Art For Dummies

Title
Contents
Introduction
	About This Book
	How This Book Is Organized
	Icons Used in This Book
	Where to Go from Here
Part I : Appreciating Art
Chapter 1: What Is Art?
	Toward a Definition of Art
	How to Recognize Good Art
Chapter 2: How to Appreciate Art Without an Advanced Degree
	The Key to Being a Connoisseur
Chapter 3: How to Visit a Museum the Way the Pros Do
	Doing What the Pros Do
Part II : Art through the Ages
Chapter 4: Prehistoric Art
	Prehistoric Cave Art
	Art Leaves the Caves
Chapter 5: The Ancient World: Still the Most Exciting
	The Ancient Near East
	Mesopotamia
	Anatolia
	Persia
	Egypt, the True Grandmother of the Fine Arts
	The Glory That Was Greece
	The Art of Rome
Chapter 6: Medieval Art
	Early Christian Art
	The “Dark Ages”
	The Romanesque
	The Gothic
	The International Style
	Byzantine Art
Chapter 7: The Renaissance and Revivals
	Renascences
	The Italian Proto-Renaissance
	Italian Early Renaissance
	Italian High Renaissance
Chapter 8: The Northern European “Renaissance”
	The Grandeur of the Northern Renaissance
	Northern Sculpture
Chapter 9: Mannerism: Sensuality and the Bizarre
	The Real and the Invented Mannerism
	French Mannerism
	El Greco
Chapter 10: The Baroque: The True Golden Age
	The Birth of Baroque
	The Caravaggesque Style Elsewhere
	The Flourishing of the Baroque
	Baroque Tendencies in France
	The Best of the 17th Century: Diego Velázquez
Chapter 11: The Sparkling 18th Century
	France and the Rococo Style
	Germany and the Rococo
	The Impact of Italy
	English Contributions
	The Emergence of America
	The End of the Rococo
Chapter 12: Neoclassicism and the Romantic Twinge
	Neoclassicism
	Romanticism
Chapter 13: Impressionism
	The Roots of Impressionism
	The Key Role of Édouard Manet
	Claude Monet
	The Impressionist “Style”
Chapter 14: Post-Impressionism
	Painting after the Impressionists
Chapter 15: Modern Art: The Bold, the Beautiful, and the Not-So-Beautiful
	Pablo Picasso
	ISMs and Other Styles
	Is Modern Art Something of a Joke?
Chapter 16: Contemporary Art and Its “ISMs”
	The Lowdown on Contemporary Art
	Abstract Expressionism
	Color Field Painting
	Pop Art
	Abstract Illusionism
	Art Brut
	Body Art
	Minimalism
	Conceptual Art
	Earthworks
	Hairy Whoism and Chicago Imagism
	“True” Art
	Neurotic Realism
	Transavantgardism
	Installation Art
Chapter 17: A Look at Art Beyond the Western World
	China
	Japan
	India and Southeast Asia
	Islamic Art — Only God Remains
	Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Part III : Beginning Your Own Collection
Chapter 18: Getting Ready to Collect
	Getting Set to Collect
	The Don’ts of Collecting Art
Chapter 19: How to Play the Buying Game
	The Many Faces of Forgeries
	Where to Go to Buy
	Knowing What to Ask
	Understanding Dealer-Speak
	Taking Your Chances at an Auction
	What to Collect and What to Avoid
	What to Look Into or Avoid
Part IV : The Part of Tens
Chapter 20: The Greatest Works of Western Civilization
	King Tut’s Golden Mask
	The Sculptures of the Parthenon
	The Scythian Gold Pectoral
	Nicholas of Verdun’s Enameled Altar
	Giotto’s Arena Chapel
	The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck
	Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”
	Michelangelo’s “David”
	The Isenheim Altarpiece by Mathias Grünewald
	El Greco’s “Burial of Count Orgaz”
	Diego Velázquez’s “Las Meninas”
	Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son”
	Francisco Goya’s “The Third of May, 1808”
	Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party”
	Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”
Chapter 21: The Ten Most Interesting Artists
	Leonardo da Vinci
	Albrecht Dürer
	Pablo Picasso
	Francisco Goya
	Diego Velázquez
	Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
	Peter Paul Rubens
	Rembrandt van Rijn
	Michelangelo Buonarroti
	Lysippus
Chapter 22: Ten Artists Worth Watching
	Mark di Suvero
	Gary Simmons
	Helen Frankenthaler
	Andrew Wyeth
	Frank Stella
	Anselm Kiefer
	Wayne Thiebaud
	Robert Rauschenberg
	Jenny Saville
	Dale Chihuly
Chapter 23: How to Tell if Your Child Has Artistic Genius and Then What to Do
	Does My Child Have an Artistic Spark?
Part V : Appendixes
Appendix A: Artspeak Unmasked
Appendix B: The Professional’s Checklist on How to Buy Art
Appendix C: Art Chronology
Part VI : The Essential Guide to the World’s Top Art Cities and Centers
Essential Guide Chapter 1: The Awesome Americas
	UNITED STATES
	Arizona
	Arkansas
	California
	Colorado
	Connecticut
	District of Columbia
	Illinois
	Indiana
	Maryland
	Massachusetts
	Michigan
	Minnesota
	Missouri
	New York
	North Carolina
	Ohio
	Oklahoma
	Pennsylvania
	Texas
	Virginia
	Wyoming
	CANADA
	LATIN AMERICA
	Brazil
	Mexico
	Peru
	Venezuela
Essential Guide Chapter 2: Europe
	Austria
	France
	Germany
	Greece
	Ireland
	Italy
	Netherlands, The
	Russia
	Spain
	Switzerland
	United Kingdom
Essential Guide Chapter 3: Non-Western Destinations
	Egypt
	Israel
	Turkey
: Bibliography
	Online Material:
	Print Material:
: Color Insert