Visual Arts & Photography: Background

"Art Speak is a key to specialized vocabulary. It identifies and defines the terminology essential for understanding art made since World War II. That language is made up of art movements, art forms, and critical terms explained here in short, alphabetically arranged essays."

This "new dictionary seeks to explain the origins of the titles of around 3,000 works of art, mainly paintings and sculptures, but also including such modern developments as performance art and video installations." Entries are arranged in alphabetical order by title, but there is an index of author names at the end of the book.

In five color-illustrated, glossy-paged volumes, this encyclopedia "covers the entire history of art, chronologically and by region, to provide an overview of major artistic movements, the works associated with these periods, and the material culture that gave rise to such artistic expression."

Although called a dictionary, this 20 volume set with 45,000 entries is more like an encyclopedia which covers biographies, achievements of cultures where individual artists were difficult to pinpoint, world's civilizations and peoples, articles on every modern country recognized by the United Nations, cities and towns with significant artistic traditions, sites of archaeology or monuments, styles, schools, groups, movements, forms, themes, subject matter of art, building types, materials and techniques of art, and history of art patronage.

"The book explains and interprets symbols from many cultures, and over 600 illustrations clarify and complement the text."

"The Oxford Dictionary of Art is the [a] place to turn for accurate information about artists, schools, periods, techniques, critical terms, major museums, art historians, philosophers, and much more."

"This dictionary is designed to serve as a field-guide to he arts." Compact and comprehensive, it covers terms pertaining to fine arts, architectural vocabulary, non-Western terminology, has a wide chronological spectrum, includes a table of dynasties, along with illustrations and diagrams.

For more than 130 American women artists, this book contains biographical information, bibliographies for further reading, two subject indexes, a comprehensive index, and many photographs.

With some black-and-white plates included of some of the artists works, this 1904 edition of the dictionary contains short biographical entries about famous painters and engravers. The sheer number of names included is impressive, with more prolific artists receiving longer entries. Each entry includes birth, death, and information about the artist's career. The text is cross-referenced from one form of the name to another.

This book "provides comprehensive profiles of over 800 of the most significant artists of our time... Each entry includes biographical data, a comprehensive list of individual exhibitions, a selection of up to ten important group exhibitions, a list of public collections that include works by the artist, and primary and secondary bibliographies... Entries also include a list of permanent public installations. Many artists have contributed a statement about their work or about art in general, as well as a photograph of a representative work. Finally, critical essays have been contributed by specialists in the field."

"Provides biographical and career information on more than 350 of the world's most prominent and influential contemporary (20th Century) women artists."

"This four volume set provides concise profiles of the world's most important artists... Each entry offers biographical data on the artist, descriptive characteristics of the artist's creative output, reasons for the significance of his or her work, career milestones, and locations where the artist's work is displayed. Those artists whose work is recognized as pivotal in the history of art receive more extended coverage."

"Contains biographical and career information, as well as brief critical essays, on nearly four hundred of the most prominent black artists. About three-fourths, or three hundred, were alive at the time of publication [1997]. Also included are a small number of important artists from the nineteenth century. Illustrating the book are nearly three hundred photographs of artists and their works."

For over 350 artists arranged alphabetically, each entry includes basic biographical information, individual and group exhibitions, collections, and publications, with a short essay explaining the style. Indexes for tribe, artist, medium, and geography are included at the back.

"Information on Greek sculpture and architects, painters and potters, temples and shrines. The text is enhanced with illustrations, and a 32-page insert of photographs offers a sampling of the development of the arts of sculpture and vase-painting over a period of centuries."

This volume "is intended as a handbook and a guide for students and others who wish to find their way intelligently through the exuberant jungle of contemporary art... The articles are of four main kinds: biographical articles, accounts of movements and associations, elucidations of special terms, and historical articles describing the development of the arts in particular countries or regions."

"The aim of the Encyclopaedia of Impressionism is to present a concise compendium of information relating to Impressionism, it's practitioners, ancillary figures such as patrons, models, dealers and critics, as well as to relevant general themes which concern the movement as a whole, covering its social, political, economic and general historical context."

This edition includes "complete, up-to-date contact information for more than 1,000 art markets, including galleries, magazines, book publishers, greeting card companies, ad agencies, syndicates, art fairs and more. Articles on the business of freelancing - from basic copyright information to tips on promoting your work. Special features on leveraging social media, finding success at art fairs and selling a single image to multiple markets. Interviews with successful artists like cartoonists James E. Lyle; steampunk artist Eric Freitas; fine artist Maggie Barnes; and art-director-turned-artist Carlo LoRaso. Information on grants, residencies, organizations, publications and websites that offer support and direction for creatives."

This guide provides contact and detailed information for thousands of libraries, art galleries, museums, organizations, art, art history, and architecture departments, art programs, etc. throughout the U.S. and Canada. The second half of the book includes indexes for museums and schools abroad, state arts councils, state directors and supervisors of art education, art magazines, newspaper art editors and critics, scholarships and fellowships, open exhibitions, and traveling exhibition booking agencies.

Alphabetically arranged, this dictionary contains short entries for almost everything that is considered decorative arts. It has entries for artist names, movements, periods, places, things, etc.

Design is separated from fine art by the definition, "the design of an object that has a function. " This volume includes entries on "designers and craftspeople, design studios, consortiums, partnerships, noteworthy manufacturers or editors of products, significant historical periods and styles, and materials."

From 1938 (so don't look in here for Mod), this volume includes entries on various aspects of furniture including movements, decoration pieces, furniture components (like spindles, scrolls, etc...), famous designers and producers, and names for furniture pieces and styles.

An encyclopedia of collected stuff, with entries about all the little items that people save (tickets, advertisements, catalogs, cards, etc.). Fully indexed and including illustrations.

Fully indexed, "the articles in this book are arranged alphabetically and fall into two basic categories: biographical entries on the peole of the comics field (artists, creators, packagers, writers) and entries on the comic strips or books themselves." It includes some color and black and white reproductions of selected comics.

"This book is designed as the ultimate cartoon fan's guide. It features detailed information on every animated cartoon production, series or program exhibited theatrically or broadcast on television-on networks an cable- in the United States (foreign cartoon imports from Japan, Canada and elsewhere are included) from 1911 through the 1989-1990 television season."

Includes every animated movie ever released in the United States. "Every film listing includes reviews, four-star ratings, back ground information, plot synopses, accurate running times, consumer tips, and MPAA ratings." Also discusses the animated film genre in general.

This book discusses the materials, techniques, and styles of drawing, giving background information and interesting details. With color and black-and-white illustrations.

Exactly as the title says, this dictionary explains print-making terms with great detail, like an instruction book for print makers.

An introduction to the authors and illustrators behind graphic novels, which carefully defines and explores the distinction between comic books and graphic novels. Printed in full-color and covering approximately 75 authors and illustrators in detail, this new, three-volume set also includes a cumulative table of contents, words to know, timeline, list of works, and a detailed cumulative general index.

This dictionary illustrates and explains the many shapes of pottery. A great sourcebook for potters looking for inspiration to try something new.

Includes descriptions, definitions, physical and chemical data for "Pottery, Glass, Vitreous Enamels, Refractories, Clay Building Materials, Cement and Concrete, Electroceramics, Special Ceramics."

Works as a biography for artists who did sculpture in the 1960's. Each entry also contains "technical information and criticism."

Arranged alphabetically, this book contains entries on the makers of ceramics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Also defined are "materials, techniques and stylistic movements, but patterns are dealt with only in relation to the factories that used them."

"BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY is a comprehensive instructional book that covers every element of photography. Henry Horenstein's books have been widely used at leading universities, including Parsons School of Design, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT as well as in continuing education programs. Horenstein is a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design."

Including myriad photographs, "the 1,300 entries describe the current state of the aesthetic, communicative, scientific, technical, and commercial applications of photography; it describes how the medium developed; and it identifies the photographers, scientists, and inventors who have been and are responsible for this development."

Arranged alphabetically, this comprehensive guide to photography contains entries on the history of "photography, concepts, terms, themes that have evolved over the century", "the role of institutions and publications in the shaping of that history..., the development of the medium in specific countries and regions around the world..., and information on names, terms, concepts, processes, and countries."

"The function of this biographical resource is twofold: it strives to inform the reader about the world of photography as well as the photographers in it... Included among the more than 2,000 biographies are approximately 500 nineteenth and twentieth-century photographers. Among those of an earlier time are all the giants, all the initiators and innovators." For each artist is included basic biographical information, publications, collections, address, and influences.