The Social History of Art: From Prehistoric Times to the Middle Ages: V.1

Description

First published in 1951 Arnold Hausers commanding work presents an account of the development and meaning of art from its origins in the Stone Age through to the Film Age. Exploring the interaction between art and society, Hauser effectively details social and historical movements and sketches the frameworks in which visual art is produced. This new edition provides an excellent introduction to the work of Arnold Hauser. In his general introduction to The Social History of Art, Jonathan Harris asseses the importance of the work for contemporary art history and visual culture. In addition, an introduction to each volume provides a synopsis of Hausers narrative and serves as a critical guide to the text, identifying major themes, trends and arguments.

"Unrivalled in its scope and ambition, Arnold Hauser's classic study can be placed alongside the writings of Schapiro, Wolfflin, and Panofsky as a critical contribution to the development of the history of art as discipline."-Alan Wallach, College of William and Mary "This is an exciting, an irritating, a scholarly and an absolutely indispensable book."-Art News and Reviews "Hauser's work repays reading because it was and remains the only comprehensive scholarly synthesis of the history of art from the perspective of historical materialism."-Whitney Davies