Why A World of Art? Henry Sayre wrote the first edition of World of Art because he wanted to use a text in his own art appreciation course that truly represented all artists, not just the Western canon found at that time in the other texts. He also wanted a text that fostered critical thinking through looking at, talking about, and questioning works of art for his students. We are proud to present the new sixth edition of World of Art, which further strengthens these two key aspects of the text while presenting hot topics like video and time-based media.

In this new edition there are several changes that are particularly noteworthy:

-A significant number of new works of art with increased emphasis on global and diverse examples. Of the 134 new images in the book, 62 are Asian, African, African American, Native American and Hispanic. There are 30 new works by women. This means that now over 25% of the book’s 728 images are Asian, African, African American, Native America, or Hispanic, and that well over 1/3 of the book’s 365 images that date from 1900-present are works by women (128 total works by women since 1900).

-Video and time-based art. Much more attention has been paid to video and time-based media, an area of increasing interest to students. Whenever possible, discussion has centered on works that are commercially available or accessible on an artist’s personal website.

-MyArtsLab. NEW to this edition is MyArtsLab, a dynamic website that provides a wealth of resources geared to meet the diverse learning needs of today’s students. A key feature, the Closer Look tours, let students experience and interact with works of art. MyArtsLab also includes a complete ebook for A World of Art, which is identical in content and design to the printed text, so students can have access to their text wherever and whenever they need it.

-Larger art. Many images have been enlarged to allow viewers to see greater detail. For example, see Leonardo’s Madonna of the Rocks (Chapter 6, Fig. 120) and Vija Celmins’ Untitled (Ocean) (Chapter 9, Fig. 228).

-Reorganized Part One. Part One, “The Visual World,” has been reorganized in response to widespread feeling that it needed to be briefer–professors wanted to get to the material in Part Two, “The Formal Elements and their Design” more quickly. Three chapters now replace the four chapters of previous editions. The discussion of the roles of the artist in Chapter 1–material that most instructors already find extremely useful–has been slightly revised to include material on the public and private roles of the artist from the former Chapter 4. Material from the former Chapter 3, “The Themes of Art,” has been incorporated into discussions of representation and beauty in an expanded Chapter 2, “Visual Literacy.”

-Architecture and design integrated into the media chapters. Many instructors have requested this change, so that students can more readily see how artistic vision permeates the visual experience in the world.

-New section on the business of art. Students want to know more about the business of art, and this new section addresses this need. Chapter 3, “The Value of Art,” now begins with a discussion of the gallery system, the art market, and museum patronage.

Preface