Through interviews with contemporary artists, engaging discussion of the purposes of art and an accessible writing
style, this book helps students connect the making and meaning of art in a way no other book does. Adams, The
Making and Meaning of Art teaches students that art is not just in museums and demystifies the creative process,
so that students can appreciate the relevance of art in their own lives.
Table of Contents
PART I. CREATING AND DEFINING WORKS OF ART
Chapter 1. What is Art?
Brancusi v. United States
Art Takes Many Forms. Variations on the Imagery of Birds and Flight
Controversy and Changing Views of Art
Michelangelo
Manet
Box. Look. Self-Portraits by Rembrandt and Picasso
Censorship and the Arts
1937. Hitler¹s Exhibition of ³Degenerate Art²
1989. Mapplethorpe Goes to Cincinnati
Looking at Art
Glossary
Chapter 2. The Creative Impulse
Gods as Artists/Artists as Gods
Creative Thinking and Visual Metaphor
Art Inspired by Nature and the Environment
Box. Look. Gerome's Pygmalion and Galatea
The Natural Landscape
The Urban Landscape
The Psychological Landscape. Dream and Myth
Glossary
PART II. PURPOSES OF ART
Chapter 3. Cultural Purpose of Art
Portraits and Self-Portraits
Commemoration and Documentation
Commemoration and Religion
Box. Look. Illuminating the Word of God
The Healing Power of Religious Imagery
Political Purposes of Art
Art as Political and Social Protest
The Art of Communication
Glossary
Chapter 4. Decorating Ourselves and Our Environment
Personal Decoration
Going to War
Decorating Our Personal Spaces
Decorating Walls and Floors
Household Objects
Furniture Design. Chairs and Thrones
Box. Look. Utility or Art
Decorating our Public Spaces
Decorating our Means of Travel
Glossary
PART III. THE ARTIST¹S VISUAL LANGUAGE
Chapter 5. The Visual Elements of Art
Line
Lines Used to Create Shape and Mass
Lines Used to Create Light and Dark
Implied Lines
Lines Used to Create Emotional Expression
Space
One-Point Perspective
Two-Point and Multiple-Point Perspective
Atmospheric Perspective
Isometric Perspective
Absence of Perspective in Ancient Egypt
Shape and Mass in Sculpture
Texture
Actual Texture in Sculpture
Implied and Actual Texture in Painting
Time
Time and Motion
Time and Space in Renaissance Painting
Light and Color
Expressive Qualities of Light and Color
Symbolic Meanings of Light and Color
Light as the Source of Color. The Visible Spectrum
The Color Wheel
Physical Properties of Color
Box. Look. Van Gogh¹s Starry Night
Optical Effects of Color
Glossary
Chapter 6. Terminology and the Principles of Design
Form
Representational Art
Nonrepresentational Art
Abstract Art
Stylized Art
Idealized Art
Subject Matter and Content
Design
Unity and Variation
Focus, Emphasis, and Subordination
Scale and Proportion
Balance
Rhythm and Pattern
Rhythm, Color, and Music
Box. Look. Munch, The Scream
Glossary
Chapter 7. The Methodologies of Art History
Formalism
A Formal Approach to Keisei Eisen¹s Oiran on Parade
Iconography and Iconology
The Iconography of Giotto¹s Adoration of the Magi
The Iconography of Andy Warhol¹s U.S. Dollar Sign
Marxism
A Marxist Reading of Daumier¹s First- and Third-Class Carriages
Feminism
Biography and Autobiography
Bernini¹s David as Autobiography. A Biographical Reading
Gauguin¹s Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ
Semiotics
Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction
Psychoanalysis
Box. Look. A Medley of Methods. Grant Wood¹s American Gothic
Glossary
PART IV. TWO-DIMENSIONAL MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES OF ART
Chapter 8. Drawing
Functions of Drawing
Dry Media
Charcoal
Silverpoint
Box. Making. David Hockney on Drawing
Pencil
Chalk
Crayon
Liquid Media. Pen and Ink, Brush and Ink
Box. Look. Mixed Drawing Media
Glossary
Chapter 9. Painting and Related Techniques
Painting Media
Encaustic
Fresco
Tempera
Oil
Watercolour
Box. Look. De Kooning¹s Woman VI
Gouache
Acrylic
Box. Making. Elizabeth Murray on Painting
Techniques Related to Painting
Collage
Stained Glass
Mosaic
Glossary
Chapter 10. Printmaking
Relief Prints
Woodcut
Woodblock
Linocut
Intaglio
Engraving
Wood Engraving
Drypoint
Mezzotint
Aquatint
Etching
Lithography
Box. Look. Klimt¹s Music of 1901
Serigraphy
Monotype
Offset Printing
Graphic Design
Box. Making. Milton Glaser on Graphic Design
Glossary
Chapter 11. Still Photography, Film, Video, and Digital Imagery
Still Photography
Historical Development
Portraiture
Recording the City
Landscape
Photojournalism and Social Documentation
The Decisive Moment
Advertising and Fashion
Box. Making. Wolfgang Tillmans on Photography
New Approaches and Techniques
From Still Photography to Motion Pictures
Motion Pictures
Beginnings
D.W. Griffith
Charlie Chaplin
Sergei Eisenstein
The �Talkies¹ and Color
Ingmar Bergman
Alfred Hitchcock
Animation and Special Effects
Video
Box. Look. The Sleep of Reason�Viola and Goya
Glossary
PART V. THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES
Chapter 12. Craft
The Arts and Crafts Movement
Clay
Box. Making. Mary Roehm on Potting
Wood and Bamboo
Metal
Gold
Bronze
Iron
Fiber
Glass
Box. Look. Dale Chihuly
Glossary
Chapter 13. Sculpture
Relief
Freestanding Sculpture
Media and Techniques of Sculpture
Modelling
Casting
Carving
Mixed Media
Ready-mades
Assemblage
Box. Making. Claes Oldenburg on Sculpture
New Media
Sculpture and the Environment
Box. Look. The Vietnam Wall as Site and Text
Glossary
Chapter 14. Architecture
Load-bearing Architecture
Post-and-Lintel
Arches and Vaults
Corbel Arches
Round Arches, Barrel Vaults, and Groin (Cross)-Vaults
Pointed Arches and Rib Vaults
Domes
The Geodesic Dome
Truss and Balloon Frames
Cast-Iron Construction
Steel-Frame Construction and Reinforced Concrete
Cantilever Construction
Suspension
Box. Look. Gateway Arch, Saint Louis, Missouri
Computer-assisted Design
Box. Making. Santiago Calatrava on Architecture
Glossary
PART VI. ART IN HISTORY
Chapter 15. The Ancient World
Prehistory in Western Europe
The Ancient Near East
Ancient Egypt
Box. Consider. Reading the Palette of Narmer. An Excursion into Egyptian Iconography
The Aegean Civilizations
Box. Meaning. I.M. Pei on influences from the Ancient World
Glossary
Chapter 16. Ancient Greece, Etruria, and Rome
Ancient Greece
Archaic Period
Transition to the Classical Period
Classical Architecture. The Parthenon
Box. Consider. The Cultural Significance of the Parthenon Sculptures
The Hellenistic Style
The Etruscans
Ancient Rome
Box. Making. Grayson Perry on the influences of Ancient Rome
Glossary
Chapter 17. Early Christianity and the Medieval World
The Rise of Christianity
Early Christian Art
Byzantine Art
Box. Consider. Reading Christian Symbolism
The Rise of Islam
Islamic Art in Western Europe
Early Medieval Art in Western Europe
Romanesque Art
Gothic Art
Box. Meaning. TBA (contemporary artist discussing influences of the Medieval or Islamic World)
Glossary
Chapter 18. The Renaissance and Mannerism
Fourteenth-century Italian Painting
Italian Art in the Fifteenth Century
Box. Meaning. Graham Nickson on the influence of Piero della Francesca
Florence. The First Generation
Box. Consider. Masaccio¹s Trinity, a Renaissance Synthesis of Form and Meaning
The Later Fifteenth Century in Italy
Painting in Venice
Northern European Art in the Fifteenth Century
The High Renaissance in Italy. c. 14801520
The Sixteenth Century in the North
Mannerism
Glossary
Chapter 19. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
The Baroque Style in Italy
Spanish Baroque. Velazquez
Box. Consider. Las Meninas. Autobiography as Iconography
French Baroque
Baroque in Northern Europe
Box. Meaning. Tracey Chevalier on the inspiration of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring
England. Saint Paul¹s Cathedral
The Rococo Style
The Neoclassical Style
The Federal Style
Glossary
Art Beyond the West
Chapter 20. The Art of India and Southeast Asia
Indus Valley Civilization
Hinduism and Buddhism
Emperor Ashoka. From Hinduism to Buddhism
Box. Consider. The Stupa as a Cosmic Symbol
Buddhist Sculpture in India
Buddhist Painting in India. The Ajanta Caves
Hindu Art in India
Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Cambodia
Mughal Art in India
Glossary
Chapter 21. The Arts of China and Japan
Art in China
Neolithic China
Bronze Age China
Daoism and Confucianism
Emperor Qin Shihuangdi
Box. Consider. Life Goes On, Emperor Qin Shihuangdi¹s Bodyguard
The Tang Dynasty
The Song Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty
Art in Japan
Kofun Period
The Buddhist Monastery in Japan
Heian Period
Kamakura Period
Momoyama Period
The Edo Period
Glossary
Chapter 22. Art in Africa
Northwest Africa
Nok Culture
Mali
Box. Consider. The Dogon Seated Couple
The Yoruba
Central-West Africa
Cameroon
South Africa
Box. Meaning. Sokari Douglas Kamp on the influence of African masks.
Glossary
Chapter 23. Art of the Pacific and the Americas
Arts of the Pacific
Australia
Melanesia
Polynesia
Hawaii
Marquesas Tattoing
Easter Island
New Zealand
Micronesia
Arts of the Americas
Paracas Culture
Moche Culture
Inka Civilization. Machu Picchu
Mesoamerica
The Olmec
Teotihuacan
The Maya
Box. Consider. The Maya Ball Game
The Aztecs
North America
Woodlands
Northwest Coast. The Kwakiutl
The Plains
Southwest. The Cliff Dwelling
Glossary
Chapter 24. The Nineteenth Century
Romanticism
Spain. Goya
France
Germany. Friedrich
England. Constable and Turner
Romantic Landscape in the United States
Realism
Photography as Medium and Subject
American Realist Painters. Homer and Tanner
Realism and Architecture
Impressionism
Box. Consider. Who¹s Looking at Whom? The Erotic Gaze
Sculpture. Rodin
Post-Impressionism
Box. Meaning. TBA (Contemporary artist on influence of 19th-century art)
Glossary
Chapter 25. 1900 to 1945
Expressionism and Cubism in France
Futurism in Italy. Boccioni
Expressionism and Suprematism in Russia and Germany
Box. Consider. Malevich¹s Black Square
World War I and the Dada Movement
Realism and Abstraction in the United States
The Harlem Renaissance
Trends in Europe after World War I
Tatlin¹s Constructivism
De Stijl in Holland. Rietveld and Mondrian
The Bauhaus in Germany
Opposing Trends in Architecture. Le Corbusier and Wright
Surrealism
Photography
Glossary
Chapter 26. 1945 to the Present
Abstract Expressionism
Color Field
Self-Taught. Horace Pippin and Grandma Moses
Pop Art
Minimalism
Feminist Art. Judy Chicago
Earth and Environmental Art. Smithson and the Christos
Box. Meaning. Interview with Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Box. Consider. The Pont Neuf Wrapped
Photography. Self as Subject
Photorealism and Super Realism. Estes and Hanson
Graffiti and the Urban Street
Performance, Video, and New Media
Architecture
Glossary
