"30,000 Years of Art" presents 1000 great works of art from all periods and regions in the world, arranged in chronological order for a general readership. Breaking through the usual geographical and cultural boundaries of art history, it celebrates the vast range of human artistry across time and space. Each work is accompanied by key caption information (date, title, place of origin, style or culture, medium, dimensions etc.), and a short text providing more information and explaining the art historical context. The book presents art in a way different from other art history compendia, revealing the huge diversity, or in many cases similarity, of man's artistic achievements through time and around the globe. Ordered chronologically, the resulting timeline of works leads to compelling browsing: surprising juxtapositions offer intellectual pleasure and a sense of wonder and discovery. The selection of works from across the world, arranged in the sequence in which they were made, take the reader on a global and historical journey, as a Chinese Shang urn stands next to a Mycenaean vase, and Michelangelo's Slave is followed by a contemporaneous male sculpture from Nigeria. The chronological arrangement responds to such questions as where does the earliest art appear? What were artists creating in China or Africa while Rembrandt was painting self-portraits in Leyden? How were similar subjects - equestrian themes, landscapes, religious scenes - manipulated by artists in Aztec Mexico and Medieval Europe? Although the sequence of works in the book is strictly chronological, the selection of entries for an individual culture comprises an abbreviated history of the art of that people. Thus, while artworks from ancient Greece or the European Renaissance or pre-Columbian Americas are interspersed with contemporaneous works created in Africa, India or Japan, an extraction of the Greek or Renaissance or American works could stand alone as an essential abridgement of the finest art of that period or culture.
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..for people who don't even have an art book on their shelf, this is the book that starts it all off. -- Sir Antony Caro
One of The Year's most alluring and engrossing art books:
What sounds and at first sight looks like a gimmick is, in fact, an engrossing educational journey through the world's art from the palaeolithic period to the present day. -- Frank Whitford, The Sunday Times
The huge 30,000 Years of Art is surely a bargain at just under £1 for each thousand years of world culture. Big shiny picture by big shiny picture, it flips you through the decades, down the centuries and through the millennia comparing art works from a global range of cultures. This has delightful curiosity value -- when Leonardo was painting his first realistic portraits, the Arawak people of the Dominican Republic were making ironwood pipes for inhaling hallucinogens. This is a delightfully fresh way of looking at art -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times
There are 1,000 beautiful plates- from a prehistoric carving of c. 28,000 BC to contemporary art- arranged chronologically, each with brief and scholarly notes. They illustrate such a variety of objects that even the most erudite reader is bound to find something new. -- Martin Gayford, The Sunday Telegraph
Turning its pages is like wandering through spectacular museum only filled with masterpieces. The book's strengths are its radical format, bold design, and eye-catching price of less than £30 - or a pound for every millennium. ... -- Alastair Sooke, The Daily Telegraph.
One of The Year's most alluring and engrossing art books:
What sounds and at first sight looks like a gimmick is, in fact, an engrossing educational journey through the world's art from the palaeolithic period to the present day. -- Frank Whitford, The Sunday Times
The huge 30,000 Years of Art is surely a bargain at just under £1 for each thousand years of world culture. Big shiny picture by big shiny picture, it flips you through the decades, down the centuries and through the millennia comparing art works from a global range of cultures. This has delightful curiosity value -- when Leonardo was painting his first realistic portraits, the Arawak people of the Dominican Republic were making ironwood pipes for inhaling hallucinogens. This is a delightfully fresh way of looking at art -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times
There are 1,000 beautiful plates- from a prehistoric carving of c. 28,000 BC to contemporary art- arranged chronologically, each with brief and scholarly notes. They illustrate such a variety of objects that even the most erudite reader is bound to find something new. -- Martin Gayford, The Sunday Telegraph
Turning its pages is like wandering through spectacular museum only filled with masterpieces. The book's strengths are its radical format, bold design, and eye-catching price of less than £30 - or a pound for every millennium. ... -- Alastair Sooke, The Daily Telegraph.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Plan Your Museum Going for the Next 50 Years: Great Chronological Overview of Global Art from Prehistoric Times to Today
16 Jan 2008
Format:Hardcover
30,000 Years of Art is a hard-to-beat collection of 1,000 works of art that will bring you in touch with hundreds of works that you've never seen before. It's like taking 50 trips to museums you've never visited before.
If you are used to seeing the art canon displayed in a certain way, this book will expand your horizons. I was amazed at how many prehistoric works are just as abstract and "modern" as works I see produced today. The repetition of themes (such as the ubiquitous pregnant female) across cultures was also fascinating.
One of the nice surprises was that small objects are illustrated to scale so you approximate the experience of seeing the object in a museum from one angle.
I was also pleased by the large page size that allows larger works to be represented in a way that made more detail available to see. The drawback to the book is that there are no foldouts which would have many many of the enormous screens and sculptures easier to see in detail.
I found the book to be most rewarding in showing me art from countries that I seldom see works from and for providing lots of prehistoric works.
From a religious point of view the book is pretty ecumenical in terms of the major religions (except those that frown on literally representing what's on Earth).
Don't think, however, that this book will replace buying other art books. Many obvious world favorites aren't in this book. I don't know if it was for reasons of economy (reproduction rights being costly for important works) or to expand our horizons. I mentally "looked" at those works where they fell in chronological order.
The photography and printing are excellent. Bravo!
The main drawback is that the book is very heavy. I found that I could most comfortably read it in a recliner with a pillow to help hold up the heavier side.
If you decide to give only one art book as a gift this year, this is the book to give!
If you are used to seeing the art canon displayed in a certain way, this book will expand your horizons. I was amazed at how many prehistoric works are just as abstract and "modern" as works I see produced today. The repetition of themes (such as the ubiquitous pregnant female) across cultures was also fascinating.
One of the nice surprises was that small objects are illustrated to scale so you approximate the experience of seeing the object in a museum from one angle.
I was also pleased by the large page size that allows larger works to be represented in a way that made more detail available to see. The drawback to the book is that there are no foldouts which would have many many of the enormous screens and sculptures easier to see in detail.
I found the book to be most rewarding in showing me art from countries that I seldom see works from and for providing lots of prehistoric works.
From a religious point of view the book is pretty ecumenical in terms of the major religions (except those that frown on literally representing what's on Earth).
Don't think, however, that this book will replace buying other art books. Many obvious world favorites aren't in this book. I don't know if it was for reasons of economy (reproduction rights being costly for important works) or to expand our horizons. I mentally "looked" at those works where they fell in chronological order.
The photography and printing are excellent. Bravo!
The main drawback is that the book is very heavy. I found that I could most comfortably read it in a recliner with a pillow to help hold up the heavier side.
If you decide to give only one art book as a gift this year, this is the book to give!
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By K. Sohi
Format:Hardcover
This is really beautifully produced book (which must surely be a requirement of a good art book!) which juxtaposes works of art from around the world. Rather than the thematic treatment that many other books give, this one looks at works of art from around the world chronologically (hence 30,000 years)- a rearrangement that is often surprising and delightful, occasionally jarring but always interesting! The inclusion of images from other cultures and the comparison with very well known works of art was a real eye opener- it really made me think about the relationship between the development of a culture and the art that it produces.
Furthermore the book is huge, with a great layout and and helpful index which probably makes it useful for those who want to learn a bit more about art as well as those who just want to appreciate the beautiful images.
Furthermore the book is huge, with a great layout and and helpful index which probably makes it useful for those who want to learn a bit more about art as well as those who just want to appreciate the beautiful images.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
...at the moment Amazon is selling this for less than £20 pounds, which has to make it one of the best deals in books at the moment. Even at full-price it's well worth it.
As the review above observes, it's a bit like having your own private wing of the British Museum or the National Gallery. Whilst there's not that much detail on the individual works (about as much as you might see in an exhibition catalogue) there's enough to whet your appetite and to find out more if you want.
But it's the variety that really sets this book apart. It's rare to find such a wide selection 'under one roof', and reading through one really does begin to get a feel for the chronological development of art as an adjunct to our daily lives over the past 30,000 years.
It is difficult to explain just how huge this book is - the dimensions and page count give you some idea, but perhaps the only disadvantage of it is that I spent so long engrossed in it I found its weight on my lap was sending my legs to sleep...
As the review above observes, it's a bit like having your own private wing of the British Museum or the National Gallery. Whilst there's not that much detail on the individual works (about as much as you might see in an exhibition catalogue) there's enough to whet your appetite and to find out more if you want.
But it's the variety that really sets this book apart. It's rare to find such a wide selection 'under one roof', and reading through one really does begin to get a feel for the chronological development of art as an adjunct to our daily lives over the past 30,000 years.
It is difficult to explain just how huge this book is - the dimensions and page count give you some idea, but perhaps the only disadvantage of it is that I spent so long engrossed in it I found its weight on my lap was sending my legs to sleep...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful photos - interesting selection of art
This book is huge and very heavy, reminds me of the first books, and probably should be chained to a lectern so it doesn't get stolen!. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2011 by S. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
If I were King for a day
I would give, yes give, this book to every child - it is a wonderful, magical and yet totally real and logical introduction to the possibilities, the weaknesses, the limits and... Read more
Published on 27 July 2010 by SE STEVENSON
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just gorgeous!
This is a beautiful book, the illustrations are large and well printed which makes it a pleasure to browse through. Read more
Published on 7 July 2010 by Laura Hughes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book, fantastic value..
Not so much a coffee table book as a coffee table, THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE.
And it's full of well written essays in pleasingly bite size form, accompanying... Read more
And it's full of well written essays in pleasingly bite size form, accompanying... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2010 by B. H. Whitehouse
4.0 out of 5 stars
A massive volume
A brilliant book, well written and produced, with beautiful illustrations. I would have given it the full 5 stars but for the fact that it is certainly not bedtime reading - and... Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by David S. Peters
3.0 out of 5 stars
Huge amazing variety of art but...
This is a stupendous book with hundreds of images of nearly all kinds of art throughout the ages. There are many omissions, especially of world renown works, but that is only to be... Read more
Published on 26 April 2008 by Road Rocket
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