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Art: A Brief History, 7th edition

Published by Pearson (March 5, 2019) © 2020

  • Marilyn Stokstad University of Kansas
  • Michael Cothren

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For courses in Art History Survey.

A welcoming, inclusive, engaging and global approach to art

Art: A Brief History brings the history of art to life for a new generation of students. The concise version of Stokstad and Cothren's Art History is global in scope, inclusive in its coverage and warm and welcoming in tone. The guiding vision of the text is that the teaching of art history survey courses should be filled with equal delight, enjoyment and serious learning, while fostering an enthusiastic and educated public for the visual arts.

The 7th Edition has been revised to reflect new discoveries, recent research and fresh interpretive perspectives.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Art and its Contexts features delve into selected works or issues from the chapter.
  • Elements of Architecture features clarify specific architectural features, often explaining engineering principles or building technology.
  • Technique features outline the techniques and processes by which certain types of art are created.
  • Maps list all of the places mentioned within the chapter, helping students to visualize key locations.
  • Think About It critical thinking questions help students assess their mastery of the learning objectives by thinking through and applying what they've learned.
  • A Starter Kit provides a concise primer of basic concepts and tools. The text's Introduction explores how these concepts and tools can be used to understand the history of art.

New and updated features of this title

  • UPDATED: Author Michael Cothren has revised and updated the text's content in order to reflect new discoveries and fresh interpretive perspectives. In addition to fresh examples that better represent key artists and the art world in which they worked, the 7th Edition offers:
    • expanded global coverage, including the addition of new works
    • revised discussions of many major monuments
  • UPDATED: The revised Chapter 16, Arts in Africa, focuses on the way this art was perceived by those who created and first used it, rather than on the colonialist interpretation. The chapter now discusses works from across the continent and takes African art's history into the contemporary age.
  • UPDATED: Chapter 20, Art Since 1945, has been expanded and reorganized for greater clarity, inclusiveness and timeliness. Numerous new works have been introduced.
  • UPDATED: Throughout the 7th Edition, figures and images have been updated whenever new and improved photographs were available.

Features of Revel for the 7th Edition

  • Pan/zoom functionality along with scale markers invite students to look closely at particular artworks, while hearing the author's voice reading the text material.
  • NEW: Closer Looks offer in-depth walkthroughs of key works of art. They let students zoom in on details they might not otherwise see and listen to expert audio, as if they were on a guided tour.
  • NEW: 3D animations of architectural and art historical techniques depict and explain processes and methods that are difficult for students to grasp simply through narrative text.
  • NEW: Architectural Panoramas give students a 360-degree view of renowned edifices and landmarks, helping them gain a sense of space and place.
  • Embedded listening guides with streaming audio for most of the music selections allow students to follow along as they listen.
  • Interactive learning tools, in a variety of formats, help students review key terms and ideas, and make use of flashcards to test student retention.
1. Prehistoric Art in Europe
2. Art of the Ancient Near East
3. Art of Ancient Egypt
4. Early Asian Art
5. Art of Ancient Greece and the Aegean World
6. Etruscan and Roman Art
7. Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art
8. Islamic Art
9. Later Asian Art
10. Early Medieval and Romanesque Art
11. Gothic Art
12. Early Renaissance Art
13. Art of the High Renaissance and Reformation
14. Seventeenth-Century Art in Europe
15. Art of the Americas
16. Arts of Africa
17. European and American Art, 1715–1840
18. European and American Art, 1840–1910
19. Modern Art in Europe and the Americas, 1900–1945
20. Art Since 1945

About our authors

Marilyn Stokstad (1929 to 2016), teacher, art historian, and museum curator, was a leader in her field for decades and served as president of the College Art Association and the International Center of Medieval Art. In 2002, she was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the National Women's Caucus for Art. In 1997, she was awarded the Governor's Arts Award as Kansas Art Educator of the Year and an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters by Carleton College. She was Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She also served in various leadership capacities at the University's Spencer Museum of Art and was Consultative Curator of Medieval Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

Michael W. Cothren is Scheuer Family Professor of Humanities and Chair of the Department of Art at Swarthmore College, where he has also served as Coordinator of Medieval Studies and Chair of the Humanities Division. Since arriving at Swarthmore in 1978, he has taught specialized courses on Medieval, Roman, and Islamic art and architecture, as well as seminars on visual narrative and on theory and method, but he particularly enjoys teaching the survey to Swarthmore beginners. His research and publications focus on French Gothic art and architecture, most recently in a book on the stained glass of Beauvais Cathedral entitled Picturing the Celestial City. Michael is a consultative curator at the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. He has served on the board of the International Center of Medieval Art and as President both of the American Committee of the International Corpus Vitrearum and of his local school board. When not teaching, writing or pursuing art historical research, you can find him hiking in the red rocks around Sedona, Arizona.

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