In the late nineteenth century, the first discoveries of prehistoric painting were greeted with incredulity. How could there have been such deft and skillful artists in the world over 30,000 years ago? Noted art historian Nigel Spivey begins with this puzzle to explore the record of humanity's artistic endeavors and their impact on our own development. Embarking with the motto, “Everyone is an artist,” Spivey takes us on a quest to find out when and how we humans began to explore the deepest questions of life, using visual artforms. With the help of vivid color illustrations of some of the world's most moving and enduring works of art, Spivey shows how that art has been used as a means of mass persuasion, essential to the creation of hierarchical societies, and finally, the extent to which art has served as a mode of terror management in the face of our inevitable death. Packed with new insights into ancient wonders and fascinating stories from all around the globe, How Art Made the World is a compelling account of how humans made art and how art makes us human.

Experience the uplifting power of art on this breathtaking visual tour of 2,500 paintings and sculptures created by more than 700 artists from Michelangelo to Damien Hirst. This beautiful book brings you the very best of world art from cave paintings to Neoexpressionism. Enjoy iconic must-see works, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper and Monet's Waterlilies and discover less familiar artists and genres from all parts of the globe. Art That Changed the World covers the full sweep of world art, including the Ming era in China, and Japanese, Hindu, and Indigenous Australian art. It analyses recurring themes such as love and religion, explaining key genres from Romanesque to Conceptual art. Art That Changed the World explores each artist's key works and vision, showing details of their technique, such as Leonardo's use of light and shade. It tells the story of avant-garde works like Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Lunch on the Grass), which scandalized society, and traces how one genre informed another - showing how the Impressionists were inspired by Gustave Courbet, for example, and how Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese prints. Lavishly illustrated throughout, look no further for your essential guide to the pantheon of world art.

Sebastians pierced with arrows, self-portraits of the aging Rembrandt, and the tortured art of Vincent van Gogh. Exploring the tender, complex rapport between art and pain, Spivey guides us through the twentieth-century photographs of casualties of war, Edvard Munch's The Scream, and back to the recorded horrors of the Holocaust.".

The story of dealers of Old Masters, champions of modern art, and victims of Nazi plunder. In Belonging and Betrayal, distinguished historian Charles Dellheim tells the story of the rise and fall of a small number of Jews, individuals, and families, who were merchants and connoisseurs as well as dealers and collectors of fine art. They competed and cooperated at various times and operated more often than not on both sides of the Atlantic. The protagonists of this story took a leading part in the critical transformations that shook the art world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the great migration of Old Master paintings from Europe to the United States; and the eventual triumph of modern art as Jewish dealers became the modernists' champions. The story begins with the entry of Jewish dealers into the art world in the late nineteenth century and ends with the Nazi plunder of their collections. Along the way, the narrative takes us into a variety of European capitals--Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna--as well as American cities, notably Boston and New York. It sets the protagonists' stories against the backdrop of the broader changes that affected their fortunes and transformed art and society: The gradual opening of high culture, the dynamics of assimilation, acculturation, and antisemitism, the decline of the landed classes, the ascent of a new capitalist elite, the cultural impact of the "Great War," and the Nazi war against the Jews.

-World War I and American Art provides an unprecedented look at the ways in which American artists reacted to the war. Artists took a leading role in chronicling the war, crafting images that influenced public opinion, supported mobilization efforts, and helped to shape how the war's appalling human toll was memorialized. The book brings together paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, posters, and ephemera, spanning the diverse visual culture of the period to tell the story of a crucial turning point in the history of American art---

For many people the term rock art is full of mystery. Yet it refers to wh`t may be the oldest form of human artistic endeavor. Depictions and symbols on rock surfaces exist on all continents and from all eras. Dating back perhaps more than forty thousand years, rock paintings and engravings can be found from the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America, from the caves of southern France to the des$rts of the American Southwest. Ranging from simple etchings on isolated stones to elaborate scenes in celebrated prehistoric caves, from splendid animal and human figures to sexual, religious, and geometrical forms, millions of images throughout the world testify to the worldviews of traditional peoples, many of them long vanished. World Rock Art discusses the discovery of rock art by the West, profiles important sites, explains how the art was made, and considers how it can be dated. It then explores the meanings of these often enigmatic images and discusses their significance today. A final chapter reviews initiatives underway to preserve this remarkable heritage. Book jacket.

A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art. The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.