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Oxford Companion to Western Art
 
 
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Oxford Companion to Western Art [Hardcover]

Hugh Brigstocke (Editor)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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The Oxford Companion to Western Art is an immensely impressive and exhaustive reference guide to Western art, from Abstract Art to Emile Zola. It contains over 2,600 entries, including detailed information on over 1,700 artists from the classical period to the late 20th century, as well as 49 special feature articles on topics such as Colour, Perspective, and Drawing, plus key movements such as Renaissance and Cubism. The editor, Hugh Brigstocke and his team of over a hundred internationally renowned art historians, have radically overhauled Harold Osborne's Oxford Companion to Art, first published in 1970. Brigstocke has focused specifically on Western art, covering painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts produced by "all cultures speaking a European language". Architecture and non-Western art are not included, which allows for greater scope on newer subjects. The Companion is aimed at those who would like to "look for biographical details about artists and to need contextual information on patronage, collecting, and changing aspects of taste". The entries are detailed but accessible, and supplemented by 48 pages of colour illustrations (although for a book of this scope more pictures would have been helpful). Particularly valuable are the more indefinable entries on major cities, museums, and movements, and the incorporation of new developments within art history, such as expanded entries on patronage, collecting, medieval illuminations, Baroque art, and more recent developments within modern art. Both its scholarship and presentation will ensure that The Oxford Companion to Western Art will be an indispensable reference book on Western art for many years to come. --Jerry Brotton

From Library Journal

A partial successor to the 1970 Oxford Companion to Art, this title limits itself to European-language cultures, dropping architecture and non-Western subjects. The 2600 signed entries generally range in length from 100 to 1000-plus words (and are occasionally longer), and they include artist, historian, theorist, and patron biographies as well as entries on institutions, cities and museums, styles, movements, and art historical theory and methodology. Most entries have at least one bibliographical reference and are longer than those in The Oxford Dictionary of Art (LJ 9/15/97), which includes 3000 entries but otherwise appears comparable to this title in scope. Reflecting the methodological growth of art history and changes in topics of study since the first title was published, this book offers more coverage of the Baroque, manuscript illumination, and 19th- and 20th-century art. Established living artists are included. Editor Brigstocke, a Paul Mellon Research Fellow at the British School in Rome, included unchanged some of the technical and aesthetic essays by Harold Osborne, editor of the 1970 title, but this is essentially a new work. Most of the 100 contributors are British, which slightly colors the selections and some of the entries, and the plates are "tasters" not related to specific entries. As with any work of this scope, there are inevitable omissions and occasional errors of fact, but this title essentially accomplishes its goals and is recommended for all collections looking for an in-depth work on Western art. Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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5.0 out of 5 stars extremely helpful companion, Nov 24 2003
By 
H "art lover" (washington, dc United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oxford Companion to Western Art (Hardcover)
this is one of the most comprehensive companion guides i've found. most art texts only cover the basics but this includes more obscure info and provides excellent definitions. one of the best features is that it includes themes and topics in art. gray boxed info covers such things as patronage, the tradition of the nude model, comparisons of southern and northern renaissance and portraiture. terrific book, cannot recommend it enough!!!!
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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars extremely helpful companion, Nov 24 2003
By H "art lover" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Oxford Companion to Western Art (Hardcover)
this is one of the most comprehensive companion guides i've found. most art texts only cover the basics but this includes more obscure info and provides excellent definitions. one of the best features is that it includes themes and topics in art. gray boxed info covers such things as patronage, the tradition of the nude model, comparisons of southern and northern renaissance and portraiture. terrific book, cannot recommend it enough!!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You've Wanted to Know about Jean de Marville, Mar 10 2006
By Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Oxford Companion to Western Art (Hardcover)
This is a huge, wonderful reference book on almost every aspect of art you can think of. Beware, though, this is not a "picture" book nor is it a narrative history of art. Though it does contain about 50 color paintings between its covers, it is basically an art encyclopedia with entries laid out in alphabetical order.

Besides containing biographical information on just about every artist who ever took brush in hand it has entries on major museums, schools of art, and various other feature length articles on:

Classicism

Casting

Conservation and Restoration

Illuminated Manuscripts

Gilding

Funerary Monuments

Gothic Art

Arts of Countries

Portraiture

Proportion

Impressionism

Perspective.

That's just a sampling of the many interesting topics discussed in a book of over 800 pages. Each page has three columns so there is an immense amount of material covered here. Another interesting group of feature articles pertains to Art as Objects of Patronage and Collecting. These are listed by country, e.g. England, Italy, Spain.

This is a serious art book, and probably would not be of interest to anyone with a very casual interest in the subject. The long article on Perspective, for instance, requires some focusing of the mind. If you've spent some time studying the basics of art, and think that the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon is to tour the local art gallery, then this is the book for you.
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