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Rating: 
Summary: a fantastic book
Review: Its a fantastic book for a keen learner. I am looking forward to reading it. I think its a pity though that the slipcase edition does not come with study CD rom which another version carries, as shown on the prentice hall website. I am sure the CD rom is well made too and would enhance the learning experience.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic book
Review: This beautiful volume has been the standard textbook in Art history for many decades. Continued by Janson's son, this book has benefited from years of editing and is quite up-to-date. The size is what one would expect for a volume covering millennia of Western Art. I find the large format of the book useful and the quality of the paper excellent. Of course, the most important thing perhaps about an art book is the illustrations. This book contains thousands of beautiful full-color illustrations of the most important masterpieces. By necessity to accommodate the text and the large number of photos, many of the photos are smaller in size than one would desire. Still I would go for covering a larger number of masterpieces than for a fewer number with larger photos. I think this book strikes a good balance between textual description and devoting space for the photos. Other art books have so much text one wonders where is the art. Still the book is voluminous. I covered the second half in a 1-semester Art history course and quickly fell behind in the reading. I suggest for the eager student to get a head start and begin reading this book over the summer in order not to fall behind. The great thing about this volume is that, long after my class was over, this book is still on my bookshelf serving as a useful reference as well as a key to the beautiful world of art.
Rating:
Summary: The Authority on Art
Review: This beautiful volume has been the standard textbook in Art history for many decades. Continued by Janson's son, this book has benefited from years of editing and is quite up-to-date. The size is what one would expect for a volume covering millennia of Western Art. I find the large format of the book useful and the quality of the paper excellent. Of course, the most important thing perhaps about an art book is the illustrations. This book contains thousands of beautiful full-color illustrations of the most important masterpieces. By necessity to accommodate the text and the large number of photos, many of the photos are smaller in size than one would desire. Still I would go for covering a larger number of masterpieces than for a fewer number with larger photos. I think this book strikes a good balance between textual description and devoting space for the photos. Other art books have so much text one wonders where is the art. Still the book is voluminous. I covered the second half in a 1-semester Art history course and quickly fell behind in the reading. I suggest for the eager student to get a head start and begin reading this book over the summer in order not to fall behind. The great thing about this volume is that, long after my class was over, this book is still on my bookshelf serving as a useful reference as well as a key to the beautiful world of art.
Rating:
Summary: The textbook on the history of Art
Review: This small review relates to an older edition of the work, and not to the revised and expanded one ( sixth edition) listed here. The Janson Art History textbook I know has a skillfully written text and many beautiful illustrations of the masterpieces of world - art. Janson was a first- rate historian who was in contact with the giants of the generation, Panofsky, Meir Schapiro, and others. The work itself is an overabundant one rich in detail and insights. As a reader I would have liked to take it all in so as seemingly to have in my mind a full - map of world history. I do not think I managed it all, but wherever I read I found much to learn and study.
I do not think anyone who wishes to begin to understand the history of the world's great Art can go wrong with this volume.
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