Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-314) and index.

List of plates -- List of figures -- Introduction -- Antiquity and the Middle Ages -- The shield of Achilles -- Imitation and knowledge -- Beauty -- Rhetoric -- Word and world -- The early modern period -- Craftsmen and theorists -- Humanism -- The academic system -- The Enlightenment -- The eighteenth century -- Radical idealism -- The nineteenth century -- The crisis of the academy -- Impressionism -- "Absolute art exists at last" -- Ruskin and the aesthetes -- The early twentieth century -- Beyond nature -- Beyond reason -- American modern -- Postmodernism -- The critique of culture -- The phenomenology of signs -- Future present -- Sources and suggestions for further reading -- Index.

"Art Theory, Second Edition is a unique survey of Western thought about art from ancient times to today. This 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." "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."--BOOK JACKET.

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