Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I

by Fred S. Kleiner

As fascinating as a real visit to the world's famous museums and architectural sites, GARDNER'S ART THROUGH THE THE WESTERN PERSPECTIVE gives you a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated tour of the world's great artistic traditions--plus all the study tools you need to excel in your art history course! Easy to read and understand, this 13th Edition of the most widely read history of art book in the English language is the only textbook that includes a unique "scale" feature (accompanying the book's photographs of paintings and other artworks) that will help you better visualize the actual size of the artworks shown in the book. Three levels of review including extended image captions, "The Big Picture" overviews at the end of every chapter, and a special global timeline will help you study for your exams. You'll also find materials that will help you master the key topics quickly in the ArtStudy Online (a free interactive study guide that includes flash cards of images and quizz

Genres: Art, History, Art History, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference, School

464 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 1980

Reviews

[Christin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A textbook I actually read! And was actually readable. It helped that Kleiner was my professor and his humor was evident in the writing, even though he had to leave some of the naughtier bits out.

"Double-barreled super-stud of a centaur."

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

A later version of my Art History textbook. Thank goodness I don't have to read this one! (I refer to the pictures) While comprehensive in Gardners view of Art history there were no women... what?

Like any interpretation of ART, I think that only the photos tell a kind of truth.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only college textbook I've ever kept.

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this textbook and the class that I bought it for. I wasn't anticipating liking art history as much as I did. I will definitely be hanging onto this book for a very, very long time and have no intention of selling it back.
This is an older edition of the book but, depending on your instructor, I definitely think that you can get by with just buying this edition, especially if your school library has a copy of whatever edition is being used in your class available. Although this edition has one less chapter than the most recent editions, I found that I was able to make it through just fine in the class that I was taking. I would definitely do some research into the class that you're taking and the professor's teaching style before deciding to buy this edition instead of the most recent one, though. If you do decide to buy this edition, you can find it for about $5 at a lot of used bookstores. I've found that it was a much better choice than buying the most recent edition for $120.

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I can't claim to have read every single word of this. I went through it with my kids as an Art Survey sort of class. It's pretty great, though. I love the pictures and explanations.

One thing that bothered me was in the Americas chapter. They talked up a certain type of pottery so much and then didn't show any pictures of it. Nothing major, but it still miffed me.

[Deziree Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading chapters 1-18 in this textbook. Such an enjoyment for my ARTS 1303 course. With visual illustrations and detailed representations of historical art, someone is surely able to find themselves sucked into a whole new world.

[Belle Meade School]

709

[Laurie Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art book to study the ancients that we used in our Classical Rhetoric homeschool history studies.

[Erwin Laird · Rating 5 out of 5]

May have been the only textbook I read from start to finish.

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an updated version of the college art history textbook I used back in the seventies... thank goodness I didn't have to read this one! While this and volume two provide ample photos of art work thoughout history, what lacking is that its a history that lacks women artists!

[Allison]

This is my textbook for Art History 101.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the best textbooks I've used. It's easy to read and full of useful information. Perfect for an introduction to Art History.

[Merry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for class with Dr. Diane Goode - great professor!

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good instruction book. Very good projects to enable you to draw.