The Visual Arts: A History

by Hugh Honour, John Fleming, John Fleming, et al.

Book Overview

Since its first publication this book has been hailed as the most comprehensive history of art ever published in a single volume. Presenting art history as an essential part of the development of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0131935070
• ISBN13: 9780131935075
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 936 Pages
• Weight: 6.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 8.6" x 11.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Quality!

Great book! I would definitely recommend, there was nothing wrong with the book. Excellent price as well!

Great book

I had to get this book for school, but I kept it after the class was over. It has a lot of cool color photos, etc. easy reading, etc.

very broad

a very broad, complete overlook at the total history of arts in the world from 30 000 bc up to today thru buddhist, hinduhistic,chinese, western, eastern, you name it! it seems like nothing is missing, but then again this brickstone of a book is a thousand pages long. For me as a painter i have never been more satisfied reading a book about art, it is a travel in delight.

Just what I was looking for.

The book is a brief summary of the world's history of pictorial art and a valuable reference book. Surprisingly I received it within two days after ordering: bravo!

Fantastic Survey Of Art History

For anyone remotely interested in art & art history, this is the book to buy. This was the textbook for an art history course I took in college and since that course, I have been through the whole book twice now and referred back to it many more times. Wonderfully illustrated, cogently organized and extremely comprehensive in it's scope, this book is a tour de force in the history of the visual arts. The way in which the authors interweave and elaborate upon the social history of a particular political, religious, military, and/or economic clime's impact upon the art produced at that time is extremely valuable and effective. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in art history or even if you're looking for a great coffee table book to put out for discussion or for a guest's delectation. Five stars was an easy choice to make when rating his text!

An Ideal Resource

As a student of fine and decorative art, "A World History of Art" has proved an invaluable resource for me. Unlike so many texts intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the history of art, this book is fresh and enjoyable, offering a wealth of information in a succinct and articulate manner. It is all too easy to deteriorate into ponderous, heavy prose when discussing the history of art, but Honour and Fleming generally manage to avoid the trap and move steadily and seamlessly through both time and place in discussing the progression of art. "A World History of Art" is, primarily, an academic text and is therefore a proverbial doorstop of a book - I would not recommend it as a coffee table adornment, but would strongly encourage students or connoisseurs to consider it as a reference. It is an ideal source of general information for the university or postgraduate student, and would serve as an excellent introduction for anyone seeking to study the history of art.