Schirmer's Student Encyclopedia of Art [Hardcover]

The past decade or so has seen a tremendous increase of interest in the visual arts. Museum attendance is steadily on the rise; galleries devoted to the art of our times and the art of the past are flourishing; and there are probably more artists of note today than at any other point in the history of humankind. In New York alone, it has been estimated that there are some 60,000 practicing artists. As the contemporary painter and sculptor Frank Stella noted recently, with some astonishment, "Until now, there weren't even 60,000 artists since the beginning of time."
Ours is also an increasingly visual culture, more and more dependent on signs and images instead of the written text. Television sets flicker for part of the day in most households; we cruise the Internet, encountering new forms of visual stimulus; our public spaces are littered with ever?larger billboards and neon advertisements. What a pleasure it is, then, to walk into a gallery or museum, into the relative sanity and quiet, where the eye can feast on images by artists long?gone or of the moment. And small wonder we are curious about the people who made these images, so many of which?like Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Rodin's Thinker, or the woodblock prints of the eighteenthcentury Japanese masters?have become instantly recognizable as touchstones of our cultural past.
When I was a high school student, thirty?some years ago, there was no comprehensive volume that offered easily accessible information on art and artists. The standard references were H. W. Janson's History of Art and E. H. Gombrich's The Story of Art, both excellent books and still fortunately very much in use. Janson's text is now in its sixth edition, published 2001; the sixteenth edition of The Story ofArtwas published in 1995. Neither, however, is in an encyclopedic form, and each has its biases. Gombrich, for instance, offers scant discussion of photography, which in the last 150 years has gained sufficient respectability as an art form to merit museum departments and prestigious exhibitions. Like Gombrich, Janson's history takes a European perspective that does not convey the sweep of Asian or African art. Nor was there a reference that handily defined the many terms that the average student (or adult!) reader runs across in discussions of art?contrapposto, sfumato, impasto, cuneiform, apse, caryatid, and the like. One had to work with a glossary at the back or keep a dictionary of art terms within easy reach.
Because of the growth of interest in art history, scholars have started to reassess traditional ways of thinking about art and culture. What was once called "primitive" art is more carefully studied and weighed; the contributions of men and women outside the Western mainstream are increasingly recognized; and little?known artists and schools of art are steadily being evaluated and re?evaluated. Without losing perspective on what makes some artists great and many more worth the acquaintance, the contributors and editors of the Schirmer Encyclopedia of Art have kept abreast of new findings and incorporated them herein.
In addition to offering sophisticated and up?to?date information for the older student and the general reader, the Schirmer Encyclopedia of Art was designed to present information in an approachable A to Z format. The nearly 300 biographies focus on the kinds of facts and anecdotes that will be of interest to young and questing minds, while over 100 topical articles cover eras, movements, and genres. In particular, the historical overviews give a sense of what was happening in the culture at large?the way war, politics, and religion played their roles in shaping the visual arts. The paintings, drawings, sculpture, architecture, and photography reproduced here, of course, speak for themselves.
Cross?referencing within entries is indicated by a special small capital typeface. This makes it easy for readers to look up separate entries on major periods, artists within the same schools or movements, artistic techniques, and formal and stylistic developments. Cross?references that appear at the end of entries offer additional guidelines for the reader. Sidebars provide commentary on the unfolding story of art, including profiles of collectors, patrons, dealers, and critics; historical footnotes; and period highlights. Volumes one through three contain a volume?specific index, while volume four includes a comprehensive index for the entire set. A list of "Suggested Resources" appears at the end of volume four, which offers readers a variety of sources to help them continue their exploration of art and culture.