Learning art history?

I'm looking for some basic primers on art history to get me to a place where I can know enough to search our more information on a specific artist or time.

A book would be great.

The thing is, I tried the ones at the library and they are either too juvenile (and this, kids, is what a paint brush looks like.  Use the fluffy end.) Or too name heavy.  I tried a book about Ruskin, and by the end of the second paragraph, I had seventeen names to keep track of, including the name of Whistler's mother's neighbour's brother during the American civil war.  Index said this guy wasn't mentioned elsewhere in the book, so why do I need to care?  What's that got to do with art?

Anyway, how to learn about art history.  I'm mostly interested in European post roman times, and a bit globally, especially cultures that had a lot of contact with europe pre 1700.  But if there is something cool to learn about outside those limits, I would love that too.  I mostly set the limits so I would be less overwhelmed.  History is huge.

Where do I begin?

I know that you already know Wikipedia exists, so I'm assuming this doesn't work for you, but it's how I'd start and it might be a useful suggestion for anyone reading this down-stream. I'd go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_history and start reading. Then I'd follow links and links from links and lin...

Maybe there is a used bookstore with some college textbooks on art history.

I saw this on Reddit:

Start with Helen Gardner's book, "Art Through the Ages." After that, explore art on Wikiart to discover new pieces on your own

Interesting subject for sure.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I know that you already know Wikipedia exists, so I'm assuming this doesn't work for you, but it's how I'd start and it might be a useful suggestion for anyone reading this down-stream. I'd go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_history and start reading. Then I'd follow links and links from links and lin...

Wikipedia is often inaccurate or biased.  That one is about the history of people who study and analyze art history.  Not really a primer about art.  It also doesn't have a story to it which is important to learning. A narrative makes it easier to remember how everything is interconnected.   Wiki is too segmented to work for me.

Something more like this is what I'm looking for



History as seen through art, and art as connected to history.  

Anne Miller wrote:Maybe there is a used bookstore with some college textbooks on art history.

I saw this on Reddit:

Start with Helen Gardner's book, "Art Through the Ages." After that, explore art on Wikiart to discover new pieces on your own

Interesting subject for sure.

This one perhaps?
https://a.co/d/cqVAaAY
Looks like starting price is about $200 cad (I was hoping for under $100).  I'll see if the library can interlibrary loan it.

If you can track down these books, I'd also recommend them:
The Story of Art - Gombrich (1950)  <-- it's a bit surface-level, but a solid intro into Art History. Something to get you started.

Mirror of the World by Julian Bell <-- Not a traditional art history book, as it focuses more on how art across the world approaches expresses aspects of humanity, but it's still very informative.

Ways of Seeing by John Berger: https://www.ways-of-seeing.com/ch1

If you can find a pirated PDF version online, or find it at a library:  Gardner's Art Through The Ages. It's horribly huge and expensive lol, but it's great quality info.

--
"A History of European Art - Course Guidebook" by Professor William Kloss, from the Smithsonian Institution: https://ia801209.us.archive.org/7/items/AHistoryOfEuropeanArt/AHistoryOfEuropeanArt.pdf

"European Art and the wider world c. 1350-1550"  published by Manchester University Press: https://www.academia.edu/34296783/European_art_and_the_wider_world_1350_1550_2017_

It may be easier & more informative if you focus in on a smaller geographic range, and a smaller period of time.
For example, England in the 14th century, or Italy in the 16th century.

Or pick an art technique and a country, like "The history of Spanish Bobbin Lace Weaving" or "The history of Moroccan Zellij Tiles"  and explore from its origin to modern day (or until you lose interest in learning more about it.)

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You could also go into some Art Museum website, pick a period & location that interests you, and browse through the art. When you spot one that you find interesting, read about it & research more about that style & who made it.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - Iberian Peninsula, 1400-1600 A.D : https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/08/eusi.html

or drop into a local history museum, and focus on their art on display. Read the signage posted, see them in person, and then go home and learn about their history online.

--

Trying to learn 1,000 years of Art History across a whole continent is like trying to swallow the ocean.
If it seems too overwhelming, take smaller sips.

Someone said "books" again.

Try art books by the Batterberrys!

They are on my shelves waiting for my daughter in middle and high school, and I can't wait.

So far, I've found Waldemar's videos to be the best for learning art history.  He keeps a narrative going and relates the different elements back to previous ones he talked about.  

Here are some videos published on youtube.  A lot of them have issues with the music overwhelming the sound (especially the impressionist).  But the ones I borrowed on DVD from the library had good sound, so I think it's just an issue on youtube and the captions are usually pretty close.

Dark ages in a new light (see earlier post)

Renaissance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLfoOK62sZc
aged restricted because some of the art don't have clothes :(

Baroque


Rococo


Impressionist


Van Gogh

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Sister Wendy Mary Beckett had very popular BBC and PBS art history shows. She also wrote several art history books. She approached art as Roman Catholic Sister, so keep that religious perspective in mind. She was not an academic art historian, so many people found her more approachable. She was known for her enthusiasm for art.

You might still find her books and videos in your library. There are lots of used copies available, too.

More info about Sister Wendy here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Beckett

The standard Art History 101 textbook since the 1960s is The History of Art, by H. W. Janson. It's been revised many times. It focuses on European art, with a bit of other regions. Lots of pictures (mostly B&W). I still have my old copy from the 1970s.

It will give you an overview and you can skim through the parts that look interesting.

Check your library, maybe your local college library, or find many used copies all over the internet.

When you're done reading it, it makes a good door stop.

Melinda McBride wrote:The standard Art History 101 textbook since the 1960s is The History of Art, by H. W. Janson. It's been revised many times. It focuses on European art, with a bit of other regions. Lots of pictures (mostly B&W). I still have my old copy from the 1970s.

It will give you an overview and you can skim through the parts that look interesting.

Check your library, maybe your local college library, or find many used copies all over the internet.

When you're done reading it, it makes a good door stop.

I found Janson's book at a thrift shop.  Thanks to this thread, I knew to snatch it up.

It's a 1974 version, so hopefully it has enough to get me started.

It's also very heavy. Going to need to dedicate some reading space for this.  I wish I wasn't such a slow reader.

Colour pictures would be nice too.  Do later copies have colour?

Found another one

r ranson wrote:
I found Janson's book at a thrift shop.  Thanks to this thread, I knew to snatch it up.

It's a 1974 version, so hopefully it has enough to get me started.

It's also very heavy. Going to need to dedicate some reading space for this.  I wish I wasn't such a slow reader.

Colour pictures would be nice too.  Do later copies have colour?

I haven't looked at more recent editions. I expect they might cover more non-Western art. But not have more color photos. It's a textbook, so color for the photos would make it way expensive for an intro class. The professor would  be showing color slides.

You should  be able to find high-quality images of a lot of the art online now (not available when I was in college in the '70s).

If you're in B.C., you can see lots of interesting art in person (the best way!) There's the Vancouver Art Gallery & the UBC Museum. The Royal BC Museum’s (Victoria) Ethnology collection has lots of First Nations art.

If you're feeling brave enough to venture down to the States, there's the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham. The Seattle Art Museum, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the Frye Museum, Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. A bit farther, the Portland Art Museum.

Happy exploring!

r ranson wrote:
Colour pictures would be nice too.  Do later copies have colour?

Yes. I don't know from what year they switched (maybe after it no longer was Janson writing it but the group) but I want to say I had a color one in college (one of my degrees is in art history).
there is an online version on Internet Archive that you could use as a reference if you like, if the images are in fact the same (I don't know how much changes from year to year). It's the 8th edition, 2011. https://archive.org/details/history-of-art-janson/mode/2up


If you search online there are some slide sets for use with Janson's (again assuming the chapter format and illustrated works are the same). I remember the slide carousels used in lectures at school, and the slide library that needed to be searched for each individual image (and employed at least 3 people, just in art history, and the architecture school had an even bigger one!)

This thread reminded me of the famous (in the upper left hand corner of the contiguous United States, anyway) poster "Expose Yourself to Art" (1978).

You can see a picture and read about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expose_Yourself_to_Art