Working with a close group of academics and editors, DK Publishing has put together a brief overview of the history of art. Here, in 2,500 color images, readers will find well-known works and details of pieces that have claimed fame in the art historical time-line. It is the sort of book that is suited towards those with an interest for the subject, but who lack time to devote to meticulous hours of study in the area. Not every appreciator of art has years to devote to the study of Art History. DK Publishing has reduced the academic world of the subject into 2,500 images.
From Altamira On
The earliest of cave paintings where uncovered at the turn of the last century in Altamira, Spain where an amateur archaeologist and his young daughter had been exploring. The discovery is often credited more towards the child than the parent. It is here that many introductions to art and its history have begun. Utilizing beautifully rendered pictures of the caves, Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary begun a time-line that draws interested readers in to the world of Art History.
The Major Periods
The books goes on to create reproductions of works that have only begun to greatly influence the contemporary movements. DK Publishing reproduces works that were originally created by more than 700 artists, adding to the time-line that they had begun with the introduction to cave painting. It’s weakness, may fall in its glossing over the more precise periods of art, but for those who peruse the subject more as a fun past time will not be bothered by this as general knowledge and pictorial evidence abounds in these sections.
Where it Differentiates
While the book does gloss over many of Art History’s integral parts, it does go in depth with regards to artist biographies and time-lines. The backgrounds that the book covers as well as its organizational methods are what make it overall. It is here that the book shines in its rendition to the history of art. Along with its simplistic approach to the subject, it is also concise in what it lends to the reader making it a strong source in the arsenal of anyone who wishes to even briefly be associated with art and its history.
What is Most Striking
Outside of the explanations that the book offers are the more in-depth explanations of how these reproductions play into the time-line that so many academics have attributed to the study of art as a history. Overall, Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary is a gem for anyone who wishes to learn more about Art History as a subject as opposed to a simple time-line that is largely overlooked by more contemporary historians that are quick to forget it as a scholarly endeavor.
Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary is available through DK Publishing with ISBN 0756639727.
Budding art historians and those with only a slight interest in the subject should pick up a copy of Art History’s History by Vernon Hyde Minor. It not only creates a brief introduction into the rich and lavish world of Art History, but it also relates to the reader in such a way that it can be considered a book based on the introductory level of Art History. Vernon Hyde Minor simplifies the practice of art and its history to appeal even to the casual reader of the subject.
Peggy Guggenheim is known for many things – the death of her father on the RMS Titanic, her sexual escapades and most importantly, her hand in the founding of Modern Art.
In contemporary art, there are many questions to be raised as to why works sell and more strangely, how much they sell for. With each new movement, there are a series of new questions brought to the table – is this art? What will people pay to own it? Is there a place for it?
When you think of New Jersey today it is easy for your mind to drift to Snooki, Italian-Americans, lots of hair spray, fist pumping and any other stereotype that New Jersey has been blasted with over the course of the past few years with programing like The Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. However, what has been forgotten and pushed aside is that New Jersey is rich in history that pre-dates the spray tans and hair-poofs.
Picture getting to see some of the most breath-taking parts of Yosemite National Park before it ever was Yosemite National Park. Think of sweeping mountains, fresh, gushing water and abundant plant life. 19th century romanticism only touched on how beautiful these landscapes were and in some cases still are. Now, combining that 19th century writing with beautifully rendered 21st century photographs, this illustrated edition of a classic is not something that is easily put down.
A baby book is not something that readers will typically associate with art books. However, the photography included in Your Baby Is Speaking to You is heart-warming and makes the book a great one to leaf through, even for those of us who do not have children and for those of us who are not usually captivated by other people’s off-spring.
Christopher Burkett
There is nothing quite as lush as pairing the rich, vibrant world of art history with that of a mystery. Iain Pears, an art historian, pairs the two together in his novel, Death and Restoration. It is the sixth novel in Pears’ Jonathan Argyll series. However, readers who are new to it, will not be lost in what came in books prior. Pears subtly reminds his readers of important past events and relationships that are key to following the mystery in Death and Restoration.
The world of skateboarding is something that many kids from the late 1980’s and up until present day are at least some what associated with. Skating celebrities like Tony Hawk have mainstreamed the sport, turning it into video games and entertainment. However, skateboarding did not begin with the 80’s or even with the grunge movement of the early 1990’s. Skateboarding has been around since the 1950’s.
Katherine Kuzma-Beck 