A History of Western Art

Fülszöveg

THE WORLD OF ART
A History of Western Art
Michael Levey 312 plates 83 in color
This deliberately concise history is something of a tour de force, intended to stimulate the expert as well as to guide the layman. Throughout, it is motivated by the author's belief in art as a vital activity and, therefore, as something that - in the words that open and close the book - "has not ceased to be produced." Not a bare factual outline, it concentrates on individual works of art, whether a Minoan statuette, a Gothic reliquary, or a Rapihael portrait. What is told is, in effect, the story of Western, man's creative energy constantly finding new ways to fill the world with non-natural objects. The author imposes no arbitrary pattern or simple explanation but, rather, emphasizes the novel element of surprise in every work of art that has often disconcerted people at first sight - long before nineteenth- and twentieth-century controversies about "modern" art. The result is a book that does... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE WORLD OF ART
A History of Western Art
Michael Levey 312 plates 83 in color
This deliberately concise history is something of a tour de force, intended to stimulate the expert as well as to guide the layman. Throughout, it is motivated by the author's belief in art as a vital activity and, therefore, as something that - in the words that open and close the book - "has not ceased to be produced." Not a bare factual outline, it concentrates on individual works of art, whether a Minoan statuette, a Gothic reliquary, or a Rapihael portrait. What is told is, in effect, the story of Western, man's creative energy constantly finding new ways to fill the world with non-natural objects. The author imposes no arbitrary pattern or simple explanation but, rather, emphasizes the novel element of surprise in every work of art that has often disconcerted people at first sight - long before nineteenth- and twentieth-century controversies about "modern" art. The result is a book that does justice to major styles and many artists over the whole course of Western art, and also communicates a sense of the author's own enjoyment in looking at works of art of every kind.-
"An admirably lucid and concise history" - 5jooI< World "¦ ¦¦ a masterly survey"The Connoisseur
"This is a book to read for the first time for sheer enjoyment, and re-read for its subtle and penetrating analyses" - Arts Review
"It v\/ould be hard to find a better book for someone who wished to start learning about painting, sculpture and architecture . . ."- London Daily Telegraph
Michael Levey is Director of the National Gallery in London. He has been Slade Professor of Fine Aft at Cambridge, and has given the Wrightsman Lectures in New York. He has Written several books, including A Concise híistóry of Painting: From Giotto to Cézanne, also in the World of Art series. Vissza