Synopsis:
Boasting well over 6,000 contributors from 12 countries, the Dictionary offers its readers authoritative and comprehensive global coverage.
A resource for both art and cultural studies, the Dictionary serves as a unique guide to all the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, drawing, printmaking, as well as the decorative arts. The Dictionary ranges far both geographically and historically; it features unparalleled coverage of Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Mongolia, China, India, the Islamic world, Japan, Korea, Native North America, Pacific and Aboriginal Australia, Pre-Columbian America, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Ancient Near East, and Ancient Rome. Providing depth as well as breadth, The Dictionary of Art examines important art forms and key issues of design, taste, function, and patronage, illuminating them in light of the cultural context in which they developed.
Review:
If you have a passion for art and room for 34 fat volumes on the subject, then Grove's Dictionary of Art is for you. This enormous compendium contains just about everything anyone would ever want to know about art, artists, art critics, art collectors, or anything else connected to the world of art. What's more, this dictionary strives to be global in its point of view--almost half the content covers non-Western subjects, and contributors hail from 120 countries. With so many different sources and such a vast array of subjects represented, it's not surprising that the writing varies from the merely competent to the sublime. Obviously, a 32,600-page dictionary is not for everybody, but it sure would look great on the shelf next to Grove's 20-volume Dictionary of Music and Musicians; you might keep it in mind the next time you're shopping for the art lover who has everything (that is, if you buy it on layaway).
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