Living with Art

by Rita Gilbert

Book Overview

Known for its clear writing, diversity of art coverage, and elegant design, this superb reference offers a comprehensive, transcendentally illustrated introduction to the themes, design elements and principles, media, and history of art. New features and improvements, along with the highest production standards in paper, color quality, and binding, mark this fifth edition as the gold standard in its field.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 007023454X
• ISBN13: 9780070234543
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 3.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful!

The value of this wonderful book is far beyond the nice design and comprehensive coverage. For those who are interested in art but do not major or profession in it, like me, it introduces some fundamental questions, such as "what is art", as well as the basic concepts and facts you need to appreciate more from any form of art. (Question: Why does the 6th edition have a different author?)

Falls short of greatness.

The coordination of the art and the text, "designing the layout so that all art appeared on or facing the page on which it was discussed," is superb! However, the basic structural organization of the book is confusing. It's hard to imagine that this book is so often recommended for beginning art students, since it seems to give a somewhat disjointed overview of the subject material, lacking in continuity. The focus is extremely conceptual rather than factual. For those already familiar with the basic principles, though, the examples provided and the layout of the text and images will be satisfying.

Wonderfully illustrated!

Life with Art takes the reader through a very informative subject in a concise, but detailed, manner. Beautiful illustrations of artwork being discussed don almost every page. The book is separated into twenty-one chapters which allows the reader to follow art through history, study the different types of art medium, and learn enough about art vocabulary to write a critical analysis. A must for all art students!!!

The Allure of Living With Art

This book of approximately 500 pages covers art through the ages, including full page, color glossies, and brief but informative biographies on the most famous, some infamous, and influential artists. It has chapters on concepts to composition, not overlooking or limited to color, shape and volume, and much more in the way of inspiration. It's bound to bring you back to all the reasons you wanted to be an artist in the first place, and in context that appeals to even the less avid reader. A bit pricey perhaps, but it's definitely a timeless keeper & reference book. I highly recommend it to all visual art enthusiasts and aspirees.