Understanding Art: A Concise History is a compendium, not an encyclopedia. It contains, in brief form, the essential information on the chronology and context of art, concise and comprehensive at the same time. It is intended as a flexible framework for professors who may have their own cache of favorite materials, primary sources, and visual images. My desire is to collaborate with them, to do, as it were, some team teaching. It is also my desire to reach students with a text that is accessible and interesting to read. Some may go on to become art historians, but all, I hope, will go on to become museum goers with a life long interest in understanding art.
1. Introduction
2. The art of the ancients
3. Classical art: greece and rome
4. Christian art: from catacombs
5. The renaissance
6. The age of baroque
7. Art beyond the west
8. Modern art
9. The twentieth century: the early years
10. Contemporary art