The Oxford Dictionary of Art (Oxford Reference)

Whether you are interested in Junk Art or Byzantine Art, the Ash-Can School or the Antipodeans, Praxiteles and Phidias or Gilbert and George, The Oxford Dictionary of Art is the first place to turn for accurate information about artists, schools, periods, techniques, critical terms, major museums, art historians, philosophers, and much much more. Compiled from three highly acclaimed Oxford Companions --The Oxford Companion to Art, to Twentieth-Century Art, and to the Decorative Arts--and with hundreds of new entries added, this authoritative, one-volume reference offers over three thousand entries on almost every aspect of Western art, as well as the most essential features of Asian art.
Here you will find the answer to almost any question pertaining to the world of art. In what museum is Parmigianino's Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror exhibited today? Who coined the term "happening"? What are color field painting, hard edge painting, and op art, who are the most representative artists of these schools, and what are their best works? How does camaieu differ from grisaille? What is the most richly endowed museum in the world? As a further aid the Dictionary offers an extensive system of cross references, guiding readers to a wealth of additional information on almost any topic of interest.
Covering the entire history of art, this wide-ranging and up-to-date guide is an indispensable reference for scholars, for students, and for art enthusiasts of every kind. It is also a browser's delight, filled with fascinating facts about the personalities who people the world of art.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192800221
• ISBN13: 9780192800220
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 558 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A MUST HAVE

This is a must have for any art history person or anyone in sales for art. It's a complete who's who and what's what of art. It has useful information and is a great resource. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent guide to the field

Over the past few years, Oxford University Press has continued to develop its line of excellent reference works, revising older volumes and adding new subjects. The latest edition of "The Oxford Dictionary of Art" carries on that tradition. The guide offers to the general reader an excellent grounding in the facts and philosophies that underlie the media. The entries cover artists, movements, museums (with addresses and websites), materials and, in the back, a chronology listing key works and when they were completed. While it sometimes falls into the thicket of scholarly jibber-jabber -- and one should recognize the possibility exists while trying to describe visual art using only words, in a book which contains no pictures -- the dictionary is even-handed in describing the critical reaction to a work. With its wide range of descriptions, both geographically and chronologically, this revised guide allows armchair art appreciators to brush up on their learning.

Handy and useful articles on art terms and artist bios

This is a very handy and informative dictionary of terms you will likely encounter in reading about painting and sculpture. If you think of the definitions as short articles on a topic you will be closer to the mark. There are also many short biographies of important historical artists. One of the nice conventions is an asterisk before terms used in the articles that are also themselves the subject of articles. There are no illustrations, plates, or diagrams in the book. However, there is a short foreword and an introduction. All in all, this is quite a useful handbook and I use it with some frequency.