History of Art - Hardcover

Discontinued 3PD

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131828959 ISBN 13: 9780131828957

Publisher: Discontinued 3PD, 2003

Synopsis

For forty years, this widely acclaimed classic has remained unsurpassed as an introduction to art in the Western world, boasting the matchless credibility of the Janson name. This newest update features a more contemporary, more colorful design and vast array of extraordinarily produced illustrations that have become the Janson hallmark.

A narrative voice makes this book a truly enjoyable read, and carefully reviewed and revised updates to this edition offer the utmost clarity in contributions based on recent scholarship. Extensive captions for the book’s incredible art program offer profound insight through the eyes of twentieth-century art historians speaking about specific pieces of art featured throughout.

Significantly changed in this edition is the chapter on "The Late Renaissance," in which Janson offers a new perspective on the subject, tracing in detail the religious art tied to the Catholic Reform movement, whose early history is little known to many readers of art history. Janson has also rearranged early Renaissance art according to genres instead of time sequence, and he has followed the reinterpretation of Etruscan art begun in recent years by German and English art historians.

With a truly humanist approach, this book gives written and visual meaning to the captivating story of what artists have tried to express—and why—for more than 30,000 years.

About this title

Review:

Back in the early 1970s, "Janson"--as History of Art is universally known--was a hefty but manageable 616 pages, illustrated mostly with black-and-white photographs. It also famously contained not a single work by a female artist and devoted a scant eight pages to non-Western art. Five editions and three decades later, the art history student's Stone Age-to-20th-century Bible has swelled into a massive, slipcased, 1,000-page tome studded with 865 color reproductions and subheadings that corral individual artists whose achievements used to flow together like some mighty art historical river.

Women artists (from 17th-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi to contemporary photographer Cindy Sherman) now make the cut, and the focus is purely Western, extended to include 20th-century photography and postmodernism (with a scant two pages on postmodern theory). The timeline charting landmarks in art alongside key events in history, science, and the arts has been handsomely redesigned. Each historical period now has its own world map and selection of excerpts from primary sources (including unusual ones, like a fellow monk's account of painter Hugo van der Goes's mental troubles).

With each edition, portions of the text have been altered to reflect shifting scholarly interpretations. (As the late H.W. Janson wryly noted in the original, 1962 preface, "There are no 'plain facts' in the history of art.") H.W.'s son Anthony writes in his preface to the sixth edition that changes have been made to sections on ancient art; French romantic, realist, and impressionist painting; and the history of Western architecture. Happily unchanged--no dumbing-down here--is the clarity and intelligence of the writing. All in all, History of Art remains an invaluable reference for anyone who studies or writes about the subject. But even if no further bloat is contemplated, the time has come to rename the worthy Janson History of Western Art, and to divide it into two volumes, if only to protect the health and backpacks of art historians-to-be. --Cathy Curtis

About the Author:

Anthony F. Janson has forged a distinguished career as an author, museum professional, and teacher. He has written books, catalogs, and articles on a wide range of subjects from the Renaissance to the present day. He served as Chief Curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota; and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. He has taught at three universities, most recently at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Dr. Janson took over authorship of History of Art and History of Art for Young People upon the death of his father, H. W. Janson, in 1982.

About this edition

• Publisher: Discontinued 3PD
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0131828959
• ISBN 13: 9780131828957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 1032