Description

Here is a fresh, exhilarating approach to the history of twentieth-century art. Rejecting the year-by-year
sequential approach of conventional accounts, author Bernard Blistène tackles the subject
thematically, using key works as a springboard to understanding the ideas and techniques of
the major artists of the century.

The book encompasses the visual arts in the broadest sense of the term. In addition to painting,
sculpture and the new art forms of the postwar era, it covers architecture, photography, industrial
design and video. Each chapter treats a different theme - from Fauvism to film, Dada to design -
providing :

a general overview of the movement or period in question

numerous illustrations of particular works, each accompanied by brief explanatory texts

chronologies detailing important events within and around the world of art

bibliographies and suggested museum visits for each movement.

With over 500 illustrations, A History of 20^th-Century Art provides a lucid and compelling introduction
to artistic creation in the last century.

Bernard Blistène, formerly Deputy Director of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris (Centre George
Pompidou), is Chief Curator of the Musées de France and has recently been appointed Inspecter General of Fine
Arts at the French Ministry of Culture. He has written several books and curated key exhibitions including
"Rendezvous: Masterpieces from the Centre George Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums" (Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, 1998), and "Premises: Invested Spaces in Visual Arts, Architecture, and Design from
Frince, 1958-1998" (Guggenheim Museum SoHo, 1998).