How Art Works


Book Description

"How Art Works explores puzzles that have preoccupied philosophers as well as the general public: Can art be defined? How do we decide what is good art? Why do we gravitate to sadness in art? Why do we devalue a perfect fake? Could 'my kid have done that'? Does reading fiction enhance empathy? Drawing on careful observations, probing interviews, and clever experiments, Ellen Winner reveals surprising answers to these and other artistic mysteries. We may come away with a new understanding of how art works on us."--Jacket.




How Art Works


Book Description

What goes into creating art? How can we learn to "read" paintings? What are the key elements of composition? If you’ve ever found yourself seeking the answers to the above questions and more, then this may be the book for you! An art book like no other, How Art Works uses practical graphics to demonstrate the techniques, styles, materials, and concepts that lie behind great art. It shows you how to interpret paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and reveals how art is made, laying out the key techniques and materials in visual detail. It also explains the nuts and bolts of the technical aspects behind art, such as perspective and composition, and shows how to identify major artistic styles and movements. This awe-inspiring art history book features: - Oil and watercolor painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, and more - Explains the technical aspects of visual arts including perspective, light, color, form, and texture - A selection of major art movements such as Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and more - Shows how information, messages, and emotion can be conveyed through art - Highlights key inventions and developments Providing all you need to know to build on your artistic understanding and appreciation, this is the perfect book for art lovers of all kinds, whether you’re an art student, or you’re simply a lover of visual art and are looking to discover more about art but aren’t sure where to begin. At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop there? How Art Works is part of DK’s widely successful How Stuff Works series. Discover the inner workings of the mind with How the Brain Works, succeed in all things science with How Science Works and discover the cosmos like you’ve never known before with How Space Works. Whatever topic sparks your interests, there’s a plethora of knowledge to discover!




How Art Works


Book Description

What is art? Where do artists get their ideas from? How do artists make pictures look "real"? This lively book answers these questions and many more, to explore how art works. It features scores of cartoons and over 65 full-colour reproductions, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Bridget Riley and Damien Hirst. Illustrations: Full colour throughout




How Art Works


Book Description

What goes into creating art? How can we learn to "read" paintings? What are the key elements of composition? An art book like no other, How Art Works uses practical graphics to demonstrate the techniques, styles, materials, and concepts that lie behind great art. It shows you how to interpret paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and reveals how art is made, laying out the key techniques and materials in visual detail. It also explains the nuts and bolts of the technical aspects behind art, such as perspective and composition, and shows how to identify major artistic styles and movements. Providing all you need to know to build on your artistic understanding and appreciation, this is the perfect book for art lovers - and for anyone who wants to know more about art but isn't sure where to begin




Artworks


Book Description

Foreword by Toni Morrison. Text by Dan Cameron, Peter B. Lewis, Toby Devan Lewis, Mark Schwartz.




Amazing Artworks


Book Description

Look no further for than this compendium of the biggest, oldest, most amazing artworks throughout history. All over the world, since Prehistoric times, human beings have been creating works of art that defy the imagination. Join countless painters, sculptors, and other artistic innovators in their quest for grandeur and beauty, and embark on a global journey to discover their most awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping masterpieces. Amazing Art Records is an original and fun way to explore the history of art and human creative expression.




Art and How it Works


Book Description

This engaging introduction to art appreciation for kids explores art history, themes in art, and art techniques, from cave paintings to modern art. Art and How It Works takes children on a journey through the history of art, from prehistoric paintings, Impressionism, and abstract art, through to the art of today. This bright and colorful book includes biographies of major artists, such as Fra Angelico and David Hockney, and cuts through the jargon that surrounds the art world to offer a fresh and accessible approach for children. Young readers will begin to notice and explore shapes, colors, patterns, styles, themes, and techniques. By taking a close look at famous paintings and answering the open-ended question prompts dotted throughout the book, kids will discover a new way to see and appreciate the art all around them.




When Art Really Works


Book Description

(back cover) Why do some artworks stand head and shoulders above others? Exceptional art somehow satisfies viewers at a deeper level than more ordinary paintings and sculptures. WHEN ART REALLY WORKS showcases a selection of eighty outstanding masterworks from around the world and spanning the millennia, assessing just what it is that makes each of them so great. Some owe their greatness to composition or color, others offer profound insights into their human subjects, and some convey their message with extraordinary emotional impact. Andy Pankhurst and Lucinda Hawksley's succinct appraisals will open your eyes to the unique defining qualities of these key works, enabling you to appreciate groundbreaking talents that have emerged in every age.




Artifacts, Art Works, and Agency


Book Description

This is the first philosophical study of artifacts that is book length. In it Randall Dipert develops a theory of what artifacts are and applies it extensively to one of the most complex and intriguing kind of artifacts, art works. He presents his own account of what agents, intentions, and actions are, then uses these notions to clarify what it is for an agent to "make" something. From this starting point, he develops a full theory of artifacts and other artificial things - and, especially, a theory of art works and performances of art works as artifacts. He proposes a theory of nature and of the value of nature as what is essentially nonartificial. Two chapters are devoted to value considerations: merit in artifacts generally, and the evaluation of art works and performance art as artifacts or intentional gestures. Believing that a developed theory of action and philosophy of mind is necessary for a developed aesthetics and philosophy of art, Dipert relies on classical and contemporary research on agency, actions, and intentions, and on the intentionalist theory of mental objects of Brentano and Meinong. Dipert considers artifacts to be physical entities, but he also includes in the definition thoughts, utterances, and performances. This vast category encompasses everyday household objects and tools, streets and edifices, as well as communicative and artistic artifacts. Especially with regard to artistic artifacts, Dipert proposes a theory of expression and communication as actions and extensively discusses the problems of interpreting and recognizing actions, artifacts, and art works.




Money


Book Description

This unique 'exhibition in a book' presents some of the most challenging art to deal with the place and function of money in the contemporary world. Arranged into themed 'rooms', it reflects a wide range of artistic attitudes and practices. Some artists depict or use real money directly in their work, while others explore its more abstract aspects, such as the way it circulates around the globe. Some make highly expensive objects from valuable materials or produce sculptural copies of luxury goods, but others go in the opposite direction, towards the amateurish and the handmade, to question the idea of monetary 'value'. Some present art as a usable consumer product like any other and make work that is almost indistinguishable from furniture or architecture, while there are some who produce art about the business of buying and selling commodities, including the commodity of art itself. But for others, however, art provides a means to explore and try out alternative possibilities that might one day challenge or even replace capitalism as we know it.