Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism

Author - Bruce Cole ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Simon & Schuster was reviewed on 15-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0671747282 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism Reference Book. Classifications : Art History Humanities New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS Qualifying Textbooks Custom Stores Sp . Click the following link to view the cover of Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism.

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1) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. The book is in great condition. No writing or highlighting and for a paperback book the cover is in excellent shape, no signs of wear. Thank you for a great book.¤

2) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. I find this book an excellent approach to the history of the Western philosophy. Relevant presentations of the main concepts necessary to interpret the development of philosophy. The book illustrates and summarizes the most essential characteristics of the numerous philosophical tendencies throughout history. It contains attractive pictures, notes, and commentaries. For anyone interested in the evolution of ideas in humankind this is a helpful tool. The only observation is that the letter size is too small and every time I read it I use a magnifier, which makes the reading a little uncomfortable.¤

3) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. I studied this book, watched the 8 associated videos and reviewed with WNET: ´Art of the Western World´ study guide and only missed 7 questions on the DANTES/DSST test.¤

4) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. Book provides good introduction to history of art in Western World by time period. Does a particulary good job at showing how styles evolved and changed over time.¤

5) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. Art of the Western World, from Ancient Greece to Post-Modernist art, is covered admirably in this companion volume to the PBS series of the same name. Perhaps one of the reasons I find this book so interesting is that I have met the authors, as Bruce Cole and Adelheid Gealt are both part of the Art programmes here at Indiana University, and the book is dedicated to Herman Wells, recently deceased, but powerful administrator who built in his 50 years of work with the university an Ivy-League-like atmosphere and, for many departments and schools, reputation.

The text is beautifully illustrated, with full-colour plates and glossy photographs of paintings, sculpture, stained glass, furniture, jewelry and architecture on every page. This is also a comprehensive volume of Western art - chapters include the art of Greece, Rome, Christian Art (including a special chapter devoted to cathedrals), Renaissance art (with special chapters on Italian and Dutch art), eighteenth and nineteenth century art, and then several chapters on modern artistic movements from Impressionism forward.

This book is clear in writing and procedure - it avoids technical jargon whenever possible, and is good at explaining the necessary elements to increase appreciation of the art being shown. Often, a true appreciation of art requires a knowledge of the history and culture of the artists, and this volume provides some of the background to fill in the historical gaps.

`Our art is part of us; in it flows the spiritual and intellectual lifeblood which still nourishes and sustains our ancient civilisation. It is also a living, redemptive force in an age that has witnessed the madness and destruction which is also, unfortunately, our Western heritage. Art can embody and transcend both its creators and its times to reveal enduring truths about the human condition; the more we understand art, the more we understand ourselves and the complexities of our world.´

The volume features an introductory essay by Michael Wood, who served as the on-screen narrator of the PBS television series. Wood, a journalist, historian and filmmaker, is also author of the best-selling In Search of the Trojan War. In this essay, Wood argues that the tradition of Western art is not simply a tradition, but a series of complementary traditions that cross-pollinate with cultural, religious, and aesthetic differences. The flows toward and away from realism over time can often be explained in cultural-influence terms as well as aesthetic terms. He also asks the question, `Whither the future for Western art?´

`There are more working artists and more consumers of art than ever before. As a business, art is booming. But it is plain now, with the spread of an electronic global culture, that we face the prospect of the erosion of all differences, the prospect of great conformity and simplification.... Now, with modernism, the West has become a state of mind, rather than a geographical region, and is perceived as such by other cultures-Islam, Africa, India, and the rest-who have felt its often destructive impact.´

This is a fair warning, but this book by no means belittles the achievements and influence of Western art - it celebrates it gloriously, and looks forward to continuing developments and achievements, as the future may hold yet more creation and originality - while the West influences the rest of the world, the rest of the world is influencing the West, which throughout history has shown itself particularly susceptible to original influences from out.¤

6) Paperback Book Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism by Simon & Schuster. In this magnificently illustrated and comprehensive book, readers will take one of the most beautiful journeys our world has to offer: an exploration of the greatest are and architecture of Western civilization. Art of the Western World -- the companion volume to the nine-part PBS television series -- traces the history of Western art from its classical roots in ancient Greece up to the present day and the international Post-Modernism of artists as diverse as Christo, Hockney, and Kiefer. Along the way experts Bruce Cole and Adelheid Gealt carefully chart the evolution of the Western tradition, from the grandeur of Roman architecture to the symbolic language of medieval art, through the unparalleled achievements of the Renaissance, the turbulent emotionalism of the Romantics like Turner and Constable, the Impressionists´ search for a new reality, and the revolution of the Abstract Expressionists of the twentieth century.

Art of the Western World integrates the works of each period with the history, values, and ideals that gave birth to them: the influence of the Medicis and other great patrons of Renaissance Italy; the resurgence of the classical style, inspired by the French Revolution; the break with the past evidenced in the works of the Impressionists; and the tortured visions of the modern world devastated by wars depicted in the paintings of Picasso, Marc, Groez, and others.

A valuable key to understanding the language of art, Art of the Western World offers fresh insight into what the great works meant at the time they were created and why they maintain their special meaning to us now. It is the perfect guide to the masterpieces of Western art.

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Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 12-Nov-2008, 06717472829780671747282, 550-000-360-820-270-150-8

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