"""Art Theory: An Historical Introduction"" is a unique survey of Western thought about art from ancient times to the present. This book provides a lucid and lively narrative geared to the needs of the general reader and beginning student. It covers the major periods of Western art history: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the early modern period (Renaissance and Baroque), the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, early twentieth-century modernism, and postmodernism. The book relates theory to the practice as well as to the intellectual- and cultural-historical currents of each period, thus demonstrating the value of an historical approach to theoretical issues. It also includes an extensive bibliography that provides a useful and up-to-date guide to the primary sources and secondary literature and 93 illustrations."
Robert Williams is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Art Theory and Culture in Sixteenth-century Italy: From Techne to Metatechne (1997).
Title: Art Theory: An Historical Introduction
Author: Williams, Robert
ISBN: 9781405107075
Binding:
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Publication Date: 2003-12-19
Number of Pages: 328
Weight: 0.5218 kg
""""""""""""[It] chronologically covers the history of thought about art from antiquity to postmodernism. Art theory, art criticism and art history, as well as philosophy, rhetoric, myth, literature, mathematics, theology, semiotics, the natural sciences, psychology, music, linguistic theory, psychoanalysis, Marxism and feminism (among others), are drawn upon to yield reflections on art. Particular emphasis is laid in this extraordinarily fluid synopsis on the relationship between art and knowledge."""""""" The Art Newspaper """"""""To write a general history of art theory from Homer to Baudrillard is a courageous and generous act in an age of fragmented specialties. To write one that reads art theory not just in its philosophical and linguistic traditions but as sensitive responses to changing artistic practices is a rare accomplishment. In this timely and welcome survey, Robert Williams gives us a textbook for art history and philosophy students that the learned public will enjoy as well."""""""" Philip Sohm, University of Toronto """"""""Williams's admirably fluid account not only offers a history of aesthetic theory but investigates those artists, critics, and historians who have applied theory to reshape the meaning of art itself."""""""" Richard Shiff, University of Texas at Austin """"""""[Art Theory] is a first-class introduction to the subject, revealing an unusual historical range, a command of diverse and often difficult ideas, and a natural flair for seeing the point--of art and of theory ... Robert Williams has written a book I will keep on my self for rereading and I look forward to further works by him."""""""" John Haldane in The Art Book""""
