This new edition expands by some 200 pages the 1997 second edition, adding more than 200 entries and a very helpful classified list of entries. The chronology and index of museums and galleries have been updated, while "A Selection of Christian and Classical Themes in Painting and Sculpture" has been dropped. The annotated index of museums and galleries contains complete contact information and focuses on "150 of the world's leading collections of Western art." As in previous editions, the focus is Western art beginning with classical Greece.
According to the editor, "almost every entry has been amended in some way and many have been expanded or substantially rewritten." Of the 3,000 entries, about two-thirds are for artists, and the number of entries for people grows to around three-fourths of the total when patrons, collectors, administrators, dealers, and writers are added. Architects, designers, photographers, and practitioners of the applied arts are not the subjects of main entries unless they were also significant as painters, sculptors, printmakers, or draftsmen. There are 28 entries for artists of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean; most spent significant parts of their careers in Europe or the U.S. Wherever possible, all biographical entries now include places and exact dates of birth and death. Nonbiographical entries cover museums and galleries; academies, schools, and other institutions; exhibitions and prizes; styles, groups, and movements; materials, tools, and techniques; and miscellaneous terms.
Other recent one-volume dictionaries of similar scope, size, and readability and with an emphasis on Western art include The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History (Penguin, 2000) and The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists (Yale, 2000). The former includes brief quotations by or about the artist for each artist entry. Neither these nor The Oxford Dictionary of Art is illustrated. The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists (Thames and Hudson, 1994), though shorter and less recent, includes 426 black-and-white illustrations and ventures more into non-Western cultures. All of these volumes are recommended for high-school, public, and academic libraries, though none is as up-to-date as The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Craig Bunch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Library Journal
A handy work based on earlier Oxford Companions and revised from previous editions, this single-volume reference contains 3000 entries that discuss Western and Western-inspired art from antiquity on. It considers paintings, graphics, sculpture, and architecture in terms of artistic figures, periods, schools, techniques, critical terms, and museums; lesser artists are treated more concisely than major ones. Despite editorial claims that the dictionary is "up to date," coverage of recent activities is uneven, with Neo-expressionism and other contemporary movements and artists omitted. An easy format, accurate facts, and good cross-referencing make this a useful lexicon for the layperson or for general and public collections. Robin Kaplan, The Information Group, Los Angeles
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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