Author: Lee Cheshire

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0500293627

This compact guide looks at the fifty biggest moments in art history and reveals the sometimes funny, surprising or shocking behind-the scenes stories. Art lovers can list history’s most important art objects, but what many don’t know are the dramatic, funny, and sometimes bizarre stories behind these most famous works. Spanning the last 500 years of art history, this book revisits fifty momentous events that changed the course of art—days when now world-famous works like Michelangelo’s David or Marcel Duchamp’s urinal were unveiled for the first time. In Key Moments in Art, chance meetings spur artists to create exciting new styles such as Impressionism or Cubism, landmark performances take place, and revolutionary exhibitions open. The book also looks at fights, lawsuits, auctions, and crime–from the theft of the Mona Lisa to the day van Gogh’s Sunflowers become the most expensive painting ever sold. Working chronologically, this addition to the Art Essentials series gives readers fifty bite-sized stories from the art world. Art historian Lee Cheshire breathes new life into favorite works of art by giving them context and sharing the gossip they created. Complete with Art Essentials’ signature sidebars, featuring key artists, collections, and events related to each moment, this book is perfect for the art devotee as well as the occasional museum visitor.

Author: Susan Woodford

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2018-05-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 050029321X

An accessible and attractive beginner’s guide to getting the most out of looking at pictures Beautifully illustrated with some of the world’s greatest pictures, from cave paintings and Roman mosaics to Picasso and Damien Hirst, this affordable guide explains the art of looking at and understanding pictures, equipping the reader with the vision and tools to approach any museum picture with confidence. Looking at pictures can be an exciting or moving experience, but some pictures—often the most rewarding—require some explanation before they can be fully understood. Delving into the origins, designs, and themes of over one hundred pictures from different periods and places, this book illuminates the art of looking at—and talking about—pictures. Susan Woodford shows how one can read a picture by examining the formal and stylistic devices used by an artist, and she explores popular themes and subject matter, and the relationship of pictures to the societies that produced them. This indispensable guide is supplemented by a glossary of key terms, ranging from art movements and technical terms to religious and classical terminology, to give readers all the information they need at their fingertips.