Guide to Ancient Greek Art
Ruth Ezra
Beth Harris
Steven Zucker
Copyright Year:
Publisher: Smarthistory
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
Reviews
This text covers a range and thorough summary of Greek periods in art history. read more
This text covers a range and thorough summary of Greek periods in art history.
The authors have done effective research and applied their knowledge comprehensibly and interestingly for the reader.
The topic is a vital segment of the art historical timeline and the information provided is timeless.
Images selected in the text clarify the author’s point and provide helpful visual examples of Greek art historical trends described.
The writing styles of the authors are consistent.
The historical periods discussed build on one another.
The overall organization of the text is linear along the art history timeline and flows flawlessly.
The text is free of interface issues.
The text is well written.
The text is not culturally offensive and is inclusive.
This text provides a “go-to” resource for a better understanding of the overview of ancient Greek art history. Highly recommended reading for the art history enthusiast.
Dry and informative read more
Dry and informative
Strong and content as expected with research and references
covers topics as expected
Reading written statements of recorded conversations or interviews is not an interesting format for students. Tedious at best. Interesting for faculty maybe.
Format is structured but when researching on how black figure pottery was made I got linked to smarthistory -a youtube video from Art Institute of Chicago that was terrific but then when I went back to text it was not listed in the resources nor could I find it again via the text online.
Going back to "Search" in this textbook was problematic when download of page numbers does not correspond to actual page numbers on the scrolled through pages. Will just simply directly search Youtube, Google or other sites for such information . Easier.
Good.
Content organized but as stated earlier the additional course materials and links not so clear or organized
Just the hunt and seek too time consuming
Only reviewed a few chapters and the Table of Contents, all seemed well written from what I perused.
Greek.
Good images and overviews of Greek Pottery.
The textbook covers a lot of information, in a book of less than 200 pages. However, the content would be easier for those with some prior knowledge. This is more of a guide (as the title states), than an introduction to the subject. there is no... read more
The textbook covers a lot of information, in a book of less than 200 pages. However, the content would be easier for those with some prior knowledge. This is more of a guide (as the title states), than an introduction to the subject. there is no index or glossary, but I do appreciate the ability to click on titles of chapters and get taken easily to each section.
I found no inaccuracies in the book. The material appears to have been researched thoroughly and is error free.
The content of this textbook is mostly up to date. It appears that the last changes, or additions were made in 2017. It would be easy to insert new articles, citations, and research to the content.
I found most of the chapters missing Introductions. It is assumed that the reader has already been exposed to Greek history and literature, as in the first paragraph of the book: "Ancient Greece can feel strangely familiar. From the exploits of Achilles (hero of Homer’s epic poem, the Illiad, about the Trojan war) and Odysseus (also known as Ulysses, the hero in Homer’s other epic poem, the Odyssey), to the treatises of Aristotle.." The sections on ancient Greek architecture and Greek Vase-Painting, by Dr. Renee M. Gondek and Dr. Jeffey A. Becker are very well done, whereas the sections on Classical, Hellenistic styles have no introductions, just conversations between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker.
The terminology and framework are consistent, and the images are well chosen.
I would be happy to use parts of this textbook in my class, and there are sections that would work easily. In other instances, I would have to re-write introductions.
The topics in the text have been organized well.
Everything to do with the interface and navigation works well in this textbook. I especially would like to point out the excellent quality of the images and their explanations.
I found no significant errors.
My only criticism of the text is in relation to the assumption that all students would have prior knowledge of some of the philosophical or literary references. "...thanks largely to ..... well-known literary sources, ....this civilization is embedded in our collective consciousness—"
As already mentioned, for an introductory course perhaps the book would benefit from a clear concise introduction to the ancient world. Also, I think the conversations between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. work very well in the smarthistory videos, but not as well in the textbook form.
Table of Contents
- Part I. A beginner's guide
- Part II. Pottery
- Part III. Daedalic and Archaic
- Part IV. Early Classical
- Part V. Classical
- Part VI. Late Classical
- Part VII. Hellenistic
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Greek art.
About the Contributors
Editors
Ruth Ezra is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University, where she specializes in the art of late-medieval and Renaissance Europe. Upon completion of her BA at Williams College, she studied in the UK on a Marshall Scholarship, earning an MPhil in history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge and an MA in history of art from the Courtauld Institute. A committed educator, Ruth has recently served as a Gallery Lecturer at both the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the National Galleries of Scotland, as well as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard.
Beth Harris is co-founder and executive director of Smarthistory. Previously, she was dean of art and history at Khan Academy and director of digital learning at The Museum of Modern Art, where she started MoMA Courses Online and co-produced educational videos, websites and apps. Before joining MoMA, Beth was Associate Professor of art history and director of distance learning at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she taught both online and in the classroom. She has co-authored, with Dr. Steven Zucker, numerous articles on the future of education and the future of museums, topics she regularly addresses at conferences around the world. She received her Master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and her doctorate in Art History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Steven Zucker is co-founder and executive director of Smarthistory. Previously, Steven was dean of art and history at Khan Academy. He was also chair of history of art and design at Pratt Institute where he strengthened enrollment and lead the renewal of curriculum across the Institute. Before that, he was dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY and chair of their art history department. He has taught at The School of Visual Arts, Hunter College, and at The Museum of Modern Art. Dr. Zucker is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has co-authored, with Dr. Beth Harris, numerous articles on the future of education and the future of museums, topics he regularly addresses at conferences around the world. Dr. Zucker received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.