Great Books on Art and Art History

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Books on the history of styles

• Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and SculptureJohann Joachim Winckelmann
• Writings on ArtJohann Joachim Winckelmann
• The Critical Historians of ArtMichael Podro
• Renaissance and BaroqueHeinrich Wölzin
• Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian RenaissanceHeinrich Wölzin
• Principles of Art HistoryHeinrich Wölzin
• Abstraction and EmpathyWilhelm Worringer
• The Life of Forms in ArtHenri Focillon

Books on connoisseurship

• Italian Painters of the RenaissanceBernard Berenson
• Drawings of the Florentine PaintersJohn Murray
• On Art and ConnoisseurshipMax J. Friedländer
• FakesOtto Kurz
• Fake? The Art of DeceptionMark Jones

Art dictionaries

• The Penguin Dictionary of Art and ArtistsPeter and Linda Murray
• The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative ArtsJohn Fleming and Hugh Honour
• The Oxford Companion to ArtHarold Osborne
• The Oxford Companion to Decorative ArtsHarold Osborne

Handbooks on styles and periods

• Pelican History of ArtNikolaus Pevsner
• Oxford History of English ArtT.S.R. Boase
• Phaidon Colour LibrariesPhaidon
• World of ArtThames & Hudson
• A World History of ArtHugh Honour and John Fleming
• A History of ArtH.W. Janson
• An Introduction to Italian SculptueJohn Pope-Hennessy
• The Heibonsha Survey of Japanese ArtHeibonsha
• Encyclopedia of World ArtMcGraw-Hill

Books on technique

• SculptureRudolf Wittkower
• The Techniques of Greek SculptureSheila Adam
• The Artist's Handbook of Materials and TechniquesRalph Mayer
• An Introduction to the History of WoodcutA.M. Hind
• A History of Engraving and EtchingA.M. Hind
• Drawing in the Italian Renaissance WorkshopFrancis Ames-Lewis and Joanne Wright

Books on taste and collecting

• The Rare Art Tradition: The History of Art Collecting and its Linked PhenomenaJoseph Alsop
• Taste and the AntiqueFrancis Haskell and Nicholas Penny
• Painting and Experience in the Fifteenth-Century ItalyMichael Baxandall
• The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Art MarketMartin Wackernagel
• Patrons and PaintersFrancis Haskell
• Rediscoveries in ArtFrancis Haskell
• The Economics of TasteGerald Reitlinger

Books on subject-matter in art

• Art in France: The Twelfth CenturyEmile Mâle
• Religious Art in France: The Thirteenth CenturyEmile Mâle
• Religous Art from the Twelfth to the Eigtheenth CenturyEmile Mâle
• The Survival of the Pagan GodsJean Seznec
• Studies in IconologyErwin Panofsky
• Meaning in the Visual ArtsErwin Panofsky
• A Heritage of ImagesFritz Saxl
• Symbolic ImagesE.H. Gombrich
• Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in ArtJames Hall
• Signs and Symbols in Christian ArtG. Ferguson
• Landscape into ArtKenneth Clark
• The NudeKenneth Clark
• Still Life Painting: From Antiquity to the Twentieth CenturyCharles Sterling

Books on social history in art

• A Social History of ArtArnold Hauser
• Meditations on a Hobby HorseE.H. Gombrich
• Florentine Painting and its Social BackgroundFrederick Antal
• Image of the People: Gustave Courbet and the Revolution of 1848T.J. Clark
• The Obstacle RaceGermaine Greer
• Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and the Histories of ArtGriselda Pollock
• Art in Modern CultureFrancis Frascina and Jonathan Harris

Books on the psychology of art

• Art and PsychoanalysisPeter Fuller
• Painting as an ArtRichard Wollheim
• Painting and the Inner WorldAdrian Stokes
• Art and IllusionE.H. Gombrich
• The Sense of OrderE.H. Gombrich
• The Image and the EyeE.H. Gombrich
• Art and Visual PerceptionRudolf Arnheim
• The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of ResponseDavid Freedberg

Books on the philosophy of art

• Artistic Theory in ItalyAnthony Blunt
• Giotto and the OratorsMichael Baxandall
• Idea: A Concept in Art TheoryErwin Panofsky

Books by leading art critics

• Modern PaintersJohn Ruskin
• The RenaissanceWalter Pater
• Ruskin TodayRuskin
• The Lamp of Beauty: Writings on Art by John RuskinJohn Ruskin
• The Letters of William Morris to his Family and FriendsPhilip Henderson
• The Painter of Modern LifeCharles Baudelaire
• Art in ParisCharles Baudelaire
• The Masters of Past TimeEugène Fromentin
• French Eighteent-Century PaintersEdmond and Jules de Goncourt
• Pages from the Goncourt JournalsEdmond and Jules de Goncourt
• Genius of the FutureAnita Brookner
• Vision and DesignRoger Fry
• Cézanne: A Study of his DevelopmentRoger Fry
• Lat LecturesRoger Fry
• The Meaning of ArtSir Herbert Read
• The Tradition of the NewHarold Rosenberg
• The Anxious Object: Art Today and its AudienceHarold Rosenberg
• Art and CultureClement Greenberg

Anthologies

• A Documentary History of ArtElizabeth Holt
• The Expanding World of Art 1874-1902Elizabeth Holt
• The Art of GreeceJ.J. Pollitt
• The Art of RomeJ.J. Pollitt
• The Art of the Byzantine EmpireCyril Mango
• Early Medival ArtCaecilia Davis-Weyer
• Gothic ArtTeresa G. Frisch
• Italian ArtCreighton Gilbert
• Northern Renaissance ArtWolfgang Stechow
• Italy and SpainRobert Enggass and Jonathan Brown
• Neoclassicism and RomanticismLorenz Eitner
• Realism and Tradition in ArtLinda Nochlin
• Impressionism and Post-ImpressionismLinda Nochlin
• Patrons and Artists in the Italian RenaissanceD. S. Chambers
• Artists on ArtRobert Goldwater and Marco Treves
• Nineteenth-Century Theories of ArtJoshua C. Taylor
• Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and CriticsHerschel B. Chipp
• Art in Theory: An Anthology of Changing IdeasCharles Harrison and Paul Wood
• Chapters on the History of ArtPliny
• Description of GreeceJ.G. Frazer
• Guide to GreecePausanias
• The Spirit of the BrushShio Sakanishi
• Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of Saint Denis and its Art TreasuresAbbot Suger
• The Various ArtsTheophilus
• The Craftsman's HandbookCennino d'Andrea Cennini
• On Painting and SculptureLeon Battista Alberti
• The Literary Works of Leonardo da VinciJ.P. Ritcher
• Treatise on PaintingLeonardo da Vinci
• Leonardo on PaintingMartin Kemp
• The Letters of MichelangeloE.H. Ramsden
• The Complete Poems and Selected Letters of MichelangeloCreighton Gilbert
• The Poetry of MichelangeloJames M. Saslow
• The Life of MichelangeloAlice Sedgwick Wohl
• The Writings of Albrecht DürerW.M. Conway
• The Painter's ManualDürer/W.L. Strauss
• Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and ArchitectsGiorgio Vasari
• The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniCharles Hope
• Life of BrunelleschiAntonio Manetti
• Life of BerniniFilippo Baldinucci
• Dutch and Flemish PaintersCarel van Mander
• Lives of the Eminent Spanish Painters and SculptorsAntonio Palomino
• The Letters of Peter Paul RubensRuth Saunders Magurn
• Sir Joshua Reynolds: Discourses on ArtRobert R. Wark
• The Analysis of BeautyWilliam Hogarth
• Memoirs of the Life of John ConstableC.R. Leslie
• Complete Correspondence of John ConstableR.B. Beckett
• Journals of Eugène DelacroixLucy Norton
• Letters of Eugène DelacroixJean Stewart
• Goethe on ArtJohn Gage
• The Letters of Gustave CourbetPetra ten-Doesschate
• Théodore Duret's Manet and the French ImpressionistsThéodore Duret
• The Letters of Camille PissarroJohn Rewald
• The Letters of DegasMarcel Guérin
• The Letters of CézanneJohn Rewald
• Renoir, My FatherJean Renoir
• The Complete Letters of Vincent van GoghVincent van Gogh
• The Letters of GauguinPaul Gauguin
• Noa Noa: Gauguin's TahitiPaul Gauguin
• Gentle Art of Making EnemiesJames McNeill Whistler
• My LifeOskar Kokoschka
• Diary of a GeniusSalvador Dalí
• On Modern ArtPaul Klee
• Why Abstract?Hilaire Hiler
• The Collected Writings of Robert MotherwellRobert Motherwell
• Concering the Spiritual in ArtWassily Kandinsky
• Matisse on ArtHenri Matisse
• Kandinsky: The Complete Writings on ArtWassily Kandinsky
• DadaH. Richter
• SurrealismP. Waldberg
• The Cubist Painters: Aesthetic MeditationsGuillaume Apollinaire
• Surrealism and PaintingAndré Breton
• Modern Artists on ArtRobert L. Herbert
• Henry Moore on SculpturePhilip James