(Part 2) Top products from r/ArtHistory

Agreed that you're not going to find a good book that's an overview of all art. If you can't sum up all of History in one text, you certainly can't describe history+ culture+ artistic movements +individual styles, etc.

Art History's History- This book will give you a great overview of Art History, but I suspect you wanted a book on the history of art, not the history of describing art. It's a great book though, and I highly recommend it.


Renaissance Rivals- Renaissance is a good place to start if you're just getting into art, because (for better or for worse) it remains the style that people usually use as a comparison for other works. This book is palatable and informative.

So glad this is taking off! I just came across a bunch more resources I'd love to share/discuss (including lots of Dutch landscape stuff) -- should we pool all of our contributions into a Google Doc? Maybe a mod can help out with how the best way of going about this is??

Might be a bit off topic, but I keep coming across landscape philosophy texts like Raymond Williams The Country and the City and Jay Appelton's The Experience of Landscape -maybe a sequel project :)

I'd recommend starting with the Oxford History of Art series, perhaps this book first

https://www.amazon.co.uk/East-European-Art-1650-1950-History/dp/0192842242

Also, Khan Academy is a very nicely presented resource, videos are pleasant to watch and quite informative if you're starting your journey with art history :)

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history

Pick up some books. Asian / non-western art is an absolutely immense topic, and it would serve to well to give yourself a solid background, and to narrow your area of interest if you're serious about pursuing art history as a field of study.

I'm far from an expert on Asian art, but the Oxford History of Art series (Craig Clunas's book on Chinese art and Partha Mitter's on Indian Art) as well as the Thames and Hudson World of Art series (Indian Art and Southeast Asian Art) tend to be fairly good jumping on points if you're looking for a broad introduction to a topic.

Native North American Art (Oxford History of Art) by Janet C. Berlo and Ruth B. Philips. This book gives a really good overview of Native American visual arts, and isn't too dry. The different cultures are separated geographically, and the authors give excellent explanations on what could be complex ideas involving religion, spirituality, ethics, etc. Oh, and they even go into 20th Century Indigenous American art, which is an interesting chapter. Plus it's only $20! The cheapest textbook I had while getting my Art History degree!

I used this one a few years ago when I taught art appreciation. It has more than the elements and is written for non majors. I was happy with whatever edition was around in 2008 or so, so I'm sure there's a cheap used copy of an old edition floating around somewhere.

oxford university press do a series called 'very short introduction' covering alllll kinds of topics, and the art history one is brilliant, there's also art theory and then others on particular artistic/creative movements - they're really affordable and really easy to read and actually so informative

Try this cheap copy. Newer editions haven't changed too much, especially if you're new to the topic.

Here's a Google Doc of AP Art History for you to use as a guide.

Particularly, if you're interested in contemporary art, this might be a light fun read.

http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Art-History-Questioning-Litany/dp/0064301176

So full of great essays!

Snyder's Medieval Art It's a pretty hefty book, but extremely comprehensive on the subject

If you want some starter/introductory texts on medieval manuscript illumination:

Raymond Clemons/Timothy Graham: Introduction to Manuscript Studies

Christopher de Hamel: A History of Illuminated Manuscripts

JJG Alexander: Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work

If you're interested in late 15th/early 16th centurymanuscript research (around the date for the Wallerstein Codex), I can send you additional titles (my area of specialty is late 15th/early 16th century Flemish MS illumination)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lizzie-Siddal-Tragedy-Pre-Raphaelite-Supermodel/dp/0233004025/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450870857&sr=1-5&keywords=pre+raphaelites

Gives lots of background on that particular bunch of artists.

..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141192402?keywords=Rossetti&qid=1450871251&ref_=sr_1_6&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pre-Raphaelites-Their-World-Rachel-Barnes/dp/1854372203

this is a very good one..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Pre-Raphaelites-Their-World-Personal-Reminiscences-Rossetti/dp/B000W721JY


Have a look here..

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/index.html

To start out I suggest checking out: smarthistory.khanacademy.org. There's some good stuff on there. A solid textbook to start with is Gardner's Art Through the Ages.

The first thing you need to know about the renaissance is that the very idea of a "renaissance" as you know it was invented by art historians. With that in mind, go read Erwin Panofsky:
http://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Renascences-Western-Icon-Editions/dp/0064300269

And go check out Keith Moxey's Visual Time.

And Alfred Barr is a good place to look too.

Definitely check out: https://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Bedside-Companion-History-Western/dp/014025997X

Ways of Seeing

https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Seeing-Based-Television-Penguin/dp/0140135154

It was based on a TV series from BBC

plugging a former professor

Ahh...it was this one http://www.amazon.com/Art-Latin-America-Modern-1820-1980/dp/0300045611/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320191409&sr=1-3