History of Modern Art, 7th edition

A Comprehensive Overview — available in digital and print formats

History of Modern Art is a visual comprehensive overview of the modern art field. It traces the trends and influences in painting, sculpture, photography and architecture from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The seventh edition deepens its discussions on social conditions that have affected the production and reception of modern and contemporary art. 

This text is available in a variety of formats – digital and print. Pearson offers its titles on the devices students love through CourseSmart, Amazon, and more. To learn more about our programs, pricing options and customization, click the Choices tab.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this book, readers will be able to:

• Understand the origins of modern art
• Provide an analysis of artworks based on formal and contextual elements
• Recognize the influences of social conditions on modern art

• Comprehensive exploration of modern art — Provides an overview of modern art. It explores the movements, trends and influences of artists from the mid-nineteenth century through contemporary art. Includes Photorealism, Conceptualism, Pattern and Decoration, New Image, and Neo-Expressionism.
• Encompasses all media of modern art — Covers photography, performance art, installation art, collaboration, video, and mixed-media works.
• Chronological organisation – The chronological structure of the text puts works of art in historical perspective.   
• Illustrations - Over 1100 illustrations, all color as appropriate, with 300 new and updated images.
• Contextual information – Political, social, and historical context of artists, movements, and individual works provide additional reference information.
  • Three categories of boxed features emphasise this information:
    • Context
    • Technique
    • Sources
• Central Themes - Six central themes guide readers to make connections between works of art. Themes include:
  • Intersections between art and science
  • Role of technology in shaping modern art
  • The relationship between modernism and femininity
  • The influence of criticism on the reception of modern art
  • The development and effects of the art market
  • The persistence of the exotic as an aesthetic ideal
• Globalisation chapter – The final chapter examines globalisation. It looks at the economic and political conditions currently affecting artists and audiences internationally.

In this Section:
1) Overall changes

2) Chapter-by-Chapter changes

Overall Changes

• The key change for the seventh edition is its availability as a two-volume version as well as a single comprehensive text. 
  •  Volume I concludes with a chapter on American art between the wars and the reception of Surrealism, as well as a conclusion to the volume.
  • Volume II has an introductory chapter summarizing main points relating to the development of modernism through Surrealism, as well as the American reception of Surrealism.
• Chapters continue to be realigned and updated to better reflect new scholarly research and criticism.
• Over 1100 illustrations, all color as appropriate, with 300 new updated images.

Chapter-by-Chapter Changes

Chapter 1

• A streamlined introduction to the origins of modern art
• Traditional, academic approaches to art making highlight modernity’s challenges to expectations about art

Chapter 2

• Realism discussion sharpens the distinctions among the various movements and techniques
• Photography and  Realism
• Impressionism’s relationship and reaction to Realism
• Women artists’ contributions and the significance of the female nude as a persistent subject of modern art

Chapter 3

• Focus on the diverse artistic movements in France following the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune
• Post-Impressionism emergence
• Closer analyses of fewer artworks

Chapter 4

• Architecture’s central role for Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau is made clear
• Greater emphasis on sculpture’s importance
• The Wiener Werkstätte is now cast in relation to Arts and Crafts, as well as Jugendstil.

Chapter 5

• Chapter develops around the works of Henri Matisse and Constantin Brancusi
• Closer examination of the relationship between photography and early twentieth-century experiments
• Special note of Brancusi’s use of photography as part of his artistic process

Chapter 6

• Examples of German and Austrian Expressionism
• A focus on Expressionism’s preoccupation with female nude relating to contemporary social conventions and aesthetic trends within modernism

Chapter 7

• Discussions on Cubism emergence and French social conditions in the early twentieth century give rise to the artistic experiments by Picasso and Braque
• Cubism’s distinct aesthetic concerns are treated at length, but not as ideas divorced from history

Chapter 8

• Photographs of buildings help readers to understand early twentieth-century architecture
• An expanded discussion on functionalism strengths theoretical framework for discussions on buildings

Chapter 9

• The European response to Cubism is highlighted through diverse artists in Paris
• A look on how Italian and Russian artistic innovations lead to movements such as Futurism and Constructivism

Chapter 10

• New images convey the depth of the social and cultural rupture caused by World War I
• The intense outrage, confusion, and despair felt by those who experienced the war is shown through works such as Dada and the New Objectivity

Chapter 11

• The artistic response to World War I in Paris
• The importance of art dealers in the promotion of avant-garde art
• The role of the dealer is given renewed consideration
• Artists, critics, dealers, and patrons contribution to the culture “Call to Order”  characterizing the post-war period

Chapter 12

• New architectural views devoted to the de Stijl movement
• The complex significance accorded to abstraction by Piet Mondrian is elaborated

Chapter 13

• Clearer and more historically accurate images have been introduced to support the idea that Bauhaus was founded on the principle of arts integration in pursuit of a unified aesthetic

Chapter 14

• Surrealism’s reliance on concepts derived from Freud’s theories contributes to the movement’s presumptions regarding femininity as a dangerous yet irresistibly seductive manifestation of the psyche
• The movement’s representation of women and its ambivalence toward women artists is under sharper critique
• Photographer Dora Maar’s work is included

Chapter 15

• Chapter now begins with artist Romaine Brooks and uses her career as an entry point into American artists’ relationship to the European avant-garde

• Social concerns animating progressive American artists are discussed
• American artists visual responses to urban poverty, child labor, and isolationism

Chapter 16

• A more focused approach to Abstract Expressionism and the emergence of American modernism
• More in-depth discussion of selected pieces
• Subtler treatment of the contributions of women to modern art in North America

Chapter 17

• European art of the immediate postwar period has been contextualized in relation to the era’s difficult economic conditions and to existentialism
• Inclusion of new comparative pieces enhance the discussion of Francis Bacon’s painting

Chapter 18

• Nouveau Réalisme and Fluxus have their own chapter

Chapter 19

• The importance of Pop art to the history of twentieth and twenty-first-century and allied movements are discussed
• French artists Evelyn Axell gives women involved with Pop art a stronger presence

Chapter 20

• Subtler treatment of the legacy of Clement Greenberg in order to lend greater accuracy to the treatment of Minimalism

• Chapter further emphasizes  uncertainty and competing claims that pervade the history of modern art, a point made clearly by discussion of the Minimalist project

Chapter 21

• This chapter has been enhanced with new, clearer images and architectural plans
• A discussion of the architecture and design work of Eileen Gray has been added

Chapter 22

• Conceptual art, Performance art, feminist art, protest art, and the Situationists are addressed through works by Marina Abramovic, Ulay, Jean-Michel Sanejouand,and Sylvia Sleigh
• Josef Beuys’ contribution to Conceptual art is discussed at greater length

Chapter 23

• A more in-depth analysis of Post-Minimalism, Earth art, and New Imagists
• The chapter opens with Process art, giving readers a clearer understanding of the relationship among the various movements that characterized modern art in the 1970s

Chapter 24

• The section on architecture discusses the differences among Postmodern, Constructivist, and Deconstructive approaches
• The chapter now closes with a single painting by Mark Tansey

Chapter 25

• The chapter focuses on easel painting
• Several comparative works introduce the growing social and aesthetic interest in painting

Chapter 26

• Explanation of contemporary artists willingness to work outside the bounds of established institutions and practices
• The DIY movement in the visual arts is revealed with works by Charles LeDray and Guy Ben-Nur
• Christian Marclay and Andrea Fraser, whose distinct confrontations with the culture of the art world offer divergent approaches to institutional critique, are introduced

Chapter 27

• Significantly updated to accommodate works of visual art produced in response to postcolonialism, neocolonialism, and globalization
• How the “Arab Spring” protests and the global Occupy Movement has brought greater awareness to digital technology in spreading and shaping information
• Works of art include pieces that address issues related to digital cultures, personal confrontations with globalization, and arts in the service of social justice
• Artists added to this edition include Walid Raad, Rirkrit Tiravanija, El Anatsui, Do-Ho Suh, Pierre Huyghe, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ai Wei Wei, and Bernadette Corporation