Looking at pictures can be a delightful, exciting or moving experience, but some pictures - and these are often the most rewarding - require some explanation before they can be fully understood. Delving into the origins, designs and themes of over 100 pictures from different periods and places, this book illuminates the art of looking at - and talking about - pictures. Woodford shows how you can read a picture by examining the formal and stylistic devices used by an artist, and explores popular themes and subject matters, and the relationship of pictures to the societies that produced them. The book is supplemented by a glossary of key terms, ranging from art movements and technical terms to religious and classical terminology, to give readers all the information they need at their fingertips.

'Susan Woodford is the ideal guide ... She writes with feeling, wit and deep knowledge, wisely but unpretentiously ... shows how enjoyment and learning can be one and the same' Julian Bell

About the Author
Susan Woodford was born and educated in the USA (BA Harvard; MA and PhD Columbia). Since moving to London, she has taught art history and lectured at the British Museum. She has published many books and articles on Greek and Roman art and has also written Looking at Pictures in the Art Essentials series.


Book Information
ISBN 9780500293218
Author Susan Woodford
Format Paperback
Page Count 176
Imprint Thames & Hudson Ltd
Publisher Thames & Hudson Ltd
Weight(grams) 410g