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Painting, Sculpture and Drawing

Windows on Humanity, A History of How Art Reflects Our Ideas About Our Lives and World by Sandra J. Shaw, Leport. Prehistory to the Fall of Rome
Windows on Humanity is a new study of the history of visual art, a survey distinguished by the approach it takes to identifying the meaning of art. Artwork expresses the artist’s basic view of life and the world. This text demonstrates that philosophical ideas about life and existence shape individual works of art and, more broadly, the art of whole cultures.
Art is presented here as a visual record of thought and values. This approach to exploring the history of art offers a coherent, clarifying perspective on why artworks from different periods and cultures look the way they do, and why they changed the way they did. Artworks are described in terms of how artists imbue their work with meaning, and descriptions include observations rooted in the author’s own experience as an artist.
The text chronologically tracks key developments in the art of Western civilization from the birth of art in prehistory to its collapse as Rome fell. Highlights from the history of ideas and from general history help place artistic trends in their cultural settings. Chapters feature a wide range of images, from lesser-known artworks to renowned master works. From this rich collection, the reader can infer historic trends firsthand. Sidebars and same-page footnotes offer additional insights and leads for further study. Content summaries, study questions and reading lists accompany each chapter, and the glossary provides a wide spectrum of terms plainly described.
Art, The World's Greatest Paintings Explored and Explained by Robert Cumming. An easy introduction to some of the world's greatest paintings, with explanations of their context and content.
Art, A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture by Frederick Hartt. A large and comprehensive book with intelligent commentary on art from the earliest to modern times. Of all the complete surveys of art that I know of, this gives the greatest weight to classic art and least to art of the last century. Preferably buy editions 3rd or earlier. Beginning with the 4th edition, the section on modern times has been rewritten by a different author. (out-of-print, see sources.)
Artists on Art, from the XIV to the XX Century by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, editors. A treasurehouse of writings by artists about their art.

Advanced and Supplementary

A Handbook of Greek Art by Richter.
History of Italian Renaissance Art, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture by Frederick Hartt. 703 pages, color and b&w illustrations, intelligent commentary.
Bernini, The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque by Rudolph Wittkower. Exultant sculptures by the master sculptor of the Baroque period.
Spanish Still Life in the Golden Age 1600-1650 by William B. Jordan, Kimball Art Museum 1985.. The premier work covering this aspect of the Renaissance in Spain.
Velázquez, Painter and Courtier by Jonathan Brown. Biography and catolog of the works of the greatest Spanish portrait artist.
Vermeer by Blankert, Montias and Aillaud. A detailed review of the paintings, technique and life of the great realist.
Hokusai and Hiroshige, Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of the Arts, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, University of Washington Press. Catalog and description of great works by two of Japan's foremost printmakers.
Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Aspects of the Moon by John Stevenson. Detailed photographs and descriptions of each of the one hundred prints in Yoshitoshi's greatest series.

Technique

The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed. Clear instruction on principles and specific techniques of drawing.
Complete Guide to Life Drawing by Gottfried Bammes. Intended for people with some familiarity already with drawing, Complete Guide to Life Drawing is a complete course on drawing the human figure, starting from large shapes and gestures, progressing through detailed anatomy, and completing with fully integrated portraits and figures.
Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters, 100 Great Drawings Analyzed; Figure Drawing Fundamentals Defined by Robert Beverly Hale.
Problem Solving for Oil Painters, Recognizing what's gone wrong and how to make it right by Gregg Kreutz. Starting from the position that paintings should say something, make a statement about the real world, and respecting the accomplishments of art prior to the 1920's, Kreutz addresses nine important aspects of a painting and discusses how to make these good: ideas, shapes, value, light, shadows, depth, solidity, color, and paint.
Leonardo da Vinci's Advice to Artists by Leonardo da Vinci, edited and annotated by Emery Kelen. Advice on the subject and practice of art, and insight into the mind of the great thinker.
Essentials of Composition as Applied to Art by John V. van Pelt.
Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck. Thorough, detailed, and expressive, this is the go-to reference book for artistic anatomy.
The Human Figure, Life Drawing for Artists by J H. Vanderpoel.
Anatomy, A Complete Guide for Artists by Joseph Sheppard, Dover. This is the clearest book covering the essentials of anatomy from the standard of what an artist needs to know.
The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin.
Leonardo on Painting, An anthology of writings by Leonardo da Vinci, with a selection of documents relating to his career as an artist. by Martin Kemp, editor; Martin Kenp and Margaret Walker trans.. As much a work of science as painting technique, Leonardo integrates the two.
Methods and Materials of Painting of the Great Schools and Masters by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.
Oil Painting Techniques and Materials by Harold Speed. Clear exposition of the principles and basic techniques of oil painting.
The Painter in Oil by Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst.
The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques by Ralph Mayer. An encyclopediac compendium, with extensive information. Additionally, this references and distills much of what has been written in other books such as The Materials of the ArtistThe Materials of the Artist.
The Materials of the Artist, and their use in painting, with notes on the techniques of the old masters by Max Doerner.
The Materials of the Artist by Max Doerner. Excellent advice, though the translation makes understanding it slow going.
The Science of Art, Optical themes in western art from Brunelleschi to Seurat by Martin Kemp.
The Form of the Book, Essays on the Morality of Good Design by Jan Tschichold. Essays on the technique of immaculate typography in the service of clear exposition.
Image, Designing Effective Pictures by Michael Freeman. Composition of photographic pictures. See also the companion books in the same series, Light and Film
The Art of Color, The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color by Johannes Itten. Describes the technical aspects of color theory.
The Artistic Anatomy of Trees, Their Structure and Treatment in Painting by Rex Vicat Cole. A detailed guide to every aspect of trees and how to paint them.
Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures by Henry R. Poore. Though the writing is archaic and sometimes obscure, this book gives valuable advice that I have not yet found elsewhere.

Painting, Sculpture and Drawing

Advanced and Supplementary

Technique

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