ART THEORY

“[Art Theory] is a first-class introduction to the subject, revealing an unusual historical range, a command of diverse and often difficult ideas, and a natural flair for seeing the point – of art and of theory… Robert Williams has written a book I will keep on my shelf for rereading and I look forward to further works by him.”
John Haldane in The Art Book

Art Theory, Second Edition is a unique survey of Western thought about art from ancient times to today. This lucid and lively narrative, geared to the needs of the general reader and beginning students, consists of six chapters covering the major periods of Western art history: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the early modern period (Renaissance and Baroque), the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, early twentieth-century modernism, and postmodernism. This new edition expands the original to include more in-depth coverage of contemporary art.

Wide-ranging and exceptionally balanced in its analysis, Art Theory relates theory to the practice as well as to the intellectual and cultural-historical currents of each period. This new edition is an indispensable read for students and art lovers alike.

"[Art Theory] is a first-class introduction to the subject, revealing an unusual historical range, a command of diverse and often difficult ideas, and a natural flair for seeing the point--of art and of theory . . . Robert Williams has written a book I will keep on my shelf for rereading and I look forward to further works by him." John Haldane in The Art Book

Robert Williams is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Art Theory and Culture in Sixteenth-century Italy: From Techne to Metatechne (1997) and editor, with James Elkins, of Renaissance Theory (2008).