Art in Theory 1900 - 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 2nd Edition Paperback – 23 Sept. 2002

Sadly I've only come across this wonderful book (and its earlier companions) recently- a vast collection of key essays and theories relating to culture in the 20th Century. It certainly beats the **** out of a book like Beginning Theory, which is half the price but much, much shorter. A key book that should be owned by all undergraduates starting Uni operating in the wide remit of humanities. The essays/excerpts are short, easy to read & broken down into eight major sections and subsequent sub-sections. Seriously, this book is packed with the kind of thinking and quotations that should litter any university-standard essay- & also gives you a sample of certain writers- which could then be pursued from this wonderful starting point.The book has sections on: Classicism & Originality; Expression & the Primitive; Modernity; Cubism; Neo-Classicism & the Call to Order; Dissent & Disorder; Abstraction & Form; Utility & Construction; The Modern as Ideal; Realism as Figuration; Realism as Critique; Modernism as Critique; The American Avant-Garde; Individualism in Europe; Art&Society; Art&Modern Life; Modernist Art; Objecthood&Reductivism; Attitudes to Form; Critical Revisions; The Critique of Originality; Figures of Difference;& The Condition of History. Seriously you could easily read the lot in the first year at uni, setting you up greatly for the harder years that follow...Plenty of key cultural thinkers appear here, a brief survey of the contents pages offers Freud, Rilke, Kandinsky, Croce, Lenin, Wyndham Lewis, Braque, Picasso, Spengler, Duchamp, Man Ray, Tatlin, Klee, Jung, Alfred Rosenberg, John Reed, Trotsky, Breton, Bataille, Brecht, Adorno, Pollock, Sartre, Artaud, Lacan, Camus, Bacon, Schlesinger Jr, Lukacs, Barthes, Raymond Williams,Cage, Warhol, Robbe-Grillet, Derrida, Foucault, Mulvey, Jameson, Said, Baudrillard, Kristeva, Wollen, & just about every major theorist of the 20th Century.This book is excellent value and the ideal primer for anyone studying any subject relating to theory (pretty much most); only quibble would be the relatively fragile cover, which would require a plastic cover or be easily ruined with the amount of reference to this book that would no doubt occur. OWN!

Great, the best collection of essays, interviews and articles that I have read in my time. It contains absolutely everything one needs to understand the last century of art, in terms of movements, philosophies and technologies. I cannot recommend it enough, particularly because it can save you so much time in having to browse separate anthologies; this brings everything together, and has been referenced in almost every other related anthology I've read thus far for good reason.

This book had been recommended to me by my tutor as a form of research I needed in my final essay, I was pleased with my purchase and found the book to be very informative, and invaluable to my studies. I would recommend it to anyone thinking about buying it. But if you are on tight budget, it may be found at your local library.

Worthy stuff. Read all of this and you are guaranteed a place in art history heaven, but you'll have to suffer and renounce earthly pleasures to get there. This is a well put together collection of representative crticisms relating to 20th century. There is a good range from the 'big hitters'. There are brief explanatory notes to help situate these, with a simple paragraph usually sufficing. This is a great resource to dip in and out of and expand study, adding depth. It is however sadly dull......

I have read essays from this book on numerous occasions and found it to be an indispensable book for research. Well considered in terms of layout and material, and holding many gems of information. However, do not expect it to be an easy read picture book - the material requires a degree of serious intent towards research. Worth every penny!

If you ever want to know the beginning and origin of any art so social movement, the theory and philosophy behind it, how it changes over time. This is a great book to begin your critical inquiry. No nonsense... Include full credits of original source. Be aware, this is a highly academic book, not for easy reading but worth every bit.

This book is perfect for anyone studying art history who needs to refer to relevant articles and essays on all manner of topics.

Used this for my theory project in year one on ba fine art and will most definitley be using it for the next two, also a generally nice book to have!

Testo fondamentale per comprendere l’arte moderna.

This is the best anthology I’ve never read before ! Many texts from many authors or artists. It is organized by subjects, and you will find many informations. For initiated people or newbies. The French edition does not exist anymore but this is comfortable to read.

5 stars due to the content of the book and delivery time.Anyone looking for an absolutely complete guide to art from 1900-2000 should read this book.It's a bit of a heavy read but the way in which the information is organized makes it seem "lighter".Although there are no images to support the text (or for reference) I highly recommend this book.

good

This book is expensive but ends up repaying you back tremendously in the long run. Excellent paper material quality and typesetting very attractive. This is one book to carry on a deserted island. This is an anthology to treasure because it puts together extremely rare essays on art nowhere else in the current lexicon. Where else will you find essays by Trotsky on art criticism in politics? What about Max Weber's analysis of art? These by well known and not so well known authors makes for long reading sessions.The essays are grouped by thematic content and given well rounded introductions by the editors of the volume. A word of warning to the readers: do not take what is put in the volume at face value...which is a big temptation. The only way to really learn from this book is to challenge the authors and decide for yourself the merits of the analysis. Art theory is intellectually dense but extremely dangerous to accept without serious study. This book is a reference on art theory like no other in the world. So please do yourselves a favor and get this book before it's taken out of print. And when this book goes out of print thanks to the ipad and ebook craze putting book publishers out of business...you'll be very sorry you didn't get it when you could.