A.J. and his friends in the second grade learn that art can be made out of anything, even garbage.

An Artist's Insights on Art Appreciation. Written by a practicing artist, this book decodes and maps the basic elements of visual art, leading the reader to a greater understanding and appreciation. Not an art history lesson per se, this illustrated guide is rather a tool kit to make the study of art and a visit to the museum truly rewarding. An entertaining and informative read, The Joy of Art offers the reader: A working art vocabulary to help you...

"His novel, The Art Thief, was a bestseller in five countries and is translated into 17 languages. His The Art of Forgery, Stealing the Mystic Lamb and Slovenology were international bestsellers. His book Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Charney is now a professor at University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, where Charney has lived for many years"-- Provided by publisher.

A hand-signed porcelain urinal. An abstract drip painting. A silent 700 hour performance. Art has changed since the days of Giotto, Michelangelo, and even Picasso--and many of us are perplexed. Do modern and contemporary artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, and Marina Abramovic represent civilization's highest achievements? Or is something else afoot? In The Art of Looking, art critic Lance Esplund demonstrates that works of modern and...

Collects 100 key writings by Peter Schjeldahl spanning thirty years, his last twenty as the art critic of the "New Yorker." In this unfailingly lucid guide to an art world in constant, dramatic flux, Schjeldahl addresses new artists and Old Masters with the same pitch of acuity, empathy, and wit. No other writer enhances the reader's experience of art in precise, jargon-free prose as he does, with reviews that are as much essay a criticism. Implicit...

An illustrated survey of the art and culture of Renaissance Europe.

"Knowing how to interpret art is one of the biggest issues facing casual gallery-goers. They may ask themselves questions like: Why is the Mona Lisa so small? Why are some frames gilded in gold while others are non-existent? What can the use of material say about a work, whether it's an oil painting, collage or made of found objects? And does the life of the artist matter? This book answers all of these questions and more and introduces the key elements...

Introduces fifty celebrated works of art, including King Tut's sarcophagus and Andy Warhol's paintings of Campbell's soup cans, with historical and interpretive information for each piece.

An anarchic introduction to art for young rebels everywhere. This irreverent introduction to art gives children the confidence to respond to art on their own terms, and - most importantly - to have fun with it. Under the playful guidance of Leo, the museum cat, readers encounter abstract, Surrealist, nude and contemporary art, ancient sculpture, still lifes and portraits. But instead of being told facts to memorize, they're equipped with the knowledge...

From a carved mammoth tusk (c. 40,000 bce) to Duchamp's Fountain (1917), and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-10) to Louise Bourgeois's Maman (1999), a remarkable lexicon of astonishing imagery has imprinted itself onto cultural consciousness over the past 40,000 years -- a resilient visual vocabulary whose meaning has proved elastic and endlessly renewable from era to era. It is to these works that Kelly Grovier devotes himself in this radical...