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I used this guide to review and study for the Praxis II art content test, and it was quite useful. As someone who majored in art history in college I can say they did a pretty good job at not only including the essentials, but organizing them in a comprehensive manner. My only complaint is that it includes very little non-western art.
I go to an art college and I'm majoring in art education. I bought this book in order to study for the art history section of my state's standardized test for educators license and it's proved invaluable. I've taken quite a few actual art history classes (mostly surveys of Western Art History) and this book does focuses almost exclusively on Western AH - so if you need information on African Art, Eastern, Pacific Islands, etc.you'll need another book. But this is a great review book that's easy to read (I read 10 pages a day for 20 days to study for the test and it was very very easy) -- especially if you've taken AH courses and just need a refresher.
I was getting ready to add art to my teacher certificate and this book was recommended by a workshop artist/professor as a study guide to get ready for the test. It is a very clear guide, and will be very useful.
"The Annotated Mona Lisa" would have served me well.I found this the other day and popped my forehead (as in V-8 commercials) and asked aloud: Why didn't I use this book for my background. For example, two pages are devoted to "Prehistoric Art: The Beginning," with these sub-categories: Sculpture, Cave Painting, First Architecture, Stonehenge: England's first rock group, accompanied by blocked paragraphs about Horse (cave painting), Prehistoric Treasure Trove (Lascaux cave finding), Easter island Monoliths, and photographs of the Venus of Willendorf, Stonehenge, and a horse from the caves. Every night I had to slog through pages of information when all I wanted was something concise and to the point. and Wood's Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post-Modernism as my personal instructors. "The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern" is more than a crash course, a term used for its catchiness. To keep the reader grounded, a time line cross-sectioning world events and art history is placed at the beginning of each of the five time categories.This is one of those must-have books for its brevity and utility. Short explanations per topic. Mesopotamia: the Architects)2.
More detail is provided as art progresses. Five time categories (ex. Actually, the book is a synopsis of art history and provides the lay person concise and brief explanations of history, movements, schools, and individual artists and artwork.I taught art history for several years at the high school level and relied on Janson's History of Art 7th Ed. 3. Apparently, I bought it then promptly forgot/misplaced/had little time to use it.Here's why this book will be a companion for anyone interested in teaching him/herself about art history:1. Prehistoric through Medieval) with very clear subtitles (ex. For example, the unit on the Baroque is subdivided into Italian Baroque (3 pages), Flemish (2 pages), Dutch (5 pages), English (3), Spanish Baroque (2), and French (2).4. Whether you are learning from the very beginning or need a refresher course, "The Annotated Mona Lisa" will serve you well.
This is a good book. But it has too few of pictures given this is a book about Art. Most of the pictures are rather small, half of them are simply black and white. I would give it 4 stars if the pictures were bigger.
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