Understand Art History

Download or read book Understand Art History written by Grant Pooke and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is this the right book for me? Are you interested in art? Do you want to develop your own opinions? Would you like to get more out of your visits to galleries and exhibitions? Art History: Teach Yourself is a comprehensive and unpretentious guide that will ensure you gain a solid grounding in this fascinating subject. It begins by asking the fundamental question, 'what exactly is art?' before delving into the main historical approaches and interpretations, such as formalism, postmodernism and context. The different art periods, styles and genres are all considered in detail and illustrated with well-known examples, as are painting techniques and the way in which art is presented in museums and galleries. So, whether you are preparing for a course in art history or just want to gain confidence in your own opinions, this is the book for you. Understand Art History includes: Chapter 1: What is art and what is art history? Art: different things in different times and places Artistic status What is a 'good' painting Chapter 2: Judging by appearances Formalism: What it means Formalism and art history Chapter 3: Looking beyond the picture frame Art in context The life of the artist: biography Representing gender . Chapter 4: Art today: contemporary ways of looking Where to start? Postmodernism and art histories Seeing difference: non-Western art Chapter 5: Art in museums and galleries: spectacle and display The art museum experience The art exhibition and the 'blockbuster' show Museums and exhibitions: other meanings Chapter 6: Categorizing the history of art Art periods and styles Painting materials and techniques Finding out more: what to look for Learn effortlessly with a new easy-to-read page design and interactive features: Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. Author insights Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. Test yourself Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. Extend your knowledge Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of the subject. Five things to remember Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. Try this Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.

Download or read book Art History: The Basics written by Diana Newall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-03-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Art History: The Basics is a concise and accessible introduction for the general reader and the undergraduate approaching the history of art for the first time at college or university. It will give you answers to questions like: What is art and art history? What are the main methodologies used to understand art? How have ideas about form, sex and gender shaped representation? What connects art with psychoanalysis, semiotics and Marxism? How are globalization and postmodernism changing art and art history? Each chapter introduces key ideas, issues and debates in art history, including information on relevant websites and image archives. Fully illustrated with an international range of artistic examples, Art History: The Basics also includes helpful subject summaries, further ideas for reading in each chapter, and a useful glossary for easy reference.

Download or read book Art History For Dummies written by Jesse Bryant Wilder and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Art history is more than just a collection of dates and foreign-sounding names, obscure movements and arcane isms. Every age, for the last 50,000 years has left its unique imprint on the world, and from the first cave paintings to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from the Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia, to the graffiti-inspired paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, art history tells the story of our evolving notions of who and what we are and our place in the universe. Whether you’re an art enthusiast who’d like to know more about the history behind your favorite works and artists, or somebody who couldn’t tell a Titian and a De Kooning—but would like to—Art History For Dummies is for you. It takes you on a tour of thirty millennia of artistic expression, covering the artistic movements, major artists, and indispensable masterworks, and the world events and cultural trends that helped spawn them. With the help of stunning black-and-white photos throughout, and a sixteen-page gallery of color images, it covers: The rise and fall of classical art in Greece and Rome The differences between Renaissance art and Mannerism How the industrial revolution spawned Romanticism How and why Post-Impression branched off from Impressionism Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism and other 20th century isms What’s up with today’s eclectic art scene Art History For Dummies is an unbeatable reference for anyone who wants to understand art in its historical context.

Download or read book How to Understand Art written by Janetta Rebold Benton and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear and concise overview of the fundamentals shared by visual arts across the globe, enabling the reader to think carefully, inquisitively, and critically about art. The visual arts enrich our lives in so many ways, presenting beauty, emotion, and ideas—but sometimes looking at art is confusing and challenging. This new volume in the Art Essentials series, How to Understand Art, sets out to enhance the viewer’s experience by breaking down the elements of art to provide a firm basis for simple enjoyment as well as further understanding. With one hundred visual examples drawn from across the globe, the emphasis is on how to assess art objectively—a key skill for any art student, museum visitor, or cultural enthusiast. Art historian and museum lecturer Janetta Rebold Benton teaches the reader to reevaluate their experiences of looking at art by learning to move beyond “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like,” toward an understanding of “why I like it.” By looking at artists’ materials and techniques, such as drawing, painting, printing, photography, sculpture, and decorative art, Benton makes it possible to assess what can (and cannot) be done in certain media. With these tools at hand, it’s possible to break down any work of art. Further framing the lesson, there is a section devoted to six key artists that have had a particularly notable and innovative influence on the history of art. Perfectly aimed at students and the general reader, this indispensable guide encourages everyone to develop confidence in experiencing, analyzing, and appreciating art.

Download or read book History as Image, Image as History written by Dipti Desai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-10-16 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History as Art, Art as History pioneers methods for using contemporary works of art in the social studies and art classroom to enhance an understanding of visual culture and history. The fully-illustrated interdisciplinary teaching toolkit provides an invaluable pedagogical resource—complete with theoretical background and practical suggestions for teaching U.S. history topics through close readings of both primary sources and provocative works of contemporary art. History as Art, Art as History is an experientially grounded, practically minded pedagogical investigation meant to push teachers and students to think critically without sacrificing their ability to succeed in a standards-driven educational climate. Amid the educational debate surrounding rigid, unimaginative tests, classroom scripts, and bureaucratic mandates, this innovative book insists on an alternate set of educational priorities that promotes engagement with creative and critical thinking. Features include: A thought-provoking series of framing essays and interviews with contemporary artists address the pivotal questions that arise when one attempts to think about history and contemporary visual art together. An 8-page, full color insert of contemporary art, plus over 50 black and white illustrations throughout. A Teaching Toolkit covering major themes in U.S. history provides an archive of suggested primary documents, plus discussion suggestions and activities for putting theory into practice. Teaching activities keyed to the social studies and art curricula and teaching standards Resources include annotated bibliographies for further study and lists of arts and media organizations. This sophisticated yet accessible textbook is a must-read resource for any teacher looking to draw upon visual and historical texts in their teaching and to develop innovative curriculum and meaningful student engagement.

Download or read book A History of Art History written by Christopher S. Wood and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this authoritative book, the first of its kind in English, Christopher Wood tracks the evolution of the historical study of art from the late middle ages through the rise of the modern scholarly discipline of art history. Synthesizing and assessing a vast array of writings, episodes, and personalities, this original and accessible account of the development of art-historical thinking will appeal to readers both inside and outside the discipline. The book shows that the pioneering chroniclers of the Italian Renaissance--Lorenzo Ghiberti and Giorgio Vasari--measured every epoch against fixed standards of quality. Only in the Romantic era did art historians discover the virtues of medieval art, anticipating the relativism of the later nineteenth century, when art history learned to admire the art of all societies and to value every work as an index of its times. The major art historians of the modern era, however--Jacob Burckhardt, Aby Warburg, Heinrich Wölfflin, Erwin Panofsky, Meyer Schapiro, and Ernst Gombrich--struggled to adapt their work to the rupture of artistic modernism, leading to the current predicaments of the discipline. Combining erudition with clarity, this book makes a landmark contribution to the understanding of art history."--from book jacket

Download or read book Art History 101 . . . Without the Exams written by Annie Montgomery Labatt and published by Trinity University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is something a masterpiece? Art History 101 . . . Without the Exams is about revisiting famous works of art that we may have studied in an art history class or seen in a textbook. Each discussion delves into one great masterpiece and asks the questions that help us understand how it has shaped history. What is the piece about? How did the original owner look at this piece? Where was it originally placed? Why is it in this museum now? How did it get famous? From the sixth-century mosaics of Ravenna and the painted bulls of Altamira, Spain, dated 12,500 BCE, to an incense burner from twelfth-century Seljuk Iran, frescoes from a Late Byzantine funerary chapel, and masterworks by Botticelli, Caravaggio, Monet, and Sargent, this book shows readers how to look closely. It welcomes us to the joy of art history—but without the papers, notes, and exams.