
The History of Western Art
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Narrated by:
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Sebastian Comberti
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By:
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Peter Whitfield
About this listen
What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age: religious, political and aesthetic.
From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, to the revolutionary years of the 19th and 20th centuries, the artist has acted as a mirror to the ideals and conflicts of the human mind. He has always started with reality, but has selected and reshaped that reality to create a parallel world; a world of the imagination.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2011 Naxos AudioBooks (P)2011 Naxos AudioBooksListeners also enjoyed...
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-
-
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People who viewed this also viewed...
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Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts. In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Dana Arnold presents an introduction to the issues, debates, and artifacts that make up art history. Beginning with a consideration of what art history is, she explains what makes the subject distinctive from other fields of study and also explores the emergence of social histories of art (such as feminist art history and queer art history).
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Overall
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Overall
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Performance
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Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts. In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Dana Arnold presents an introduction to the issues, debates, and artifacts that make up art history. Beginning with a consideration of what art history is, she explains what makes the subject distinctive from other fields of study and also explores the emergence of social histories of art (such as feminist art history and queer art history).
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- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
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Overall
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Performance
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Worth the listen
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In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
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What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
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Story
Featuring an enlightening introduction by the book's translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, providing generational and cultural context for Kandinsky and his work, Concerning the Spiritual in Art gives testimony to the mind and creative expression of Kandinsky and other artists of his generation. This seminal and thought-provoking book exploring the heart of the artistic endeavor belongs in the library of every serious artist and student of modern art.
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A not inestimable detail
- By Julia Robinson on 05-19-25
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Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice
- A Treatise, Critique, and Call to Action (Manifesto)
- By: J.F. Martel, Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: J.F. Martel, Donna Tartt
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Received opinion holds that art is culturally determined and relative. We are told that whether a picture, a movement, a text, or sound qualifies as a "work of art" largely depends on social attitudes and convention. Drawing on examples ranging from Paleolithic cave paintings to modern pop music and building on the ideas of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Gilles Deleuze, Carl Jung, and others, J.F. Martel argues that art is an inborn human phenomenon that precedes the formation of culture and even society.
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The Truth
- By jim iannone on 01-14-25
By: J.F. Martel, and others
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Renaissance Art
- By: Tom Nichols
- Narrated by: Paul English
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The 15th century saw the evolution of a distinct and powerfully influential European artistic culture. But what does the familiar phrase “Renaissance Art” actually refer to? Through engaging discussion of timeless works by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, Tom Nichols offers a masterpiece of his own as he explores the truly original and diverse character of the art of the Renaissance.
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A Solid Beginning
- By Troy on 06-09-14
By: Tom Nichols
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Camille Pissarro
- The Audacity of Impressionism
- By: Anka Muhlstein, Adriana Hunter - translator
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The celebrated painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) occupied a central place in the artistic scene of his time: a founding member of the new school of French painting, he was a close friend of Monet, a longtime associate in Degas's and Mary Cassatt's experimental work, a support to Cezanne and Gauguin, and a comfort to Van Gogh, and was backed by the great Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel throughout his career. Nevertheless, he felt a persistent sense of being set apart, different, and hard to classify.
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a good education
- By VMXO L. on 10-26-24
By: Anka Muhlstein, and others
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In Montparnasse
- The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dalí
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In Montparnasse begins on the eve of the First World War and ends with the 1936 unveiling of Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. As those extraordinary years unfolded, the Surrealists found ever more innovative ways of exploring the interior life, and asking new questions about how to define art. In Montparnasse recounts how this artistic revolution came to be amidst the salons and cafés of that vibrant neighborhood.
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Great Second of Two Books
- By Robert Keith on 10-26-19
By: Sue Roe
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Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
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Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
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All the Beauty in the World
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
- By: Patrick Bringley
- Narrated by: Patrick Bringley
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamourous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought that he’d be one of them.
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Gallery 771
- By Jonathan Hurst on 06-10-23
By: Patrick Bringley
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Color
- A Natural History of the Palette
- By: Victoria Finlay
- Narrated by: Victoria Finlay
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist’s palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world and through the ages, illuminating how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes—painted all the more dazzling by Finlay’s engaging style. The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright.
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amazing
- By Jaime Manzo on 07-15-23
By: Victoria Finlay
The reader has a lovely British accent.
Great book
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What’s his problem with Turner?
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A whirlwind tour of Western art
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In slightly more than five hours of narration, a listener traverses 30,000 years (some say 40,000 years) of art history. Whitfield is a poet and critic. “The History of Art” is an intelligent introduction to a mystifying, fascinating, and intimidating subject.
At the end, one wonders whether art is entering a new dark age where the value of art is degraded by technology that makes too much of medium as message. Art needs to be more than a transaction between willing seller and buyer.
ART
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A very good introduction to the western art
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AWESOME ART
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Would you consider the audio edition of The History of Western Art to be better than the print version?
DunnoWho was your favorite character and why?
Vincent Van Gogh - he was so ahead of his time.What about Sebastian Comberti’s performance did you like?
ExcellentIf you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
This is what makes life worth it. Culture and Art.Any additional comments?
I listen to it over and over. A joy to hear. Still, I don't understand why Hockeny was so great.Every thing you need to know about western Art.
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Good standard overview
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Would you consider the audio edition of The History of Western Art to be better than the print version?
Peter Whitfield has a deep understanding of art history and manages to communicate it undiluted without pretence. Some of his observations are stunning, and always concise. The other art history university textbooks I've read are watered down and politically bent, but Whitfield just states it like it is with utter virtuosity. His sentences are art.The narration is good, I'm cherishing listening to this.What was one of the most memorable moments of The History of Western Art?
The RenaissanceSuperbly Written
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Quick review
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