The Oxford Dictionary of Art - Softcover

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9780198604273: The Oxford Dictionary of Art

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198604270 ISBN 13: 9780198604273

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

This new paperback edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Art reaffirms the esteemed book's place as the most authoritative one-volume guide to the art of the western world. Surveying painting, sculpture, drawing, and the applied arts from the 5th century to the contemporary scene, over 3,000 entries provide the reader with instant information in succinct and readable form about styles, techniques, collections, artists, and historians. And what's more, this new edition contains an original reference section containing a chronology of major works in their historical context, a practical list of museums and major collections worldwide, and a select list of biblical and classical themes and examples of major works.
This second edition also includes new material on twentieth-century art including entries on graffiti art, David Hockney, Tamara de Lempicka, Richard Long, Neo-Expressionism, New Realism, the Pompidou Centre, and the Turner Prize.

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About the Author:

Ian Chilvers is a freelance writer and editor with many years' experience on art reference books. The late Harold Osborne (1905-1987) co-founded the British Society of Aesthetics in 1950, whose journal he edited for many years. Dennis Farr CBE was Director of the Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, from 1980 to 1993 and is the author of English Art 1870-1940 and General Editor of the Clarendon Studies in the History of Art.

From Booklist:

This new edition expands by some 200 pages the 1997 second edition, adding more than 200 entries and a very helpful classified list of entries. The chronology and index of museums and galleries have been updated, while "A Selection of Christian and Classical Themes in Painting and Sculpture" has been dropped. The annotated index of museums and galleries contains complete contact information and focuses on "150 of the world's leading collections of Western art." As in previous editions, the focus is Western art beginning with classical Greece.

According to the editor, "almost every entry has been amended in some way and many have been expanded or substantially rewritten." Of the 3,000 entries, about two-thirds are for artists, and the number of entries for people grows to around three-fourths of the total when patrons, collectors, administrators, dealers, and writers are added. Architects, designers, photographers, and practitioners of the applied arts are not the subjects of main entries unless they were also significant as painters, sculptors, printmakers, or draftsmen. There are 28 entries for artists of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean; most spent significant parts of their careers in Europe or the U.S. Wherever possible, all biographical entries now include places and exact dates of birth and death. Nonbiographical entries cover museums and galleries; academies, schools, and other institutions; exhibitions and prizes; styles, groups, and movements; materials, tools, and techniques; and miscellaneous terms.

Other recent one-volume dictionaries of similar scope, size, and readability and with an emphasis on Western art include The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History (Penguin, 2000) and The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists (Yale, 2000). The former includes brief quotations by or about the artist for each artist entry. Neither these nor The Oxford Dictionary of Art is illustrated. The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists (Thames and Hudson, 1994), though shorter and less recent, includes 426 black-and-white illustrations and ventures more into non-Western cultures. All of these volumes are recommended for high-school, public, and academic libraries, though none is as up-to-date as The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Craig Bunch
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