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Art Through the Ages: A Concise History by Christin J. Mamiya, Helen Gardner, Fred S. Kleiner
savaging's review against another edition
2.0
Art history is a discipline in crisis.
This text book shows all the seams.
It calls itself "art through the ages." It makes a pretense of being global. What it actually deals with is wealthy-white-male European art up until about 1900. Inside of that narrow lens, it can uphold the pretense of a narrative arc. Movements and developments that build upon each other to create one structure, one tradition. The story is in line with a 'Great Man' view of history that unspools with a certain succession of empires and kings and no need to think about the plebes. Just memorize the dates and you're done.
But everything outside of that one narrative arc haunts the discipline. Frightened, the editors make nods here and there to art happening in other places. They quickly clear their throats and get us back to Europe. But Europe itself is unspooling. When modern art hits, they lose the thread entirely. They become desperate. In the end, they can only huff and puff about the absurdities of "multiculturalism."
Within this story of art's history, art is rooted in conquering. Killing animals and humans. Building empire. Celebrating empire.
Sometimes something tumbles out from the gaps, even here. Small art, old faces, feathers and fur. Usually they call it "the grotesque."
This text book shows all the seams.
It calls itself "art through the ages." It makes a pretense of being global. What it actually deals with is wealthy-white-male European art up until about 1900. Inside of that narrow lens, it can uphold the pretense of a narrative arc. Movements and developments that build upon each other to create one structure, one tradition. The story is in line with a 'Great Man' view of history that unspools with a certain succession of empires and kings and no need to think about the plebes. Just memorize the dates and you're done.
But everything outside of that one narrative arc haunts the discipline. Frightened, the editors make nods here and there to art happening in other places. They quickly clear their throats and get us back to Europe. But Europe itself is unspooling. When modern art hits, they lose the thread entirely. They become desperate. In the end, they can only huff and puff about the absurdities of "multiculturalism."
Within this story of art's history, art is rooted in conquering. Killing animals and humans. Building empire. Celebrating empire.
Sometimes something tumbles out from the gaps, even here. Small art, old faces, feathers and fur. Usually they call it "the grotesque."
nas_extreme's review against another edition
5.0
this is a great textbook that will take you through the most important works of art through the ages.I enjoyed the fact that the authors provided us with brief historical backgrounds and other explanations to why and how some masterpieces came to be.
juniperviolets's review against another edition
5.0
I had to read the entire book in a school year for my art history class, and although there was a lot to get through, it is a quality textbook. Interesting to read with a good format and a large amount of information. I would recommend it to anyone into art history with a need for a compendium of all art from prehistoric to 20th century.
lillinares's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.5
I mean... it's a textbook. It's a good textbook.
charlottereed's review against another edition
5.0
I really did read this textbook cover to cover, for an AP Art History class. From ancient to modern - it gives a good summary. Not good for in-depth knowledge on specific topics. The broad range of topics led me to do my own research and helped me with Renaissance, Modern and American Art History courses. Anyone who wants to gain some knowledge of art history should skim the text for terms to throw around in a museum to sound decently knowledgeable. The language is straight forward – heck it has pretty pictures, what else do you want?
celbl8o's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this textbook and the class that I bought it for. I wasn't anticipating liking art history as much as I did. I will definitely be hanging onto this book for a very, very long time and have no intention of selling it back.
This is an older edition of the book but, depending on your instructor, I definitely think that you can get by with just buying this edition, especially if your school library has a copy of whatever edition is being used in your class available. Although this edition has one less chapter than the most recent editions, I found that I was able to make it through just fine in the class that I was taking. I would definitely do some research into the class that you're taking and the professor's teaching style before deciding to buy this edition instead of the most recent one, though. If you do decide to buy this edition, you can find it for about $5 at a lot of used bookstores. I've found that it was a much better choice than buying the most recent edition for $120.
This is an older edition of the book but, depending on your instructor, I definitely think that you can get by with just buying this edition, especially if your school library has a copy of whatever edition is being used in your class available. Although this edition has one less chapter than the most recent editions, I found that I was able to make it through just fine in the class that I was taking. I would definitely do some research into the class that you're taking and the professor's teaching style before deciding to buy this edition instead of the most recent one, though. If you do decide to buy this edition, you can find it for about $5 at a lot of used bookstores. I've found that it was a much better choice than buying the most recent edition for $120.
trashbagtv's review against another edition
4.0
Helped me through my History of Art degree and I got an Upper 2:1 so the rating reflects that.
shereadsalotofbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This is my favorite college text book. If there is such a thing.