History Of Art, Fourth Edition

Prentice Hall, Inc. - Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. Fine with no Dust Jacket. 1991. Fourth Revised Edition: First Printing. Hard Cover. 856 pages: 9 x 12 in.: 8: KB#017071: No dustjacket is included. Boards and pages are clean, unmarked, bright, tightly bound and sharp cornered. Scarce, Out Of Print, Book. This is a heavy book, but price INCLUDES FULL EXTRA COST of Media Delivery; however USPS Priority would incur additional charge due to weight. "The fourth edition of this great classic is the most lavish, most thorough, and most accessible ever, with many new features added to its unsurpassed text and peerless quality of illustrations. 1,182 illustrations. For 1000s of art lovers both amateur & professional, esthetic life began with Janson, as his History of Art is often called. In the 1st edition, published in 1962, he spoke to that perennial reader he gently called "the troubled layman." His opening paragraph revealed his sympathy: "Why is this supposed to be art?" he quoted rhetorically. "How often have we heard this question asked - or asked it ourselves, perhaps - in front of one of the strange, disquieting works that we are likely to find nowadays in the museum or art exhibition?" Keeping that curious, questioning perspective in mind, he wrote a history of art from cave painting to Picasso that was singularly welcoming, illuminating & exciting. Sojourning thru this book, a reader is offered every amenity for a comfortable trip. Because he never assumes knowledge on the part of the reader, a recent immigrant from Mars could comprehend Western art from this text. The only assumption the Jansons have made is that with a little guidance everyone can come to understand the artifacts that centuries of architecture, sculpture, design & painting have deposited in our paths. Countless readers have proven the Jansons right & found their lives enriched in the process." .