Art and Civilization - Hardcover

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This survey from the beginnings of art to now is organized in bits--using specific examples to explain periods, styles, and the like. Comparable to David G. Wilkins and Bernard Schultz's Art Past/Art Present ( LJ 5/15/90) but more extensive and less graphic in its layout, this text also considers very selected examples of drama, literature, music, and philosophy, with brief extracts (Shakespeare--two pages) from literary works. Sort of a People magazine approach to art history and the other disciplines it covers, focused on great men and the occasional woman, the book is a well-written survey aimed at beginning undergraduates or high school students. Despite this title's greater breadth, however, Art Past/Art Present is preferred because if offers more coverage of the works of art it does discuss. To cover art and civilization in one volume is problematic and, despite Lucie-Smith's writing and organizational talents, the book is a dead outline that does not even tantalize.
- Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In an ambitious, enormously rewarding survey of the arts in Western civilization, art historian Lucie-Smith traces the connections between architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, philosophy and music in each of a number of epochs discussed. Proceeding from Paleolithic Mother Goddesses to minimalism and multiculturalism, Lucie-Smith is always entertaining and frequently profound, whether he is discussing the "universal language" of Neolithic rock art, the Byzantine empire's "lopsided" cultural achievements, parallels in the lives of Beethoven and Goya, or Arshile Gorky as "a forerunner . . . stranded between the European approach to painting and the American view." This splendidly illustrated album features hundreds of color and black-and-white plates, plus maps, time charts, literary excerpts from Gilgamesh to Waiting for Godot , and boxed highlights (such as "The Conquest of Mexico" and "African Art and Cubism"). Lucie-Smith's acute insights and his focus on specific creative works keep his highly selective narrative lively and concrete.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.