
Understanding Art
Lois Fichner-Rathus(Author)
Cengage Learning (Publisher)
12th Edition
Will be published approx. on 10. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
640 pages
978-0-357-79698-6 (ISBN)
Description
Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by an image? That's where this book begins. "Understanding Art" starts with your intuition and helps you build on it. Learn to recognize how artworks are constructed, interpret their meanings and connect them to larger contexts. With reproduced images spanning cultures and centuries, you'll explore how artists use the elements and principles of design to create meaning. Special features help you develop visual literacy: Theory + Practice shows the creative process, Compare + Contrast trains observational skills and the Visual Culture section expands your understanding to ceramics, textiles, fashion and architecture. The text gives you tools to look deeper and think critically, proving that understanding doesn't diminish pleasure -- it multiplies both the mystery and the pleasure.
More details
Series
Edition
12th ed.
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
ISBN-13
978-0-357-79698-6 (9780357796986)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lois Fichner-Rathus is a professor of art in the Department of Art and Art History of The College of New Jersey. She holds a combined undergraduate degree in fine arts and art history, an M.A. from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art and a Ph.D. in the History, Theory and Criticism of Art from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her areas of specialization include contemporary art, feminist art history and criticism and modern art and architecture as well as the theory and foundations of art and design. Dr. Fichner-Rathus is also the author of the Cengage Learning textbooks, UNDERSTANDING ART and FOUNDATIONS OF ART AND DESIGN. She teaches study-abroad programs in Paris, Rome, Spain and Cuba and resides in New York.