Published at DK Canada
About the book
Art: A Visual History is the complete visual guide to Western art, now updated and repackaged in a themed slipcase.
How to tell Impressionism from Expressionism, a Degas from a Monet, early Medieval art from early Christian? Art: A Visual History explains it all — painting, sculpture, great artists, styles, and schools — and will help you answer the question, "What makes great art?"
Art: A Visual History includes:
• More than 650 artists and all the major schools and movements, all arranged chronologically.
• Close-up focus on 22 masterpieces, from Ancient Greek sculpture to 1960s Pop Art.
• Well-known icons along with lesser-known gems — carefully chosen to illuminate the points made in the text.
• Features on major schools and movements to explore and explain their stylistic trademarks, characteristics, and favored subjects.
Art: A Visual History is a knowledgeable, thought-provoking, and accessible tour of the creators of Western art.
My Thoughts
We are currently in the midst of a unit on art with our homeschool coop. The kids had spend the past two weeks learning about the lingo of art and creating fun things. Last week, I was teaching about self-portrait and we learned about Albrecht Dürer who is considered the first artist to make a self-portrait. He actually made four of them while growing up and his first one was at the age of 13 years. Needless to say, I was very please to have the book ART a visual history to show the page on this artist to the kids.
The table of content is divided in different era:
- Early Art c. 30,000BCE – 1300CE
- Gothic and Early Renaissance C1300 – 1500
- High Renaissance and Mannerism C1500 – 1600
- The Baroque Era C1600 - 1700
- From Rococo to Neoclassicism C1700 - 1800
- Romantic and Academic Art C1800 - 1900
- Modernism C 1900 – 1970
- Contemporary Art 1970 onward
In each of these sections gives techniques used during a specific era and will provide a timeline of the history as well. You will be able to discover the artists who created art during that period of time and learn more about the media they used. The book is packed with information on artist, samples of sculptures and paintings, information about specific historical influence, as well as a glossary.
This book is very informative and will introduce anyone reading it to art during history. However, if you have children at home – particularly growing boys near puberty age – I think that you should be aware that this book could be a source of issues when it comes to the unveiling of the body of women. Numerous images will clearly show naked body part. I find it essential to be aware of this and make sure that this do not cause issues in the long run. For example, when I found my page on Albrecht Dürer, the opposite page was of a naked woman lying on the side. Needless to say since I was teaching the older group of kids – ages 10 to 14 – I decided that it would be better for me to cover this painting while I was doing my presentation. Not that I am ashame of my own personal body but to prevent issues on various level. This was not appropriate in the context of our homeschool coop.
Art a visual history is available for purchase at your favorite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.
Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for allowing me to promote this book. I was not monetarily compensated for this post . Please note that the post was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
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