This new concise history of modern painting offers an indispensable reference to the complexities and characteristics of this medium, which now exists alongside many other contemporary practices that embrace radically expanded ideas about art. While acknowledging the legacy of Herbert Read’s classic 1959 study A Concise History of Modern Painting in the World of Art series, academic and artist Simon Morley places the foundation of modern art much earlier than Read, at the emergence of Romanticism and the dawn of the industrial age. Structured loosely chronologically by period, the focus is as much on individual artists as movements, with works discussed within a broader context—stylistic, historical, geographic, and gender and ethnic frames—themes which recur throughout the chapters. Generously illustrated, the global and diverse range of artists featured include William Blake, Édouard Manet, Hilma af Klint, Kazimir Malevich, Willem de Kooning, Amrita Sher-Gil, Faith Ringgold, and Kehinde Wiley. This guide also includes an appendix in the form of questions the reader might like to ask about the artists and ideas discussed—in order to reconsider the works from a contemporary perspective.

An exceptionally clear, thorough, and well- illustrated introduction to abstract art since 1900. Since the early years of the twentieth century, Western abstract art has fascinated, outraged, and bewildered audiences. Its path to acceptance within the artistic mainstream was slow. This revised edition traces the origins and evolution of abstract art, placing it in broad cultural context. Well-respected scholar Anna Moszynska examines the pioneering work of Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Piet Mondrian alongside the Russian Constructivists, the De Stijl group, and the Bauhaus artists, contrasting European geometric abstraction in the 1930s and ’40s with the emphasis on personal expression after World War II. Op, kinetic, and minimal art of the postwar period is discussed and illustrated in detail, and new chapters bring the account up to date, exploring the crisis in abstraction of the 1980s and its revival—in paint, fabric, sculpture, and installation—in recent decades. The first edition of Abstract Art, published in 1990, was acclaimed by reviewers. Revised with extensive updates, this book includes new chapters on recent trends and offers fully global coverage of art produced in North and South America, Europe, China, Korea, and the Middle East. Now in full color and comprehensively revised, it will serve as the best introduction to abstract art for a new generation.

These essays examine the transformation and expansion of the field of painting in relation to the more general lines of development in culture and visuality. The book is divided into five parts, with each of them pursuing a distinct line of inquiry.

Predenville discusses the historical, artistic, and critical contexts in which painting has taken a realist turn. Color illustrations.

A liberating approach to interpreting modern and contemporary art, focusing on twenty major artworks from around the world and representing a diversity of styles, mediums, and artists. With modern art’s proclivity for self-expression, originality, and the abstract, great works can often seem indecipherable. This book provides the tools to help interpret the seemingly bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by exploring twenty works in terms of seven key perspectives: history, biography, aesthetics, experience, theory, criticism, and the market. Author, artist, and art historian Simon Morley shows how twenty well-known but little-understood works of art can serve as useful gateways not only for understanding each other, but also for appreciating works by the same artists and the wider world of art in general. Morley points to visual and theoretical dimensions of art that are not immediately obvious, reconstructing the perspectives of artists and the context within which works were made. Seven Keys to Modern Art is a liberating approach, offering a highly practical and universally applicable method of art interpretation and appreciation.

This stunning eBook is a concise illustrated guide, evaluating the masterpieces that have changed the course of art as we know it. Whether an art novice or a cultivated connoisseur, this eBook offers you an intriguing overview of the world’s most famous and iconic artworks. Illustrated with over 500 full colour images, it builds upon Delphi’s groundbreaking Masters of Art Series — the world’s first digital e-Art books. Through the analysis of 50 famous and innovative paintings, the eBook charts the shifting movements and styles of Western art, from the early beginnings of the Italian Renaissance to the daring wonders of the twentieth century. (Version 1) * Includes reproductions of art’s most monumental paintings * Concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information on each artist and artwork * Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore the celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional print art books * Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smart phones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders * Easily locate the paintings you wish to view with a linked contents table * Chart the history of art in chronological order Please note: due to existing copyrights, Picasso and Matisse are unable to appear in the eBook. CONTENTS: SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF JOACHIM by Giotto THE EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN by Masaccio THE ARNOLFINI PORTRAIT by Jan van Eyck THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST by Piero della Francesca PRIMAVERA by Sandro Botticelli THE LAST SUPPER by Leonardo da Vinci SELF PORTRAIT, 1498 by Albrecht Dürer PORTRAIT OF DOGE LEONARDO LOREDAN by Giovanni Bellini MONA LISA by Leonardo da Vinci THE LAST JUDGMENT by Michelangelo THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS by Raphael SLEEPING VENUS by Giorgione ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN by Titian THE PEASANT WEDDING by Pieter Bruegel the Elder THE LAST SUPPER by Tintoretto CALLING OF SAINT MATTHEW by Caravaggio JUDITH SLAYING HOLOFERNES by Artemisia Gentileschi ET IN ARCADIA EGO by Nicolas Poussin THE EMBARKATION OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA by Claude Lorrain LAS MENINAS by Diego Velázquez PEACE AND WAR by Sir Peter Paul Rubens THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING by Johannes Vermeer SELF PORTRAIT WITH PALETTE AND BRUSHES by Rembrandt van Rijn THE ENTRANCE TO THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE by Canaletto THE MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT by William Hogarth THE SWING by Jean-Honoré Fragonard THE BLUE BOY by Thomas Gainsborough OATH OF THE HORATII by Jacques-Louis David THE NUDE MAJA by Francisco de Goya THE HAY WAIN by John Constable WANDERER ABOVE THE SEA OF FOG by Caspar David Friedrich LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE by Eugène Delacroix THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE by J. M. W. Turner OLYMPIA by Édouard Manet IMPRESSION, SUNRISE by Claude Monet PROSERPINE by Dante Gabriel Rossetti THE DANCING CLASS by Edgar Degas NOCTURNE IN BLACK AND GOLD: THE FALLING ROCKET by James Abbott McNeill Whistler AT THE MOULIN DE LA GALETTE by Pierre-Auguste Renoir MADAME X by John Singer Sargent STILL LIFE: VASE WITH TWELVE SUNFLOWERS by Vincent van Gogh THE SCREAM by Edvard Munch WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING? by Paul Gauguin THE LARGE BATHERS by Paul Cézanne THE KISS by Gustav Klimt PORTRAIT OF WALLY by Egon Schiele SMALL PLEASURES by Wassily Kandinsky SEATED NUDE by Amedeo Modigliani RED BALLOON by Paul Klee TABLEAU I by Piet Mondrian Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to buy the whole Art series as a Super Set

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.