Art A Brief History

NOTE: You are purchasing a standalone product; MyArtsLab does not come packaged with this content. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MyArtsLab, search for ISBN-10: 0134127137 / ISBN-13: 9780134127132. That package includes ISBN-10: 0133843750 / ISBN-13: 9780133843750 and ISBN-10: 0133847896 / ISBN-13: 9780133847895.

MyArtsLab should only be purchased when required by an instructor.

For Art History Survey courses

The most student-friendly, contextual, and inclusive art history survey text on the market
Now in its sixth edition, Art: A Brief History continues to balance formal analysis with contextual art history in order to engage a diverse student audience. Authors Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothren, both scholars as well as teachers, share a common vision that survey courses should be filled with as much enjoyment as learning, and that they should foster an enthusiastic, as well as an educated, public for the visual arts. By treating the visual arts as one component of a vibrant cultural landscape (which also includes politics, religion, economics, and more), Art: A Brief History helps students recognize and appreciate the central role that art and architecture have played in human history.

Also available with MyArtsLab^®
MyArtsLab for the Art History Survey course extends learning online, engaging students and improving results. Media resources with assignments bring concepts to life, and offer students opportunities to practice applying what they’ve learned. And the Writing Space helps educators develop and assess concept mastery and critical thinking through writing, quickly and easily. Please note: this version of MyArtsLab does not include an eText.

Art: A Brief History, Sixth Edition is also available via REVEL™, an immersive learning experience designed for the way today's students read, think, and learn. 

Marilyn Stokstad, teacher, art historian, and museum curator, has been a leader in her field for decades and has 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 is Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She has also served in various leadership capacities at the University’s Spencer Museum of Art and is Consultative Curator of Medieval Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri

Michael W. Cothren is Professor of Art History at Swarthmore College, where he has also served as Art Department Chair, Coordinator of Medieval Studies, and Divisional Chair of the Humanities. Since arriving at Swarthmore in 1978, he has taught specialized courses on Medieval, Roman, and Islamic art and architecture, as well as seminars on theory and method, but he most 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 consultative curator of medieval stained glass 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 or engaged in art historical research, you can find him hiking in the red rocks around Sedona, Arizona.

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. African Art
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