The one book your family needs to understand the world of art. A beautiful, unusual and engaging compendium of art history, providing an accessible entree into the world of art for everyone, regardless of their experience.

From cave paintings to the Renaissance, Impressionism to Pop Art, The Collins Big Book of Art takes you on a journey through the history of art in a delightful and informative way. With more than 1200 works of art represented, this is both a coffee– table book and an educational experience; cross–referenced throughout, and including the following sections and features:

A Chronology spans the history of art, step by step, from 38,000 BC to the present. Pieces from around the world are juxtaposed to place them in historical context. Each is labelled with date, country, title, artist, materials, size and current location. In addition, each piece of art is tied to its movement and key themes, which are pursued in greater detail in the other sections of the book.

Turning Points, interspersed throughout the chronology, delve into both the major artistic movements and highlight the technical breakthroughs which changed how artists of the time worked, and affected how they saw the world. For example, the glass lens allowed more lifelike portraiture in the early Renaissance, the ability to put paint into tubes gave the Impressionists the freedom to work outdoors, and Freud's work in psychoanalysis had a major impact on Surrealism.

The second part of the book explores enduring Themes of art, taking a subject and showing how artists through the ages have depicted it. Various approaches to portraits and landscapes, allegory and religion, still life and abstraction are compared and contrasted, using carefully selected images to illuminate each point made.

In addition, an extensive Reference section allows the reader to access information in numerous ways; the multiple indices include a glossary of terms, artists registry, index of museums, and more.

With easy navigation and an engaging presentation of the material, The Collins Big Book of Art will inform, inspire, and entertain art enthusiasts at any level of understanding and appreciation.

El Fulgor de un espléndido ocaso se extiende sobre la corte de España. El siglo XVII, que contempla los grandes arrebatos místicos, el énfasis del barroco y la ironía distante de los escritores, es también el siglo de los contrastes y de las maravillas: el siglo de Velázquez, genio del arte y de la inteligencia, intérprete de una sociedad oprimida entre la etiqueta acompasada de la corte y el sabor acre y verdadero de la realidad. El pintor se pone a prueba en retablos y paisajes, en escenas históricas y retratos. Su arte es la imagen interior de unos hombres y mujeres llenos de pasiones, con presencia intensa y directa que los aproxima a nosotros, que los hace eternamente actuales.

The popularity of Japanese comics ("manga") remains wildly popular, with more and more fans turning becoming interested in learning how to create manga's dynamic characters themselves.

Drawing Action Manga: Easel-Does-It combines easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions with the convenience of an easel format to provide the perfect package for anyone -- children and adults alike -- to learn how to draw in this dynamic, kinetic style.

Featuring a detailed list of the materials required to get started, Drawing Action Manga leads the reader through everything they need to know and then presents ten individual projects that progress in difficulty as you build your skills.

Whatever your age or skill level, from budding artist to polished professional, Drawing Action Manga: Easel-Does-It is the perfect guide to this exciting drawing style.

Esta obra nos presenta un exhaustivo repaso a los más hermosos e importantes manuscritos de la Edad Media.

One of Austria’s most influential architects, Otto Wagner (1841-1918) played a key role in modernizing urban architecture. Forming an approach described as structural rationalism, Wagner pioneered use of materials such as glass, steel, and especially aluminum. He was associated with the Viennese Succession, a group of artists and designers headed by Gustav Klimt that initiated a departure from the conservative style of the Viennese Künstlerhaus. Among Wagner’s most important buildings are the Vienna Postsparkassenamt (Postal Savings building) and the Steinhof Church.

Paul Johnson turns his great gifts as a popular and much-translated historian to a subject that has enthralled him all his life: the history of art. Art, he believes, was central to human development, more so than writing and even language. This history begins with the earliest rock paintings around 30,000 BC and takes us right up to the present day. E.H. Gombrich's legendary book The Story of Art (1950, sales over 6,000,000) owes its popularity to the directness and simplicity of the writing and its clear narrative. These are the same qualities for which Paul Johnson is justly celebrated and they are the foundation of this book. Illuminating with a few words the whole atmosphere of a period, he also suggests a number of overrated periods (such as the Impressionists) while drawing attention to wonderful but unjustly neglected artists, periods and styles, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, Russia and the Americas.

Facilita instrucciones claras, ejercicios prácticos y demostraciones paso a paso, asegurando un progreso con total confianza.

Explica como aplicar aguadas de acrílico, crear texturas y conseguir efectos tan interesantes como el collage.

<<el cubismo persigue objetivos plásticos. En él únicamente vemos un medio para expresar lo que percibimos con los ojos y con el espíritu, aprovechando todas las posibilidades existentes en las características esenciales del dibujo y del color. Fue para nosotros una fuente de alegrías inesperadas, una fuente de descubrimientos.>> Pablo Picasso.