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Short History of Art by Janson - worth the $$


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Is a Short History of Art or History of Art for Young People worth the price? I'd use it as art appreciation and art history

 

I do like the History of Art for Young People. It doesn't presume much background in the historical period or with the art. For example, my edition has a page that explains the different terms relating to religious orders in the middle ages.

 

I have several copies of Jansen, but the young people edition is one of my favorites.

 

You might keep an eye out for slightly older copies available used. I bought a recent but not current adult version for $5 last year at a sale.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal

I like a History of Art for Young People for Upper Elementary/Jr High but prefer Art History by Marilyn Stokstad for High School. Art History goes into greater detail and isn't focused on Western Civilizations like a History of Art for Young People is. I much prefer for more civilizations to be covered and wish Jansen wasn't focused on the art of Western Civilization.

Edited by Cheryl in SoCal
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I like a History of Art for Young People for Upper Elementary/Jr High but prefer Art History by Marilyn Stokstad for High School. Art History goes into greater detail and isn't focused on Western Civilizations like a History of Art for Young People is. I much prefer for more civilizations to be covered and wish Jansen wasn't focused on the art of Western Civilization.

 

Cheryl, this is the first time I have seen anyone mention Stokstad's massive volume on this board and it is one of my favorite art resources. I looked at and even purchased a few different volumes recommended for high school but was not satisfied. It was my dd who asked to use Art History. She wasn't intimidated by the size because she has been reading bits and pieces of it since second grade when some art fact piques her interest. Her interest in art preservation was renewed on a visit to the Biltmore Estate in N.C. She has been tracking down excerpts that relate to the topic.

 

I have spent many hours on my own, happily lost in the pages. I may not be the most objective of reviewers as it was the first art history book I ever owned and it opened the door to a completely new world for me.

 

Lisa~a more than satisfied owner of the 1995 volume with the sunflowers on the front.:D

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Lisa, which book(s) are you referring to? Love your review!!

Here is what I wrote on your other thread. The one Lisa is referring to is the 1995 combined hard cover. I listed below.

 

I hope you like it as much as I do! They are available in either 2 separate volumes or both volumes combined in one book so be sure to get the combined. Here are links to some older editions that are combined and hard cover that have some reasonably priced used editions for sale:

 

2004 combined hard cover (new starting at $32.00 and used from $6.64)

http://www.amazon.com/Art-History-Combined-w-CD-ROM/dp/0131455273/ref=tmm_hrd_title_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294427564&sr=8-2

 

1995 combined hard cover (new starting at $17.75 and used from $5.78)

http://www.amazon.com/Art-History-Marilyn-Stokstad/dp/0810919605/ref=tmm_hrd_title_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1294427564&sr=8-2

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Cheryl, this is the first time I have seen anyone mention Stokstad's massive volume on this board and it is one of my favorite art resources. I looked at and even purchased a few different volumes recommended for high school but was not satisfied. It was my dd who asked to use Art History. She wasn't intimidated by the size because she has been reading bits and pieces of it since second grade when some art fact piques her interest. Her interest in art preservation was renewed on a visit to the Biltmore Estate in N.C. She has been tracking down excerpts that relate to the topic.

 

I have spent many hours on my own, happily lost in the pages. I may not be the most objective of reviewers as it was the first art history book I ever owned and it opened the door to a completely new world for me.

 

Lisa~a more than satisfied owner of the 1995 volume with the sunflowers on the front.:D

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my :001_wub: for it :001_smile: I've had A History of Art for Young People for a long time (I think I bought it when my high schoolers were using Veritas Press History around 8 years ago). I wanted "more" for high school and also wanted a World rather than Western Civilizations focus. We use it with our history curriculum (TRISMS) which has a chronological World History focus instead of Western Civilizations and studies the art (also architecture, literature, music, etc) of each civilization so I needed an Art text that covered much more than Western Civilizations. I looked through several on Amazon and then ordered older editions from my library to preview before settling on Art History. It's prodigious (loving MCT's Caesar's English:lol:) but so useful. We've even found more about architecture in it than in our Architecture resource.

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Lisa, which book(s) are you referring to? Love your review!!

 

Holly, I realized when I reread another post of Cheryl's that I think she is referring to an actual textbook for high school by Stokstad which I will definitely have to look in to. I have the first edition of Art History that is abundantly available on Alibris.

 

It is a good-sized volume but has held up well under substantial use. If you need comprehension questions and pre-reading exercises, this book won't do it. It is straight-forward art history presented in a clean layout with minimal distraction from the well-chosen, highly-detailed photographs and illustrations. Side topics are usually presented in a gray square that can be up to an half page long but that never interrupt your reading. The side notes cover the science of art, the ethics of art, technique, cultural practices, and elements of architecture.

 

The down-side is that you would need to develop your own curriculum, but again, I think Cheryl is referring to a high school text. Stokstad's work is both intelligent and accessible and as someone else stated, not as dry as Janson's. I have an Art History syllabus from Hewitt Home School that is geared for Gombrich's Story of Art and I have just adapted ideas from there.

Edited by swimmermom3
Can't believe I misspelled his name.
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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Holly, I realized when I reread another post of Cheryl's that I think she is referring to an actual textbook for high school by Stokstad which I will definitely have to look in to. I have the first edition of Art History that is abundantly available on Alibris.

 

It is a good-sized volume but has held up well under substantial use. If you need comprehension questions and pre-reading exercises, this book won't do it. It is straight-forward art history presented in a clean layout with minimal distraction from the well-chosen, highly-detailed photographs and illustrations. Side topics are usually presented in a gray square that can be up to an half page long but that never interrupt your reading. The side notes cover the science of art, the ethics of art, technique, cultural practices, and elements of architecture.

 

The down-side is that you would need to develop your own curriculum, but again, I think Cheryl is referring to a high school text. Stokstad's work is both intelligent and accessible and as someone else stated, not as dry as Jansen's. I have an Art History syllabus from Hewitt Home School that is geared for Gombrich's Story of Art and I have just adapted ideas from there.

I don't believe so but I could be wrong. This is the one I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-History-Combined-4th-MyArtsLab/dp/0205744222/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1294429448&sr=8-3

 

It's also listed at Pearson's Higher Education website:

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/bookseller/product/Art-History-Combined-Volume/9780205744220.page

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they list the high school level books there. Do you know?

 

How would I tell if it was for high school? It has more pages than the volume you have (1240 instead of 1167). I'd think an edition for high school would have fewer pages.

 

ETA that I just compared the TOC and they are almost identical (a few additional chapters in the one I own) so I'm thinking mine is the 4th Edition of the book you own. They have different publishers (yours Abrams, mine Prentice Hall) but the only Edition that seems to be published by Abrams is the 1st Edition. Perhaps she changed publishers? If there were 2 different versions I'd think I'd be able to find Editions for both but I can't.

 

I just found "Art: A Brief History" by Stokstad, could that be the high school version?

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Brief-History-Marilyn-Stokstad/dp/0136059090/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294434155&sr=8-2

Edited by Cheryl in SoCal
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I don't believe so but I could be wrong. This is the one I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-History-Combined-4th-MyArtsLab/dp/0205744222/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1294429448&sr=8-3

 

It's also listed at Pearson's Higher Education website:

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/bookseller/product/Art-History-Combined-Volume/9780205744220.page

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they list the high school level books there. Do you know?

 

How would I tell if it was for high school? It has more pages than the volume you have (1240 instead of 1167). I'd think an edition for high school would have fewer pages.

 

ETA that I just compared the TOC and they are almost identical (a few additional chapters in the one I own) so I'm thinking mine is the 4th Edition of the book you own. They have different publishers (yours Abrams, mine Prentice Hall) but the only Edition that seems to be published by Abrams is the 1st Edition. Perhaps she changed publishers? If there were 2 different versions I'd think I'd be able to find Editions for both but I can't.

 

I just found "Art: A Brief History" by Stokstad, could that be the high school version?

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Brief-History-Marilyn-Stokstad/dp/0136059090/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294434155&sr=8-2

 

Agh! I probably should have said that you were referring to a text as opposed to a high school text. I was able to find a sample chapter from your book (4th edition) and match it up with my book (1st edition). They are comparable in content. I wonder if Stokstad started out writing a scholarly volume; it was well-received and then made into a text. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them but those links to the myarts lab in the newer editions could be very handy. Also, the Learn About It section is not in mine and a parent could use those as a starting point for papers or projects.

 

18.1 Analyze how Flemish painters gave scrupulous

attention to describing the textures and luminosity of

objects in the natural world and in domestic interiors.

 

18.2 Trace the development of an extraordinary interest in

evoking human likeness in portraits, unlike anything

seen since ancient Rome.

 

18.3 Explore how paintings in northern Europe of the

fifteenth century captured in concrete form visions

of their meditating donors.

 

18.4 Uncover the complex symbolic meanings that

saturated the settings of Flemish paintings.

 

18.5 Investigate how prints developed into a major

pictorial medium.

HEAR MORE Listen to an audio file of your chapter www.myartslab.com

 

(From Art History, Stokstadt, p. 561)

 

I tend to use the topics in the gray boxes (Art and Its Contexts in the 4th edition) as jumping off places for rabbit trails.

 

Cheryl, I've played with the idea of dropping the AP World History text my dd is using (she's not taking the test) and switching to the Stokstadt volume to cover both areas. She would still do timelines, maps and DBQs for history, but it would cut down the reading significantly and the Art History volume is more interesting. She is a senior and has never had World History so this is to fill in the gaps. Is this workable? I never known anyone that had the volume in hand so I could as this question.

 

OP: Sorry for the side-track.:tongue_smilie: Obviously we like this volume. The fact that Pearson is the publisher says a lot to me for the quality when it comes to a textbook.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Agh! I probably should have said that you were referring to a text as opposed to a high school text. I was able to find a sample chapter from your book (4th edition) and match it up with my book (1st edition). They are comparable in content. I wonder if Stokstad started out writing a scholarly volume; it was well-received and then made into a text. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them but those links to the myarts lab in the newer editions could be very handy. Also, the Learn About It section is not in mine and a parent could use those as a starting point for papers or projects.

 

Is your book not a textbook? If not (pardon my ignorance), what kind of book is it? For personal study but not used in colleges? Your hypothesis seems plausible, especially considering the publisher change after the 1st Edition.

 

Cheryl, I've played with the idea of dropping the AP World History text my dd is using (she's not taking the test) and switching to the Stokstadt volume to cover both areas. She would still do timelines, maps and DBQs for history, but it would cut down the reading significantly and the Art History volume is more interesting. She is a senior and has never had World History so this is to fill in the gaps. Is this workable? I never known anyone that had the volume in hand so I could as this question.

That's tough to say. I guess it will depend on how detailed you want your World History to be. I haven't used the entire text yet (my oldest has currently used it through the Roman Republic) but the history that we've seen in it thus far is more summary in nature than in our World History texts (we use many), similar to how World History texts have summaries about art. Also, even though it includes art from more than just Western Civilizations the civilizations studied isn't as complete as our World History texts. What is the currently history text you are using? My favorite secular World History book is World History by Spielvogel and Duiker. It is similar to Spielvogel's Western Civilization book but his Western Civ parts have been abbreviated somewhat to include the additional World History chapters by Duiker. These are the college texts, not the high school ones (History Odyssey, or something like that, which I've seen posted about on here.

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Is your book not a textbook? If not (pardon my ignorance), what kind of book is it? For personal study but not used in colleges? Your hypothesis seems plausible, especially considering the publisher change after the 1st Edition.

 

 

That's tough to say. I guess it will depend on how detailed you want your World History to be. I haven't used the entire text yet (my oldest has currently used it through the Roman Republic) but the history that we've seen in it thus far is more summary in nature than in our World History texts (we use many), similar to how World History texts have summaries about art. Also, even though it includes art from more than just Western Civilizations the civilizations studied isn't as complete as our World History texts. What is the currently history text you are using? My favorite secular World History book is World History by Spielvogel and Duiker. It is similar to Spielvogel's Western Civilization book but his Western Civ parts have been abbreviated somewhat to include the additional World History chapters by Duiker. These are the college texts, not the high school ones (History Odyssey, or something like that, which I've seen posted about on here.

 

No, my book is not a textbook. I suppose you would pick this up like you would SWB's History of the Ancient World or Robert's History of the World. They are not books designed specifically for a classroom or a student, although students or those involved in self-education often use them. They don't contain comprehension questions and little colored boxes that guide the student through skill-building exercises. They don't have web-supported sites for teachers and students. Just a plain, old book.:D

 

We are using The Earth and Its People for world history but opt out frequently. She's taken AP European History and the book for that was excellent, so we are trying to focus more on the areas she has not covered. There was another book recommended on the AP syllabus, but I can't think of what it was right now. Just wish I had it.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
No, my book is not a textbook. I suppose you would pick this up like you would SWB's History of the Ancient World or Robert's History of the World. They are not books designed specifically for a classroom or a student, although students or those involved in self-education often use them. They don't contain comprehension questions and little colored boxes that guide the student through skill-building exercises. They don't have web-supported sites for teachers and students. Just a plain, old book.:D

 

We are using The Earth and Its People for world history but opt out frequently. She's taken AP European History and the book for that was excellent, so we are trying to focus more on the areas she has not covered. There was another book recommended on the AP syllabus, but I can't think of what it was right now. Just wish I had it.

Gotcha:001_smile:

 

Hmmm, I don't know anything about that book and can't really tell anything about it from Amazon. Sorry. My only suggestion would be to compare info on specific civilizations from it and the Art History you have. I don't think it would be THAT much of a difference between it and my copy.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
*sigh* I was looking for a one volume book for art history. Wow, there are a ton of options on Amazon. Adding to the list. Thank you.

The book I have and posted links to is a (very large) 1 volume book. It's separated into 2 volumes for students who take it only 1 semester of the course so they don't have to buy the entire book.

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*sigh* I was looking for a one volume book for art history. Wow, there are a ton of options on Amazon. Adding to the list. Thank you.

 

Paula, you might like Art in Focus . It is a good text for anywhere from 6th to 9th grade and it makes planning art history relatively easy for you.

 

ETA - this is the one Swimmer Dude uses, which is not an endorsement since his tastes run counter to all common sense and aesthetic appeal.

Edited by swimmermom3
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Paula, you might like Art in Focus . It is a good text for anywhere from 6th to 9th grade and it makes planning art history relatively easy for you.

 

ETA - this is the one Swimmer Dude uses, which is not an endorsement since his tastes run counter to all common sense and aesthetic appeal.

 

Thanks I'll look into that one as well. The author on Art History teaches/taught at KU (our local favorite college) and is/was (not sure if the info I read is updated) a curator at the Nelson-Atkins museum in Kansas City, which is our nearest museum. It the museum I grew up going to on school field trips and I'm anxious to get down there soon.

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Thanks I'll look into that one as well. The author on Art History teaches/taught at KU (our local favorite college) and is/was (not sure if the info I read is updated) a curator at the Nelson-Atkins museum in Kansas City, which is our nearest museum. It the museum I grew up going to on school field trips and I'm anxious to get down there soon.

 

How fun for you! You are by your folks now, right? This thread has prompted me to research Stokstadt a bit more so thank you for the link. I purchased the book when my oldest two were really young and funds were short. I would curl up on the bed during nap time and just get lost in the pages. The art majors on board may have better suggestions but I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the book and enjoyed looking up various artists with the kids through the years.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
I ordered a used copy with the sunflowers, you gals are very bad for me...I need to find somewhere else to spend my time :tongue_smilie:

:lol::lol::lol: I don't think you will be disappointed!

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