Art

What makes great art great? Why do some works pulse in the imagination generation after generation, century after century? From Botticelli's Birth of Venus to Picasso's Guernica, some paintings and...

Great paintings cannot be fully understood in a single encounter; there is always more to be derived from them. Art lovers may revisit and reconsider the masterpieces throughout their lives,...

Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art highlights the three major movements in American art and print history in nearly 200 masterful prints from the Colonial...

In its early days, illegal graffiti and street art were of necessity modest in scale, hastily created in hours or even minutes, and destroyed just as quickly by authorities, vandals...

The making of pictures has a history going back perhaps 100,000 years to an African shell used as a paint palette. Two-thirds of it is irrevocably lost, since the earliest...

Figurative painting is due a reappraisal. In this passionately argued volume the distinguished writer and artist Timothy Hyman cuts a new path through the tangle of twentieth century art. The...

Since its founding in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art in New York has brought the history of modern and contemporary art to vivid life through its extraordinary holdings. MoMA...

The way our environment looks, the appearance of everything from housing estates to newspapers, is partly the result of a school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919...

Contrary to the expectations of 20th-century rationalists, religion has not faded away in the 21st century, but roared back onto the scene with renewed vitality. This survey shows how religious...

The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs continue to capture the imagination of the modern world. Vivid, graceful forms decorating monuments that emanated ambition and...

A useful introduction to the culture, history and monuments of Cambodia, a country which is increasing in popularity as a tourist destination for the more adventurous traveller.

As heard on BBC Radio 4's 'A Good Read' 'Where and how Dada began is almost as difficult to determine as Homer's birthplace', writes Hans Richter, the artist and film-maker...

Andy Goldsworthy's beautiful ephemeral artworks have been rendered timeless in numerous photographic records. But over a period of nearly twenty-five years, he has also produced more than 120 permanent installations...

John Boardman has updated his classic account of one of the most popular historic artistic traditions among Western audiences. In the twenty years since the last edition was released, valuable...

In the seventeenth century during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, French painting had a magnificent flowering. From the poetic history painting of Poussin, the landscapes of Claude...

New in the renowned World of Art series, this is a concise, reliable introduction to the history of American art and architecture from its 17th-century colonial beginnings to the latest...

This intelligently argued, critical overview is invaluable for the way in which it reveals and makes coherent sense of the often bewildering diversity of styles, forms, media, techniques and agendas...

James Trilling presents an immense variety of ornament from the Paleolithic Age to the present day, enabling the reader to appreciate inherent form and beauty, as well as historical importance...

Grayson Perry, famous for his ceramic vases decorated with shocking and unconventional imagery, is one of a generation of contemporary British artists to have emerged on the international stage in...

This authoritative, highly readable textbook offers a complete survey of the history of Rome from its origins, through the Republic and Empire, to the period of its decline and fall,...

Hundreds of beautiful artworks from the time of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamen illustrate the splendour of Egypt in this examination of Egyptian art and culture at the time of the...

Examining the body language displayed in works of art is a whole new way of looking at art. The gestures portrayed can reflect the mores of a particular period in...

An overview of the life and work of much-loved children's illustrator and author Judith Kerr, creator of classics such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and Mog. A thoughtful...

Look & See offers a very personal insight into the idiosyncratic influences and inspirations behind the creativity of Anthony Burrill, designer and letterpress guru. Selecting from his private collection of...

Ways of Drawing brings together a sophisticated, exciting range of reflections on markmaking by practising artists, teachers and writers. From explorations of how it feels to draw and personal accounts...

Consider for a moment the history of modern art in Britain; you may struggle to land on a narrative that features very many women. On this journey through a fascinating...

As artists push further and further beyond their, and our, comfort zones, this book aims to help decipher the bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by...

As world powers realign their cultural, economic and political outlooks, there is no better time to consider how Afro-Eurasia's complex network of ancient trade routes - which spanned the vastness...