Series: World of Art

The aesthetic of our contemporary environment, including everything from housing developments to furniture and websites, is partly the result of a school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919, the Bauhaus. While in operation for only fourteen years before being shut down by the Nazis in 1933, the school left an indelible mark on design as well as...

Painting is a continually expanding and evolving medium. The radical changes that have taken place since the 1960s and 1970s - the period that saw the shift from a modernist to a postmodernist visual language - have led to its reinvigoration as a practice, lending it an energy and diversity that persist today. In Contemporary Painting, renowned critic and art...

A new concise history of modern painting, offering an indispensable reference to the complexities and characteristics of this medium. While acknowledging the legacy of Herbert Read's classic 1959 study A Concise History of Modern Painting in the World of Art series, academic and artist Simon Morley places the foundation of modern art much earlier than Read, at the emergence of...

An essential visual overview for students and readers with an interest in Sienese art, history, and Renaissance culture. For two centuries, the city-republic of Siena was home to a brilliant succession of painters who created some of the greatest masterpieces of all time; an imagery unmatched in colouristic intensity and spatial experimentation. This overview, now revised and updated, is an...

The perfect introduction to Aboriginal art for students, travellers, art lovers, and collectors, now in its fourth edition. This concise survey showcases the incredible, diverse work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists. Building on traditions that stretch back at least 50,000 years, these artists have long worked in a variety of contexts from the sacred and secret realm of ceremony...

A wide-ranging and engaging introduction to the place and power of colour in life and art by John Gage, author of the award-winning Colour and Culture. The complex phenomenon of colour has received detailed attention from the perspectives of physics, chemistry, physiology, psychology, linguistics and philosophy. However, the people who work most closely with colour - artists - have rarely...

A comprehensive new overview of expressionism, tracing its evolution from the nineteenth century to the present day. Expressionist artists believed in the art object's ability to communicate emotion, irrespective of any representational or narrative content. In this comprehensive introduction to one of the most radical artistic movements of our time, writer, artist, curator, and educator Colin Rhodes traces the thread...

Paul Gauguin achieved a high public profile during his lifetime and was one of the first artists of his generation to achieve international recognition. However, his prominence has always had as much to do with the dramatic events of his life—his self-imposed exile on a remote South Sea island, his turbulent relationships with his peers—as with the appeal of his...

Hogarth was one of the great 18th-century painters, a marvellous colourist and innovator at all levels of artistic expression. Art historian David Bindman surveys the works of this artist whose wry humour and sharp wit were reflected in his prolific paintings and prints, including The Rake's Progress and Marriage-A-la-Mode. Hogarth was also a master of pictorial satire, highlighting the moral...

Embracing over a thousand years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China, this is an unrivalled synthesis of the arts of Islamic civilisation. From the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, Robert Hillenbrand traces the evolution of an extraordinary range of art forms, including architecture, calligraphy, book illumination,...

This standard introduction to visual art since 1945 has been revised, updated, and redesigned for the first time since 2001. Movements in Art Since 1945 summarises movements, trends, and individual artists from abstract expressionism to the present day, with detailed coverage of major developments such as pop art, conceptual and performance work, minimal art, neo-expressionist and figurative painting, the YBAs,...

A fresh and vibrant account of the USA's New Deal art programmes, highlighting diversity, activism, social justice, and urgent lessons for today. Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory in the USA's 1932 presidential election gave him a mandate to institute a 'New Deal' for US citizens, and by so doing offer them 'a more abundant life'. For a decade between 1933...

Few British artists have ever achieved such a wide range of style in oil painting, watercolour, drawing, and engraving as J. M. W. Turner. He had a precocious gift that was developed over a lifetime of experimentation and innovation. This classic book in the World of Art series traces the artist's career—from youthful picturesque views and watercolours of 'Gothic' ruins...

This authoritative book in the World of Art series offers a new perspective on the paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, authored by one of the world's foremost experts on Dutch art. Renowned art historian Gary Schwartz offers a fresh and contemporary perspective on seventeenth-century Dutch painting, one of the most important schools of European art. This lively and authoritative...

A new edition of Belinda Thomson's highly accessible survey, which brings together the latest research on this perennially popular art movement. The enduring popularity of Impressionism belies what the group of painters dubbed the Impressionists stood for. In the 1870s and 1880s, French artists, including Pissarro, Monet, Degas, Morisot and Renoir, adopted a revolutionary style of technique and subject matter...

A richly illustrated survey of Matisse's impact on modern art that also examines his career, techniques, aesthetics and stages of artistic development. The work of Henri Matisse has been both a profound inspiration to his successors and a source of infinite enjoyment to all who love art. Yet the apparent spontaneity of his colour and ease of imagery were the...

An updated edition of the pioneering study in the acclaimed World of Art series, this classic book surveys a full century of performance art, from the Futurist manifesto of 1909 through the second decade of the new millennium. Performance Art is a pioneering history of one of the most important art forms to emerge in modern times. Now in its...

Since the early years of the 20th century, Western abstract art has fascinated, outraged and bewildered audiences. Its path to acceptance within the artistic mainstream was slow. Anna Moszynska traces the origins and evolution of abstract art, placing it in broad cultural context. She examines the pioneering work of Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian alongside the Russian Constructivists, the De Stijl...

An updated edition of this classic survey, a thorough overview of Paul Cézanne's life and work. For Picasso, he was 'like our father'; for Matisse, 'a god of painting'. Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is widely regarded as the father of modern art. In this authoritative and accessible study, Richard Verdi traces the evolution of Cézanne's landscape, still-life, and figure compositions, from...

From the momentous invention of the needle some 40,000 years ago to the development of blue denim, from Neolithic weavers to the biggest names in the fashion industry today, this classic guide covers the landmarks of costume history. It explores the forms and materials used through the ages, the underlying motives of fashion, and the ways in which clothes have...

The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs capture the imagination of the modern world. Vivid, graceful forms decorating monuments that emanated ambition and authority spark our wonder about this distant culture. Ever youthful and elegant men and women encounter odd, animal-headed gods and monsters amid scenes of work and leisure, in a paradise of plain,...

An indispensable guide to the international history of illustrated images, from 1750 to the present day. Illustration: A Concise History is a dynamic visual journey through the landscape of illustration that maps the evolution of the discipline from the industrial revolution to the post-digital age and showcases over 180 of its most iconic practitioners, including Laura Knight, Antonio Lopez, Käthe...

The definitive introduction to the artist Mary Cassatt, placing her work in the wider context of 19th-century feminism and art theory. A close ally of Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot and Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt was the only American painter at the heart of the Impressionist group in Paris. Highly respected on both sides of the Atlantic, Cassatt was a forthright...

A new edition of this classic survey on the life and work of Spanish surrealist, Joan Miró, by his close friend, historian and fellow artist Roland Penrose. Among the great 20th-century masters, the surrealist painter Joan Miró stands out for the atmosphere of wit and spontaneity that pervades his work. Miró's art went through many phases, and its major features—his...

The dazzling colours and patterns of the art of the Pacific Islands have long entranced Western audiences, not least artists such as Gauguin and Picasso. The tendency has been to regard Oceanic art as 'primitive', mysterious and shrouded in taboo. However, Nicholas Thomas, in looking at and beyond the familiar, stunning surfaces of masks and shields, carved canoe prows and...

An in-depth overview of Ukrainian art from the dawn of Modernism in the late nineteenth century to the start of the Russian invasion in Spring 2022. Ukraine is at a historic crossroads, with the nation's complex cultural identity at stake. Curator Alisa Lozhkina provides an authoritative overview of the country's art, artists, and movements from the dawn of Modernism to...

An updated edition of this classic title on the origins of 20th-century ideas in architecture and the applied arts. The turn of the nineteenth century saw an extraordinary flowering of invention in architecture and design, leading to the emergence of two contrasting styles: Art Nouveau and the International Style. Professor Nikolaus Pevsner brings clarity to this period of dynamic change...

A comprehensive introduction to Velázquez's life and art which includes a discussion of all his major works. Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) was one of the towering figures of western painting and Baroque art, a technical master renowned for his focus on realism and startling veracity. Everything he painted was 'treated' as a portrait, from Spanish royalty and Pope Innocent X, to...

A history of women designers and consumers from 1900 to the present day. The work of women designers has not traditionally been the focus of mainstream histories of design. By revealing the untold story of female design pioneers, this comprehensive introduction celebrates their crucial role in the history of modern processes of making. Arranged chronologically, this guide considers the structural...

The African diaspora—a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism—has generated a wide array of artistic achievements, from blues and reggae to the paintings of the pioneering African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner and video creations of contemporary hip-hop artists. Black Art concentrates on how these works, often created during times of major social upheaval and transformation,...

In this path-breaking new history, Maja and Reuben Fowkes introduce outstanding artworks and major figures from across central and eastern Europe to reveal the movements, theories, and styles that have shaped artistic practice since 1950. They emphasize the particularly rich and varied art scenes of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, extending their gaze at intervals to East Germany, Romania, the...

Contemporary African art has grown out of the diverse histories and cultural heritage of the African continent and its diaspora. It is not characterised by any particular style, technique, or theme, but by a bricolage-like attitude towards art-making. This involves incorporating and building upon the structures from which older, precolonial, and colonial genres were made. In this revised and updated...

From the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement to the present day, and from Art Nouveau and Bauhaus to hi-tech and green design, every style of interior design since 1900 is charted in this wide-ranging survey. Design in the 20th century saw an extraordinary evolution, with the emergence of professional interior designers and the growing appetite to redesign homes at frequent...

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of the most admired and famous painters of all time, and the architect of Impressionism: a revolution that gave birth to modern art. His technique—painting out of doors, at the seashore, or in the city streets—was as radically new as his subject matter, the landscapes and middle-class pastimes of a newly industrialised Paris. Painting with...

Fulfilling a need for an accessible, affordable introduction to a subject of sustained and growing significance in contemporary culture, this volume in the World of Art series redefines contemporary Chinese art in the last forty years since the end of China's Cultural Revolution, placing it in the context of unprecedented cultural, political and urban transformation. This book offers neither an...

An updated edition of this indispensable reference, surveying the history of textiles from 25,000 years ago to the present. The history of textiles, more than that of any other artefact, is a history of human ingenuity. From the very earliest needles of 50,000 years ago to the smart textiles of today, textiles have been fundamental to human existence, and enjoyed,...

The third edition of this classic study provides a thorough introduction to one of the most popular and recognisable artists of the 20th century. Salvador Dalí was, and remains, among the most universally recognisable artists of the twentieth century. What accounts for this popularity? His excellence as an artist? Or his genius as a self-publicist? In this searching text, partly...

A revised edition of this classic survey that presents a thorough overview of Georgia O'Keeffe's life and work. Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was a major figure in American art for seven decades. Throughout that long and prolific career, she remained true to her unique artistic vision, creating a highly individual style that synthesised the formal language of modern European abstraction and...

An authoritative introduction to one of the most influential painters in the history of art, written by the pre-eminent authority on the subject and informed by the latest research. More versatile and less idiosyncratic than Michelangelo, more prolific and accessible than his mentor Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, though he died at only thirty-seven, is considered the single most influential artist...

A classic monograph in the World of Art series, offering a detailed insight into Rembrandt's life and work. Rembrandt is among the few Old Master artists to retain universal appeal among art lovers today, his striking self-portraits lauded the world over—yet he remains an elusive, enigmatic figure. Here, the distinguished art historian Christopher White carefully considers the known facts to...

This survey provides a complete history of American art and architecture from the seventeenth century to the latest installation and video work. It includes all the major American artists and works, and discusses and illustrates dozens of building types, from the earliest colonial houses and churches to the most spectacular modernist and postmodernist stores, museums, stations, and iconic skyscrapers. The...

A timely introduction to the fields of environmental art, art and ecology, art and climate change, art and activism, and art in the Anthropocene. Global awareness of climate change is increasing, and the scientific evidence is incontrovertible: an environmental crisis is upon us. Art and Climate Change presents an overview of ecologically conscious contemporary art that addresses the climate emergency,...

This detailed survey presents for the first time an alternative history of the moving image, chronicling artists' ever-evolving fascination with filmmaking from the early twentieth century to now. From early pioneers to key artists of the present, leading authority and film expert David Curtis offers a vivid account of the numerous individuals who have been inspired by the cinematic medium...

In this classic survey, now updated and with full-colour images throughout, Edward Lucie-Smith introduces the art of Latin America from 1900 to the present day. He discusses in detail major figures such as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, as well as dozens of less well-known artists. Those who spent their lives in exile, and artists from Europe and the US...

A revised and updated edition of a bestselling introduction on one of the leading architects of the 20th century. Le Corbusier is probably the most famous architect of the 20th century. The richness and variety of his work and his passionately expressed philosophy of architecture have had a gigantic impact on the urban fabric and the way we live. Weaving...

Genius. Anti-artist. Charlatan. Impostor! Since 1914, Marcel Duchamp has been called all of these. No artist of the 20th century has aroused more passion and controversy, nor exerted a greater influence on art, the very nature of which Duchamp challenged and redefined as concept rather than product by questioning its traditionally privileged optical nature. At the same time, he never...

Manipulation of the photograph is as old as photography itself. It has embodied and enlivened political propaganda, satire, publicity, and commercial art, and created evocations of the 'brave new world' of the future through surreal and fantastic visions. Photomontages were made by, among others, the Dadaists, John Heartfield, El Lissitzky, Hannah Höch, and Alexander Rodchenko, and many of their works...

This book distils a lifetime's study of Viking art. Written by a leading authority, it introduces all the intricate and beautiful art styles of the Viking age. It ranges in time from the first major Viking expeditions overseas around AD 800 to the general establishment of Christianity in Scandinavia some 300 years later. The opening chapter introduces the geographical and...

Prophet, poet, painter, engraver — William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist of uniquely powerful imagination and far-reaching creative gifts. His work expresses the spiritual drama of the English national being, integrating poetry and visual art in a sustained work of visionary creativity unparalleled in English art history. Revealing Blake to be far more than a revolutionary social radical, this classic...

Women, Art, and Society by Whitney Chadwick is an acclaimed study that challenges the assumption that great women artists are exceptions to the rule, transcending their gender to produce major works of art. While acknowledging the many women whose contributions to visual culture since the Middle Ages have often been neglected, Chadwick’s survey amounts to much more than an alternative...

Ballet and Modern Dance by Susan Au covers the whole subject, vividly describing the great performers and performances of the past as well as exploring in detail the dance world of today. A generous selection of illustrations completes the picture, taking the reader from the palaces of the Medici to the lofts of Manhattan, from the dancing of Louis XIV...

The fourth edition of the essential introduction to digital art, one of contemporary art's most exciting and dynamic forms of practice. Digital art, along with the technological developments of its medium, has rapidly evolved from the 'digital revolution' into the social media era and to the postdigital and post-Internet landscape. This new, expanded edition of this invaluable overview of the...

John Boardman has updated his definitive survey of Greek Art, the most influential and widely known historic artistic tradition of the Old World. In the 20 years since the last edition, valuable evidence has come to light which has dramatically enhanced our understanding of the arts of ancient Greece and their influence. We now know that Greek artists in fact...

What makes Scottish art Scottish? In this now classic text, Murdo Macdonald explores the distinctive characteristics of Scottish art over the centuries—such as the heritage of Celtic design with its emphasis on intricate pattern; the importance of the landscape, particularly the Highlands and the sea; and a close connection with France. The narrative ranges from the earliest art to survive—Neolithic...

A revised and updated edition of Sir John Summerson's classic book. Derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture in antiquity, the classical style has long dominated the history of western architecture from the Renaissance to the present. Sir John Summerson's timeless text, as relevant today as it was when first published, distils the visual language of architecture into...

In the 21st century, photography has come of age as a contemporary art form. Almost two centuries after photographic technology was first invented, the art world has fully embraced it as a legitimate medium, equal in status to painting and sculpture. The Photograph as Contemporary Art provides an introduction to the extraordinary range of contemporary art photography, from portraits of...

The story of graphic design is one of the most exciting and important in the history of twentieth century visual culture. From its roots in the development of printing, graphic design has evolved as a means of identification, information and promotion to become a profession and discipline in its own right. This authoritative documentary history begins with the poster and...

A new edition of this classic collection of letters, critical reviews and reminiscences by Impressionist artists and their contemporaries. The Impressionists—Monet, Manet, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and others—are probably the most popular of all artistic schools. Their struggle to impose a new vision is one of the most absorbing in the whole history of art. With imagination and insight,...

From the turn-of-the-century S-bend silhouette to celebrity couture of the new millennium and the evolution of streetwear, this comprehensive survey explores significant developments in fashion from 1900 to the present day. Fashion historians Amy de La Haye and Valerie Mendes focus on key movements and innovations in style, and explore trends through the work of some of the world's most...

Deep underground, hidden from view, some of humanity's earliest artistic endeavours have lain buried for thousands of years. The most ancient artworks were portable objects, left on cave floors. Shell beads signal that 100,000 years ago, humans had developed a sense of self and a desire to beautify the body. Ostrich eggshells incised with curious geometric patterns hint at how...

This new interpretive history of Mexican art and architecture from the Spanish Conquest to the early decades of the twenty-first century is the most comprehensive introduction to the subject in fifty years. The author ranges widely across media and genres, offering new readings of paintings, murals, sculptures, buildings, prints and photographs. He interprets major works by such famous artists as...

This highly acclaimed survey of modern architecture and its origins has become a classic since it first appeared in 1980, and has helped to shape architectural practice and discourse worldwide. For this extensively revised and updated fifth edition, Kenneth Frampton has added a new section that explores in detail the modernist tradition in architecture across the globe in the late...

A remarkable study in social and cultural change that explains how and why the Late Antique world, between c. 150 and c. 750 AD, came to differ from 'Classical civilization'. The first century AD was one of momentous events: the end of the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity across Western Europe, and the disappearance of Persia from the Near...

The Greek myths are so much part of our culture that we tend to forget how they entered it in the first place. Visual sources—vase paintings, engraved gems, and sculpture in bronze and stone—often pre-date references to the myths in literature, or offer alternative, unfamiliar tellings. In some cases, visual art provides our only evidence, as there is no surviving...

An updated and substantially revised edition of this comprehensive introduction to outsider art, distinguished by its wider international scope and inclusion of global developments since 2000. Outsider Art is the work produced outside the mainstream of modern art by self-taught, untrained visionaries, spiritualists, recluses, folk artists, psychiatric patients, prisoners and others beyond the imposed margins of society and the art...

The last few decades have seen a complete untethering of what art can be, who makes it, and where it can be found. This shift has been matched by a reassessment of art's appropriate place in society and the financial value that should be attached to it. Art Since 1989 surveys the dynamic developments in art worldwide, searching for those...

Love it or loathe it, graffiti plays a prominent role in the culture and consciousness of cities. The traditional letter-based writing that appeared on the streets of Philadelphia and New York over forty years ago has evolved into two distinct disciplines. While both thrive illegally and challenge the concept of public space, the new wave of street art puts greater...

A completely new section maps the developments in contemporary art since 2000, including the increasing influence of social and political change, globalised culture, the art market, and social media on artists working today. This ensures that Art Since 1960 remains an indispensable source of information on the evolution of art over the past five-and-a-half decades. This intelligently argued critical overview...

'Where and how Dada began is almost as difficult to determine as Homer's birthplace', writes Hans Richter, the artist and film-maker closely associated with this radical movement from its earliest days. Here, he records and traces Dada's history, from its inception in wartime Zurich, to its collapse in Paris in the 1920s when many of its members were to join...

One of the most popular and influential British artists of our times, David Hockney has never ceased to change his style and ways of working, always re-energising his art with new solutions, fresh ideas, and technical mastery. Now excitedly embracing his 'late period', Hockney remains as engaged as ever with the questions he has always posed for himself—what to depict,...