Understand Art: 5000 Years of Art History

Author: John Kischick
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The halo of art can be dizzying, especially for non-professionals. The serene and sublime, simple yet great Greek sculptures, the unprecedented Renaissance frescoes, the magnificent and mysterious Indian stone carvings, the spirit-focused yet form-discarding Chinese ink paintings, the intricate and orderly Persian miniatures, the rebellious modern art, and the lawless postmodern art—all of them are infused with a cultural undercurrent at their base. To understand art, one must start from this point. This is the author Kischick's intention in writing this book.
Key Points of the Book:
1. Introduces and analyzes art movements, artists, and artworks against the backdrop of major cultures across regions and time periods.
2. Attempts to break free from the confinement of Western-centricism, the rut of patriarchy, and the conventions of chronology.
3. Emphasizes both breadth and depth, combining rigorous exploration with accessible explanations, serving as both a research aid and an entryway for beginners.
4. Over 500 illustrations (half in color) are provided, many of which are exclusive to collectors.
5. The main ideas are accurate, the details vivid, the perspective novel, and the structure distinctive.