''Gardner's Art Through the Ages'' is an American textbook on the
history of art
The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visu ...
, with the 2004 edition by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya. The 2001 edition was awarded both a
McGuffey award for longevity and the
"Texty" Award for current editions by the Text and Academic Authors Association. No other book has received both awards in the same year.
The first edition published in 1926 was written by
Helen Gardner. It, like all following editions, was organized chronologically beginning with "The Birth of Art" in the Upper
Paleolithic and progressing in a mainly chronological sequence to the contemporary period.
Gardner's initial edition was ahead of its time in that along with the
Western canon
The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, ...
of
European art
The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleo ...
, it examined the art of India, Aboriginal America, China, and Japan. This approach was maintained for the first three editions that were all edited by Helen Gardner. The second edition was published in 1936 and the 3rd came out in 1948, a year after Gardner died. In 1959, the fourth edition was published under the editorship of Sumner McK. Crosby by the Department of the History of Art at Yale University. This edition introduced readers to a new term "non-European art." It also moved away from Gardner's interest in drawing comparisons between art from different parts of the world. In the Preface, Crosby states:
:Although Miss Gardner's organization of the Third Edition provided many opportunities for interesting comparisons and made it possible to study in adjacent chapters what was occurring in different parts of the world during more or less the same historic periods, this organization often obscured the intrinsic qualities and especially the development of the different styles. As our table of contents indicates, we have presented the arts of different periods and countries in a more normal order. The division into Ancient, European, Non-European, and Modern Art and the grouping by periods and countries under these divisions will, we believe, provide a clear and coherent chronological account of the history of art throughout the world.
Sumner's organization continues to be used in editions of Gardner's. The book has remained a required text for introductory classes in
art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
for American students into the 21st century.
Formats
The book is now published in a number of different formats, with a "concise" version, and the Western and non-Western sections available separately. There are also "enhanced" editions with additional
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...
material, and versions in one to four volumes. According to the US publisher,
Cengage, the following were available in 2010:
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages'', 12th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Volume I'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Volume II'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Enhanced Edition'' (with ArtStudy Online and Timeline), 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Enhanced Edition, Volume I'' (with ArtStudy Online and Timeline), 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Enhanced Edition, Volume II'' (with ArtStudy Online and Timeline), 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: 4 Volume Backpack Edition'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book A, Antiquity'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book B, The Middle Ages'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book C, Renaissance and Baroque'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book D, Modern Europe and America'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: Non-Western Perspectives'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume II'', 13th Edition
* ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Concise Global History'', 2nd Edition
* ''Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise History of Western Art'', 2nd Edition
References
2001: San Antonio ''Past McGuffey Winners'', Text and Academic Authors Association.
''Past Texty Winners'', Text and Academic Authors Association.
'' Lichtenstein meets the American Indian'', International Herald Tribune, January 10, 2006.
'' History of Art'', Wittenberg University, 2002.
#{{Note, KaderKader, Themina. ''The Bible of Art History: Gardner's "Art Through the Ages"'', ''Studies in Art Education'', Vol. 41, No. 2 (Winter, 2000), pp. 164–177
JSTOR
Art history books