The Oxford Dictionary of Art (Hardcover)

by Ian Chilvers (Editor), Harold Osborne (Editor), Dennis Farr (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Chilvers provides more than 3000 concise, lucid entries in this second revision of Harold Osborne's one-volume dictionary, which first appeared in 1988. A preface explains the scope: "…Western and Western-inspired painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing from ancient times to the present day," with the qualification that no artists born after 1965 have their own headings. An introductory list of entries, organized geographically and chronologically for artists, and then thematically (terms, techniques, academies, etc.) reveals the Anglocentric focus. Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, and Arthur Rackham mingle with Henry Moore and John Constable in the English lineup. Major African-American artists such as Romare Bearden, Augusta Savage, and Jacob Lawrence are absent. Chilvers fails to include the infamous Guerilla Girls, and he misstates the relationship between the National Gallery and the Smithsonian. Nancy Frazier's The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History (Penguin, 2001), with its interdisciplinary approach, quotes from each artist, and more inclusive scope, offers an alternative, although with fewer entries. Neither source has any pictures, a situation requiring the additional use of monographs or online resources for most questions.–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
A handy work based on earlier Oxford Companions and revised from previous editions, this single-volume reference contains 3000 entries that discuss Western and Western-inspired art from antiquity on. It considers paintings, graphics, sculpture, and architecture in terms of artistic figures, periods, schools, techniques, critical terms, and museums; lesser artists are treated more concisely than major ones. Despite editorial claims that the dictionary is "up to date," coverage of recent activities is uneven, with Neo-expressionism and other contemporary movements and artists omitted. An easy format, accurate facts, and good cross-referencing make this a useful lexicon for the layperson or for general and public collections. Robin Kaplan, The Information Group, Los Angeles
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Reprint edition (July 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198600844
• ISBN-13: 978-0198600848
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,459,854 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Handy and useful articles on art terms and artist bios, October 6, 2004

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Oxford Dictionary of Art (Paperback)

This is a very handy and informative dictionary of terms you will likely encounter in reading about painting and sculpture. If you think of the definitions as short articles on a topic you will be closer to the mark. There are also many short biographies of important historical artists. One of the nice conventions is an asterisk before terms used in the articles that are also themselves the subject of articles.

There are no illustrations, plates, or diagrams in the book. However, there is a short foreword and an introduction.

All in all, this is quite a useful handbook and I use it with some frequency.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to the field, April 19, 2007

By	William Peschel (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Oxford Dictionary of Art (Hardcover)

Over the past few years, Oxford University Press has continued to develop its line of excellent reference works, revising older volumes and adding new subjects. The latest edition of "The Oxford Dictionary of Art" carries on that tradition.

The guide offers to the general reader an excellent grounding in the facts and philosophies that underlie the media. The entries cover artists, movements, museums (with addresses and websites), materials and, in the back, a chronology listing key works and when they were completed.

While it sometimes falls into the thicket of scholarly jibber-jabber -- and one should recognize the possibility exists while trying to describe visual art using only words, in a book which contains no pictures -- the dictionary is even-handed in describing the critical reaction to a work. With its wide range of descriptions, both geographically and chronologically, this revised guide allows armchair art appreciators to brush up on their learning.

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST HAVE, December 30, 2008

By	John Roberts "John in Omaha" (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Oxford Dictionary of Art (Paperback)

This is a must have for any art history person or anyone in sales for art. It's a complete who's who and what's what of art. It has useful information and is a great resource.
I highly recommend this book.