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HISTORY OF ART: A History of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present by Dr. H. W. Janson Kirkus Star

HISTORY OF ART: A History of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present

By

Publisher: Abrams

This is- so far as this reader knows- the finest overall history of the visual arts in one volume -- 20,000 years of human creativity. Vigorous writing, exceptional scope of scholarship, penetrating assessment of artistic values, and close integration of the historical background and the social factors that contributed to the artistic expression -- all these factors make this book a goldmine for the average reader whose concern is a sounder understanding and appreciation of the world of artistic expression. Dr. Janson of New York University starts with prehistory, the magic and the ritual evidenced in such discoveries as the cave paintings; he continues with the ancient world and the contribution made by the Egyptian civilization, the Near East, Aegean art, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Early Christian and Byzantine- in architecture, sculpture, ceramics, painting, Next the Middle Ages which produced the best of Islamic art, the early Medieval, Romanesque and Gothic, leading up to the Renaissance, which he has handled in the multiplicity of the geographic distribution. Finally the modern world -- and in conclusion a chapter indicating briefly the meeting of East and West.