The new, updated edition of the Skira best-seller on twentieth-century art. This handy manual is for those who wish to understand what art was in the last century and what it represents today. The book, whose structure is essential and synthetic, aims to divulge the pleasure of art to those who have never delved beyond its surface, and above all to describe how it has become spectacle and performance in recent years. Following an analysis of the theories and poetics that tempestuously traversed the historical avant-gardes and the neo-avant-gardes of the twentieth century and contributed to their extraordinary vitality, the author focuses on and explains the principal artistic phenomena that, starting in 1980, marked the period defined as post-modern, which was characterised by performance and a system of economic-financial art. The last chapter describes the arrival of postmodern up to its possible decline, marked by the social events of 2007 that, by abandoning the special effects of immateriality, has headed in a direction that is more tangible, worldly and concrete.

Jackson Pollock, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, and Laurie Anderson are just some of the major American artists of the twentieth century. From the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to the 2000 Whitney Biennial, a rapid succession of art movements and different styles reflected the extreme changes in American culture and society, as well as America's position within the international art world. This exciting new look at twentieth century American art explores the relationships between American art, museums, and audiences in the century that came to be called the 'American century'. Extending beyond New York, it covers the emergence of Feminist art in Los Angeles in the 1970s; the Black art movement; the expansion of galleries and art schools; and the highly political public controversies surrounding arts funding. All the key movements are fully discussed, including early American Modernism, the New Negro movement, Regionalism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Neo-Expressionism.

Visual Arts in the Twentieth Century offers an exciting new account of the century of art so affected by Modernism. A uniquely structured view of the period and the inclusion of often-overlooked material come together to create a survey that is thorough, insightful, and fresh. Painting, sculpture, photography, the graphic arts, and architecture are treated in decade-by-decade chapters, allowing for an inclusive view of coexisting innovations and trends. Information on historical, social, and intellectual movements and events is incorporated within the text, giving insight into the cultural environment that stimulated, surrounded, and supported individual acts of creativity. The work of artists from historically underrepresented regions of the world is also included, providing new insight into the global world of art. Edward Lucie-Smith has also given us the first book of its kind that emphasizes photography - an art form both accessible and cutting-edge. In addition, the author re-evaluates Modernism by examining the diverse and important roles women have played in this still-influential movement. Finally, more than twenty "Key Work" analyses appear throughout the book. Critical and interpretive, these concise examinations concentrate on individual works of art and provide models by which other works may be approached and evaluated - a valuable touchstone for those who want to enjoy and understand modern art on their own.

"Examines the wide-ranging influence of games and play on the development of modern art in the twentieth century"--Provided by publisher.

Galenson combines social scientific methods with qualitative analysis to produce a new interpretation of modern art.

The circus as a focal point of twentieth-century American art.

This book presents and analyzes artistic interactions both within the Soviet bloc and with the West between 1945 and 1989. During the Cold War the exchange of artistic ideas and products united Europe?s avant-garde in a most remarkable way. Despite the Iron Curtain and national and political borders there existed a constant flow of artists, artworks, artistic ideas and practices. The geographic borders of these exchanges have yet to be clearly defined. How were networks, centers, peripheries (local, national and international), scales, and distances constructed? How did (neo)avant-garde tendencies relate with officially sanctioned socialist realism? The literature on the art of Eastern Europe provides a great deal of factual knowledge about a vast cultural space, but mostly through the prism of stereotypes and national preoccupations. By discussing artworks, studying the writings on art, observing artistic evolution and artists? strategies, as well as the influence of political authorities, art dealers and art critics, the essays in Art beyond Borders compose a transnational history of arts in the Soviet satellite countries in the post war period. ÿ