This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian / Ur III, Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian art.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Italian art in the 1300s.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Italian art in the 1400s.

At Smarthistory we believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background. Smarthistory’s free, award-winning digital content unlocks the expertise of hundreds of leading scholars, making the history of art accessible and engaging to more people, in more places, than any other provider.

Focuses on the production of visual art for public places outside the gallery/museum context. Readings and discussions that engage aesthetic, social, political, and urban issues relevant to this expanded public context complement studio production. Traditional approaches of enhancement and commemoration are contrasted to more temporal and critical methodologies. Historical models are studied and discussed, including Russian Constructivist experiments, the Situationists, Conceptual Art, and more recent interventionist tactics.

Who am I? What is beautiful? Where do babies come from? These questions populate our lives and inform our perceptions of the world. Explore these questions according to the expressions of artists from all over the world. Go beyond Western art to consider where art comes from and how it impacts all of us.

Art appreciation is centered on the ability to view art throughout history, focusing on the cultures and the people, and how art developed in the specific periods. You cannot understand art without understanding the culture, their use of materials and sense of beauty. Art is also conveyed by the simple act of creating art for art’s sake. Every person is born with the innate desire to create art and similar to other professions, training is essential in honing skills to produce art.

Table of contents
Program Page
Preface
1: A World Perspective of Art Appreciation
2: The Dawn of Art (40,800 BCE – 5000 BCE)
3: The First Civilizations and their Art (5000 BCE – 1900 BCE)
4: Learning to Build and the Evolution of Tools and Symbolic Statues (1900 BCE - 400 BCE)
5: The Transition of Art (400 BCE – 200 CE)
6: The Sophisticated Art of Cultures (200 CE – 1400 CE)
7: The Sacred Buildings of Civilizations (200 CE – 1400 CE)
8: Renaissance - The Growth of Europe (1400 CE – 1550 CE)
9: The Beginning of Colonization (1550 CE – 1750 CE)
10: The New World Grows (1700 CE – 1800 CE)
11: The Industrial Revolution (1800 CE – 1899 CE)
12: The Modern Art Movement (1900 CE – 1930 CE)
13: The World is One (1930 – 1970)
14: The World is One (1960 CE – 1990s CE)
15: The New Millennium (2000 - 2020)
Back Matter