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Art History, 6th edition

Published by Pearson (May 1, 2019) © 2018

  • Marilyn Stokstad University of Kansas
  • Michael W. Cothren Swarthmore College

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For survey courses in Art History.

Welcoming, inclusive, engaging and global

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

The 6th Edition offers expanded global coverage, particularly the chapters addressing Asia and Africa. An updated chapter on contemporary art better reflects recent trends. Updated images and many new works enhance the narrative and keep the text up to date.

Hallmark features of this title

  • 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.
  • 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.

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW: Global coverage has been expanded with the addition of new works of art and revised discussions that incorporate new scholarship. In particular, the chapters addressing South and Southeast Asia and Africa have been significantly reworked.
  • NEW: Chapter 33 on contemporary art has been reorganized and reworked for greater clarity and timeliness. Coverage of numerous new works has been incorporated into this chapter.
  • NEW: Throughout, images have been updated whenever new and improved images were available or works of art have been cleaned or restored.
  • NEW: The language used to characterize works of art, especially that which attempts to capture the lifelike appearance of the natural world, has been refined and clarified to bring greater precision and nuance.
  • NEW: New works have been added to the discussion in many chapters to enhance and enrich what is presented in the text. Highlights include the Great Mosque of Damascus, Mesa Verde and Imogen Cunningham's Two Callas.
  • NEW: In addition, several artists are discussed through new, and more representative, works, including Zhao Mengfu, Vladimir Tatlin and Mary Cassatt.

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Revel (available for Fall 2021 classes)

  • NEW: Expanded coverage of art from diverse cultures ensures a comprehensive overview of the discipline. Highlights include the art and architecture of colonial Latin America and African-American art during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
  • NEW: Video quizzes and shared multimedia assignments bring art vividly to life while helping students learn and review.

Features of Revel for the 6th Edition; published 2017

  • Art 21 videos provide up-close looks at contemporary artists at work.
  • Students on Site videos make art more accessible and experiential than ever before.
  • Closer Looks offer in-depth walkthroughs of key works. 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.
  • Architectural Panoramas give students a 360-degree view of renowned landmarks, helping them gain a sense of space and place.
  • Pan/zoom functionality and scale markers invite students to look closely at particular artworks, while hearing the author's voice reading the text material.
  • 3D animations of architectural and art historical techniques depict and explain processes and methods.
  1. Prehistoric Art
  2. Art of the Ancient Near East
  3. Art of Ancient Egypt
  4. Art of the Ancient Aegean
  5. Art of Ancient Greece
  6. Etruscan and Roman Art
  7. Jewish and Early Christian Art
  8. Byzantine Art
  9. Islamic Art
  10. Art of South and Southeast Asia before 1200
  11. Chinese and Korean Art before 1279
  12. Japanese Art before 1333
  13. Art of the Americas before 1300
  14. Arts of Africa to the Sixteenth Century
  15. Early Medieval Art in Europe
  16. Romanesque Art
  17. Gothic Art of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
  18. Fourteenth-century Art in Europe
  19. Fifteenth-century Art in Northern Europe
  20. Renaissance Art in Fifteenth-century Italy
  21. Sixteenth-century Art in Italy
  22. Sixteenth-century Art in Northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula
  23. Seventeenth-Century Art in Europe
  24. Art of South and Southeast Asia after 1200
  25. Chinese and Korean Art after 1279
  26. Japanese Art after 1333
  27. Art of the Americas after 1300
  28. Art of Pacific Cultures
  29. Arts of Africa from the Sixteenth Century to the Present
  30. European and American Art, 1715 to 1840
  31. Mid to Late Nineteenth-Century Art in Europe and the United States
  32. Modern Art in Europe and the Americas, 1900 to 1950
  33. The International Scene since the 1950s

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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