Art

This comprehensive volume answers all these and more. In a grand timeline of art, it explains how one movement influenced the next, discusses influential painters, sculptors, and artists, and showcases 80 of the world's greatest artworks.

Throughout history, art has taken many forms and offers a kaleidoscopic variety of expression. With The Art Book as your companion, you can browse the world's most important artworks, from prehistoric Altamira cave paintings to pop art and avant-garde video installations.

You can observe artistic inspiration evolving from religious themes in the Middle Ages to abstract shapes and color in the 20th century and understand the ideas that inspired masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Klimt, Matisse, and many more. Annotations draw attention to key details of masterpieces, and diagrams offer succinct explanations of art forms and help you contrast techniques of painters such as Cézanne and van Gogh.

With insightful quotations and detailed timelines, The Art Book is a thought-provoking and essential reference for students and art-lovers everywhere.

The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now more than ever

Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics--himself included--can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of modern existence.

Using his own film criticism as a starting point--everything from his infamous dismissal of the international blockbuster The Avengers to his intense affection for Pixar's animated Ratatouille--Scott expands outward, easily guiding readers through the complexities of Rilke and Shelley, the origins of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, the power of Marina Abramovich and 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was and always will be the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive. The time for criticism is always now, Scott explains, because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away.