Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts, Revised (7th Edition)

This visually attractive book features elegant design, high quality reproductions, and a down-to-earth, jargon-free presentation. Introducing readers to the theory, practice, and history of art—while emphasizing its impact on everyday life—this revised seventh edition now includes an accompanying CD-ROM. Topics covered in this book are the visual elements of art and the principles of design; style; criticism and evaluation; the two-dimensional arts, including drawing, painting, printmaking, camera arts and computer imaging, and graphic design; the three-dimensional arts, including clay, glass, metal, wood, and fiber, architecture, and sculpture; and art through the ages. For readers interested in developing their appreciation of the visual arts.

From the first edition in 1972, ARTFORMS has been as visually exciting as the individual works of art that are reproduced in it. ARTFORMS grew out of a desire to introduce art through an engaging visual experience. It is written and designed to help readers build an informed foundation for individual understanding and enjoyment of art. By introducing art theory, practice, and history in a single volume, this book aims to draw students into a new or expanded awareness of the visual arts. The goal is to engage readers in the process of realizing their own innate creativity.

In keeping with this philosophy, the revised seventh edition of ARTFORMS is a careful blending of the strengths of its earlier editions—clear organizational structure, straightforward writing, and high quality images—and a number of important changes. Thirty new illustrations of contemporary art works have been added, including those of many new artists in a wide range of media, from graphic design and architecture to installation and ceramics. Contemporary artists represented in this book for the first time include Willie Cole, Rachel Whiteread, Mel Chin, Zaha Hadid, Sarah Charlesworth, Xu Bing, Tunga, Charles Ray, William Kentridge, Tibor Kalman, and others. Moreover, I have continued the effort begun in the last edition to reflect the ever-broadening canon of art history by making this edition the most inclusive yet. I have added works by Sonia Delaunay, Tarsila do Amaral, Norman Lewis, Carlos Fresquez, and Alicia Candiani, among others, to make this book the best available survey of the world-wide range of art production.

In addition, I have done major updating in several sections to reflect recent developments in art issues and advances in scholarship. Essays on restoration of art works, censorship, and return of cultural property have been rewritten with new information. I included a photograph of the back view of the Venus of Lespugue to show recent groundbreaking research on textile arts from the Stone Age. The chapter on Islamic Arts has been expanded.

The most important change in this edition, however, is in the bridges it builds to the digital world. A new section of Chapter 10 describes art made on computers, with an historical overview and contemporary works. A new essay, "The Digital Revolution and the Arts," highlights how all areas of art creation, preservation, and study have been affected by the advent of digital technology. This book itself makes groundbreaking use of that technology, presenting interactive exercises, video demonstrations, and pictures of important art works on a new CD-ROM that is aptly titled Discovering Art.

Part One: Art Is . . . (Chapters 1 and 2) introduces the nature of art, aesthetics, and creativity, and discusses the purposes of art and visual communication. Strongly believing that we are all artists at heart, we include an essay on children and their "Early Encounters with the Artist Within," and a section on the works of untrained artists.

Part Two: The Language of Visual Experience (Chapters 3-6) presents the language of vision: visual elements, principles of design, and style. Experience with the language of visual form introduced in Chapters 3 through 5 provides a foundation for developing critical thinking and for considering evaluation and art criticism, discussed in Chapter 6.

The visual and verbal vocabulary covered in Part Two prepares the reader to sample the broad range of art disciplines, media, and processes presented in Part Three: Two-Dimensional Arts (Chapters 7-11) and Part Four: Three-Dimensional Arts (Chapters 12-14). In these two parts we discuss the classical media used in drawing, painting, sculpture, and architecture and the latest developments in photography, video, film, computer imaging, craft, and environmental art.

Part Five: Art as Cultural Heritage (Chapters 15-20) and Part Six: The Modern World (Chapters 21-25) introduce historic world styles and related cultural values. Part Six devotes four comprehensive chapters to the many artistic developments of the modern Western world from the late eighteenth century to the present. That each new technique in the history of art relies heavily on its predecessors becomes obvious in these chapters. Chapter 25: Recent Diversity discusses art of the last two decades and the multifaceted and changing roles of artists today. It includes a section on the Global Present, emphasizing the international aspects of the contemporary art world.

In addition to a revised Glossary, Pronunciation Guide, and Selected Readings, the back matter of ARTFORMS includes an annotated listing of Web sites related to art: images, artists, museums, art organizations, magazines, and other sources. The three-page Timeline is illustrated and includes additional information on both Western and nonwestern art.

The revised seventh edition of ARTFORMS offers a variety of updated ancillaries, including a large collection of high-quality slides (available to qualified adopters), carefully selected to represent the diversity of artists shown in the book; and a Companion Website™ with links to museums and other Web sites, an' audio pronunciation guide, and chapter guides with summaries and learning objectives.

The title of this book has a dual meaning. It evolved from the original title, which was a condensation of the concluding sentences of the draft for the first edition: "Man creates art. Art creates man." Man Creates Art Creates Man was further condensed to contain the idea in one word, ARTFORMS: As we create forms, we are in turn formed by what we have created.

Beyond fostering appreciation of major works of art, this book's primary concern is to open eyes and minds to the richness of the visual arts as unique forms of human communication and to convey the idea that the arts enrich life best when we experience, understand, and enjoy them as integral parts of the process of living.

Although ARTFORMS is filled with pictures of art objects, the subject is not just human accomplishment; it is human potential. These works are shown for themselves and for what they indicate about the process that brought them into being. The arts enable us to experience the past, see the present, and anticipate the future. We hope that readers will share our conviction that the arts give voice to the heart of humanity.

Patrick Frank