Art History category: 15294 books

Author of a number of celebrated works, including the bestselling The Story of the Jews and Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama's latest book fuses history and art to create a tour de force of narrative sweep and illuminating insight. Using images from works-paintings, photographs,...

A founder of French Impressionist painting and the most prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, Claude Monet created a large body of works, developing his own method of producing repeated studies of the same motif in a series, whilst changing...

The French painter Édouard Manet, often associated with the Impressionists, broke new ground by defying traditional techniques of representation and by choosing contemporary subjects of Parisian life. His ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ and ‘Olympia’ sparked public outcries, while inspiring a new...

Because so many Chinese artworks have been ravaged by time, the only way to really understand their history and significance is to turn to writings by the painters themselves or by contemporary critics. That is what Osvald Sirén has done in this classic book, with eye-opening results. One of the...

In this book, leading art experts, art historians, and critics review the life, career, and artistic development of New York based Chinese artist Zhang Hongtu. A pioneer in contemporary Chinese art, Zhang created the first example of "China Pop" art, and his oeuvre is as diverse, intellectually...

Each of the five volumes in the Stone Art Theory Institutes series, and the seminars on which they are based, brings together a range of scholars who are not always directly familiar with one another’s work. The outcome of each of these convergences is an extensive and “unpredictable conversation”...

In a sweeping cultural history of Russia from the rise of the house of Romanov in 1613 to its downfall at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1917, Solomon Volkov effortlessly unwinds the twisted relationship between art and the royal family. Throughout the Romanov dynasty, Russia’s greatest artists...

The greatest sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, Donatello produced both marble and bronze masterpieces. His revolutionary statues were lauded for their incredible realism, while he also developed his very own form of shallow bas-relief, known as ‘schiacciato’. Donatello possessed an extensive...

Depicting Canada’s Children is a critical analysis of the visual representation of Canadian children from the seventeenth century to the present. Recognizing the importance of methodological diversity, these essays discuss understandings of children and childhood derived from depictions across a...

This survey of western art from ancient Egypt to Picasso looks at visual art in a completely new and imaginative way. Gottfried Richters lively and penetrating obser­vations will inspire and enthuse the novice, while breathing new life into the thinking of art critics and historians. Richter concerns...

Before the printing press introduced the notion of mass production to the Renaissance world, the written word was one of spiritual significance and unfathomable mystique. Sacred texts predominated and books were acceptable means of procuring religious thought. As harbinger of the book, the Illuminated...

Christian images have a long history within the Western art tradition from the narrative and devotional works of the Medieval and Renaissance periods, to the radical new interpretations of the twenty-first century. This fascinating new book explores the changing nature of the representation of key...

Challenging History in the Museum explores work with difficult, contested and sensitive heritages in a range of museum contexts. It is based on the Challenging History project, which brings together a wide range of heritage professionals, practitioners and academics to explore heritage and museum...

The last few decades have been among the most dynamic within recent British cultural history. Artists across all genres and media have developed and re-fashioned their practice against a radically changing social and cultural landscape – both national and global. This book takes a fresh look...