Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This guide to the history of Western art combines a comprehensive essay, outlining the development of the discipline and its major movements, with more than 300 detailed entries, organized alphabetically from Abstract Expressionism to Zeitgeist, on the movements, terminology, writers, bibliography and philosophy significant to the development of art history. Extensive bibliographical information and cross-references are included.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The title of this modest paperback is somewhat misleading; it is actually a dictionary, alphabetically arranged, of more than 700 terms in art history, with a stated emphasis on Western art but excluding most architectural topics. Whether a dictionary like this is needed may be doubted when others of equal or greater value, including The Oxford Dictionary of Art (CH, Dec'88) and Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms (1984), are still in print. Essential Art History includes terms, phrases, and individuals the others omit (e.g., "Pinx," "Marxist art history," "Freud, Sigmund"), but unfortunately, like the Oxford dictionary, it has no illustrations, making it less useful for visually oriented readers. Unlike the rival sources, Essential Art History offers bibliographic references for about half its entries, but misspelled authors' names and other errors mar this useful and unique feature. Although the strength of Duro's work lies in its greater emphasis on recent art historical methodologies, libraries will do better to choose the Thames & Hudson dictionary for its excellent illustrations, or the Oxford for its greater breadth and reliability. J. H. Carmin; University of Oregon