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World of Art

by John Boardman

This book will do for the next generation of students and general readers what its predecessor has done for the last - provide an authoritative and readable guide to the history of Greek art. It is a considerably enlarged and rewritten version of a work that has served hundreds of thousands in many languages since the early 1960s. As the author says, "This edition is different in that it takes into account new finds as well as new ideas and attitudes to the subject... I have attempted here to place Greek art back into Greece and away from galleries and art books, to try to recapture what it meant to its makers and viewers, and so better value what it has meant to later artists in the western world. The original intentions and the way these masterpieces are viewed today are often leagues apart. But foremost my aim has been to explain what Greek art looks like, how to look at it, how to enjoy it as something beyond the tourist's Parthenon or a broken museum marble, as part of our common heritage".

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Art History, Greece, Classics, Architecture

249 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Marc Lamot]

British art historian John Boardman published this book in 1964, but it remains the standard work on ancient Greek art. This is, of course, because it has been updated repeatedly over the decades. I read the fifth and final edition from 2016 (Boardman died in 2024), and I didn't compare, but you can tell the revision was taken seriously. Only the bibliography reveals a much older origin.

Boardman focuses primarily on the Archaic (8th-6th century BCE) and Classical (5th-4th century BCE) periods, which is understandable. However, it is unfortunate that he covers the Hellenistic period only very briefly. Even though this book inevitably has a certain encyclopedic slant, Boardman has succeeded in delivering a readable and insightful overview.

More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sense of History]

Of course, through general overviews of the history of ancient Greece, I had already gained some insight into the evolution of the art of the ancient Greeks. But it's always worthwhile to get everything thematically organized. And in that case, as far as I can tell, John Boardman (1927-2024) is truly the authority. A few weeks ago, I was wandering through the Greek halls of the Louvre in Paris. And to be honest: after an hour, everything started spinning before my eyes. The umpteenth Roman copy of an original Greek statue, the umpteenth terracotta Tanagra figurines from the Hellenistic period, and especially the rows and rows of earthenware vases with their endless depictions of mythological figures and stories—you'd be dazzling for less. I simply couldn't see the forest for the trees. And so I bought this book by Boardman.

Reading it not only clarified the overall evolution of Greek art (and especially that tableware), it also gave me more insight into the overall context, and especially into how the Greeks themselves experienced that art. Not like us, of course, who sometimes travel far to prestigious buildings where everything is gathered together, and where we explicitly view and frame the objects as 'art.' Boardman continually emphasizes this: "art for art's sake" is a modern approach, or at most, to a certain extent, from the Roman period, when the explicit collection, exhibition, and imitation of Greek objects began. For the Greeks, the objects were primarily functional, and this doesn't just refer to practical functionality but especially to the political, social, or religious context in which the objects were placed.

And another point, now sufficiently made: the classical image of blank marble temples and sculptures, so glorified since the Renaissance, turns out to be completely wrong, because they were almost always (brightly) colored, which again points to that functionality. And that's such a recent insight that Boardman has to admit he absolutely had to adjust it between the original edition of his book, in 1964, and this 5th edition, from 2016. Or rather, how our image of civilizations, which we now believe we "know" thoroughly for more than five centuries now, is still constantly changing and shifting. Long live progressive insight (through careful scientific research)!

[Linniegayl]

This is an informative, readable book on Greek art, chock full of pictures of all types of Greek art. In general I enjoyed this, but at times was put off by what seemed to be the author's condescending attitude toward other cultures' art.

[Christine Hartweg]

Great pictures, as always with the older volumes of the World of Art series. The text contained many convoluted sentences; sometimes it's hard to understand what the author wants to say. I thought that John Boardman's contribution to an earlier volume on Greek art, was better.

[elizabeth]

Boardman is one of my favourite authors on Greek Art purely because he's so simple and clear.

His ideas are set out clearly and in sections making it easy to understand what period you are reading up on, and the area of Greece that it's in. He does focus a little too much on Athens during the Archaic through to Hellenistic periods, however, that is not an uncommon theme.

There are nice, clear pictures throughout the book that help to break up the text.

This book is great regardless of what level you're on. Whether you're curious, an Art Student or studying specifically on Art in the Ancient World.

[John Bruni]

A fairly interesting book about the art of ancient Greece. It's a quick read, but the history isn't as exciting as the pictures and captions are. There are some amazing photographs in this book. I didn't care much about the pottery, but the statues and the architecture are amazing. Also, this is the first time I've heard of something called "heroic nudity." It doesn't refer to doing awesome things while naked (which is how I'll be using the phrase), but it's about how male gods and heroes were depicted as perfect physical specimens, and that usually involved them being naked. It's kind of like taking an average athlete and portraying him as Superman (but without the tights).

[Mary]

Easy to read, even if you're not an art history major. Lots of photos, many in color (although, of course, most of the sculpture that still exists is not painted as it was originally).

[Scott Campbell]

A rather dated and rather British survey of ancient Greek art. Most of the pictures in the edition I read were in black and white, which normally would bother me, but since so much of surviving Greek art is without color, that wasn't really a concern here. The text was a little dry, but it's a dry subject so that wasn't too much of a surprise. An OK introduction to a dry subject. It was probably as interesting as it could be.

[Brent Cehan]

I'm not sure who the intended audience is for this.

This isn't a handy beginner's introduction to the period, but instead an opinionated survey which assumes quite a bit of specialized knowledge on the reader's part. I rather feel some online documentaries combined with a few encyclopedia entries would leave the reader with a better sense of the topic.

[Commander Law]

A concise run through ancient Greek art. It felt like the text had been cut down from the original for this book. In general terms it was broken down into the ages and for each age the types of art (architecture, poetry, statuary, pottery, painting) was approached.

[Naomi Ruth]

This was another reject I rescued from the library. It has great pictures and is very readable and I found it informative and engaging. Happy to add it to my Classical Studies shelf.

[Riley]

Very cool

[Veikkous]

Horrid and prententious vocabulary

[Rio]

Very informative.
Enjoyable read.

[Owen Hatherley]

Dated, but there are few things better than a 1960s World of Art book.

[Sara M]

31

[Laura Betters]

Art History was one of my majors in college, along with History. This is one of the textbooks I held on to. I am particularly drawn to ancient art.

Art, as a whole, intrigues me. It seems to me that it's the window into the souls of a civilization. I don't think you can understand any period in history without studying the art that coincides with it. Most importantly, art serves to move us beyond a date or event to the consideration of the human element.

[Ray]

A great summary of Greek art from about 1200 BC to the foundation of the Roman empire 27 BC.Many illustrations of architecture, sculpture, pottery and other artifacts. The Greeks did painting as well but none of that survived except on their urns. This art influenced the art of Rome and the Renaissance and even up to modern times.

[Barb]

(Looking for a source book for Greek motifs and designs) Wide range of photos to study for Greek designs, but they are rather small making it difficult at times to see the details. But it does follow Greek art through many stages. The short amount of text that I did read was engaging.

[David]

Another good resource book.

[Grace Lopez]

It's nice to see art from other countries.

[Viktorija]

I've read this in highschool and liked it a lot and now I've returned to this book in my university studies. Love the visual material. Undoubtedly good stuff

[Lisa Arrigo]

Excellent Resource