the most important masterpieces. By necessity to accommodate the text and the large number of photos, many of the photos are smaller in size than one would desire. Still I would go for covering a larger number of masterpieces than for a fewer number with larger photos.I think this book strikes a good balance between textual description and devoting space for the photos. Other art books have so much text one wonders where is the art. Still the book is voluminous. I covered the second half in a 1-semester Art history course and quickly fell behind in the reading. I suggest for the eager student to get a head start and begin reading this book over the summer in order not to fall behind. The great thing about this volume is that, long after my class was over, this book is still on my bookshelf serving as a useful reference as well as a key to the beautiful world of art.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasure in a Box, June 23, 2005
This is a beautiful book by any standards, I think, and is supplied in a protective box. It is jam-packed with excellent colour images and informative text on high quality paper. I saw an older version of this book in a local shop and when I checked Amazon, found I could buy the uptodate version for far less money. I study interior design and I have found that History of Art is marvellous as a reference tool, or even for just browsing through when seeking inspiration for designs. So much work has been put into this book over many years and editions. It is amazing value for money! Be warned - it weighs a ton!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful survey of Western art, January 12, 2006
In the introduction to this edition, Anthony Janson (whose father, H.W. Janson, still has top billing for the volume) talks about the long tradition he and his father have had toward this volume and the larger work that carries the same name. It has been a standard in Western art education for decades, and the revisions periodically placed serve to bring new interpretations, perspectives and finds into the mix of history.
Prior to diving into the depths of art, Janson provides a primer - art history is a relatively new discipline, and often studied by historians and others with interest but relatively little training in artistic areas themselves. This book is about the visual arts (those of drama, music, etc. are not included here, but architecture is to some degree); Janson gives a brief survey of key concepts that are critical to understanding the mediums (artists, Janson states, prefer to use the plural of medium as mediums rather than media). Geometric and visual appreciation concepts are introduced, as are philosophical/aesthetic ideas.
The majority of the text is divided into four broad sections: The Ancient World, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance through the Rococo, and the Modern World. This is a book that really a survey or history of Western art - it does have a brief section at the beginning of the Ancient World on cave art and neolithic art in North America, but apart from this never wanders outside the main courses of Western art even in the modern period. As an introductory text, this is not surprising - many of the values and concepts of art in non-Western cultures require more explanation for adequate aesthetic appreciation of their art than an introductory survey course could cover. Still, it is a deficit worthy of note for those who are looking for a more comprehensive volume.
The Ancient World covers art of Egypt, the Fertile Crescent and Persia, Aegean/Greek art, Etruscan art, and Roman art. The section on the Middle Ages begins primarily with the rise of Christendom as the dominant political power - this includes Byzantine art, early Medieval art (Carolingian and Ottonian times), Romanesque, and the ascendancy of the Gothic style, including the great Abbey of St-Denis. The Renaissance focusses early on Italy, but also explores the Renaissance influences in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and England. The Modern Period is the most diverse, with movements such as Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau and other schools that had a greater tendency to cross national boundaries. The twentieth century brought about a great explosion of artistic expressions, in architecture, sculpture, painting and photography, each of which get a chapter. While the fourth section begins with a discussion of modernism, it ends with the discussion of post-modernism, a period of transition.
The colour reproductions throughout are stunning, and the use of black-and-white images to highlight details is also useful. Two-thirds of the 600 illustrations are in colour. The photographs showing architectural styles are interesting, far from being boring 'sample' shots. The text is engaging and informative, achieving a good balance between the artistic, the philosophical and the historical. There are maps, chronological tables, a glossary of terms, suggestions for further readings arranged topically, and a very useful index (always a plus for students and scholars).
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