The book discusses works in context, emphasizing the circumstances under which they came into being. It allows readers to compare and contrast what was happening at the same time in different regions around the world, and helps them better understand the unique qualities of western art, Art Past, Art Present provides overviews on the major styles and periods. It focuses on historical and cultural factors important for art production during the period and considers the status and role of the artist and patron in each culture or period.

Table of Contents:
(NOTE: All parts begin with an Introduction and integrate essays on Technique and Art Past/Art Present throughout). 1. Experiencing Art. Viewing Art. Analyzing Art. Art and Artists in History. 2. Prehistoric Art. Prehistoric Art. 3. Ancient Art. Ancient Art. Sumerian Art. Ancient Egyptian Art. Ancient Egyptian Art: The Palette of Narmer. The Egyptian Pyramids. The Egyptian Temple. Egyptian Tomb Paintings and Painted Reliefs. The Indus Valley Civilization. Aegean Art: Minoan and Mycenaean. Ancient China: The Shang Dynasty. Assyrian and Early Persian Art. Mesoamerica: The Olmec. Etruscan Art. Ancient Greek Art. Greek Vase Painting. The development of Greek Sculpture. Greek Doric Architecture. Greek Architecture: The Parthenon, Athens. Nomadic Art in Siberia. The Qin Empire in China. Hellenistic Art. The Han Dynasty in China. Early Buddhist Art. The Dongson Culture in Vietnam. The Art of the Roman Republic. The Art of the Roman Empire. Roman Frescoes and Illusionism. Roman Architecture: The Flavian Amphitheater. Roman Architecture: The Pantheon, Rome. Mesoamerican Art: Teotihuacan. 4. Art from 200 to 1400. Art from 200 to 1400. Jewish Art: The Synagogue at Dura Europos. Early Christian Art. Early Christian Architecture. The Shinto Shrine at Ise, Japan. Byzantine Art. Hagia Sophia. Byzantine Art: San Vitale, Ravenna. Anglo-Saxon Metalwork. Hiberno-Saxon Manuscript Illumination. The Chinese Imperial City of Chang'An. Buddhist Art at Horyuji. The Spread of Buddhism to Japan. Hindu Art at Ellora. Islamic Art at Córdoba. Carolingian and Ottonian Art. The Monastery in the West. Buddhist Art in Indonesia. Chinese Art: Landscape Painting. Romanesque Art. Romanesque Architecture at Conques. Romanesque Sculpture. Ancestor Figures, Polynesia. Later Byzantine Art. Angkor Wat: Cult of the God-King. The Japanese Narrative Scroll. Gothic Art. The Gothic Cathedral: Chartres. Gothic Sculpture. Early Italian Painting. Giotto, The Arena Chapel Frescoes. The Royal Art of African Kingdoms. 5. Fifteenth-Century Art. Fifteenth-Century Art. Early Renaissance Sculpture in Florence. Flemish Painting: The Limbourg Brothers and Campin. Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio. Flemish Painting: Hubert and Jan Van Eyck. Italian Renaissance Architecture: Brunelleschi. Machu Pichu, Peru The Italian Renaissance Palace. The Beginning of Portraiture. Italian Renaissance Painting: Andrea Mantegna; Italian Renaissance Painting: Sandro Botticelli; Italian Renaissance Painting: Leonardo Da Vinci; Italian Renaissance Painting: Leonardo's The Last Supper. Italian Renaissance Sculpture: Michelangelo's St. Peter's Pieta. 6. Sixteenth-Century Art. Sixteenth-Century Art. Italian Renaissance Sculpture: Michelangelo. Italian High Renaissance Portraiture. German Printmaking: Albrecht Durer. New St. Peter's, Rome. Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Raphael, Stanza Della Segnatura. High Renaissance Painting in Venice. Hieronymus Bosch “Garden of Earthly Delights” Triptych. German Painting: Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Alterpiece. Titian's Altarpieces. Later Michelangelo and the Development of Mannerism. Mannerism. Early Landscape Painting. Sixteenth-Century Painting. Islamic Art of the Ottomans. Late-Sixteenth-Century Architecture. Veronese and the Impact of the Counter-Reformation. The Art of Zen Buddhism in Japan. 7. Seventeenth-Century Art. Seventeenth-Century Art. Caravaggio and His Influence. Baroque Genre Painting. Peter Paul Rubens. Bernini's Works for St. Peter's. The Dutch Baroque Group Portrait. The Taj Mahal, India. Baroque Architecture: Francesco Borromini. Bernini: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Rembrandt: Late Paintings. Spanish Painting: Diego Velazquez. Baroque Classicism: Nicolas Poussin. Dutch Still-Life Painting. The Palace at Versailles. Japanese Art. Landscape Painting. 8. Eighteenth-Century Art. Eighteenth-Century Art. Painting in Europe. Art in Korea. Rococo Architecture and Sculpture. Eighteenth-Century Portraiture. Thomas Jefferson and Neoclassical Architecture in the United States. Neoclassical Painting. 9. Nineteenth-Century Art. Nineteenth-Century Art. The Continuation of Neoclassicism. Francisco Goya. Romanticism. Romantic Landscape Painting. Japanese Woodblock Prints. Honoré Daumier and the Political Print. Romantic Revival Architecture. American Romantic Painting. The Academy and Revolutionary Art. New Materials and Engineering in Architecture. Late-Nineteenth-Century Revival Architecture. Edouard Manet. Early Photography and Photographic Technique. Late-Nineteenth-Century Sculpture. Impressionism. Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt. American Realism: Thomas Eakins and Henry Tanner. Auguste Rodin. Winslow Homer. Post-Impressionism: Gauguin and Seurat. Post-Impressionism: Van Gogh. Post Impressionism: Cézanne. The Beginnings of the Skyscraper. Edvard Munch. 10. Art from 1900 to 1949. Fauvism. African Art and Ritual. Native American Art. Photography. Cubism. Native American Art. Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House. Abstraction in Sculpture. Malevich and the Russian Avant-Garde. German Expressionism: Die Brücke and Der Reiter. Fantasy. Dada. De Stijl and the Bauhaus. Diego Rivera and Mexican Mural Painting. Surrealism. Modernism in American Painting. Pablo Picasso, Guernica. Sculpture of the 1930s and 1940s. International Style Architecture. 11. Art from 1950 to 1999. The 1950s. The 1960s. The 1970s. The 1980s. The 1990s. Themes: Ritual and Art, The Presence of the Artist; Religious Architecture; Portraiture: Exalting the Individual; The Nude/The Body; Relating to Nature; Representing Women; The Artist as a Revolutionary; The Home and the Palace. 12. Art in the 21st Century. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. List of Credits.