ARLIS/NA PUBLICATIONS

Timelines of Art History: Print Sources and Web Sites


Books and Printed Sources | Web Sites | Contributors
 Some titles might be available in different editions or imprints.

Books and Printed Sources

General Art Timelines

Art Elements Time Line.  A&F Video.  This includes 10 color panels, each
panel 19" x 22", and 200 illustrations along with text.  "The time line
shows how shape, space, value, perspective, texture, and other concepts
evolved and how they were used by master artists."  List price is $39.95
from A & F Video, P.O. Box 264, Geneseo, NY 14454.

Brownstone, David and Irene Franck.  Timelines of the Arts and Literature.
Harper Collins, 1994.   All text, arranged by year from 100,000-5000 B.C. to
1992. 

Creators of Western Art: A Chronology of Painters,  1250  To the Present.
New York Graphic Society, 1966.

Gardner, Helen.  Art Through the Ages.  10th ed.  Harcourt Brace, 1996.

Gombrich, E.E.   The Story of  Art.  16th ed.  Phaidon, 1995.  There are two
timelines: the first shows periods;  the second, individual
artists/architects or major works.   Bottom sections gives a broader
historical context.

Grun, Bernard.  The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People
and Events.  New 3rd rev. ed.  Simon and Schuster, c1979.

Janson, H.N.   History of Art..  5th ed.  Rev. & exp.  Abrams, 1995.

Mair, Roslin.  Key Dates in Art History from 600 BC to the Present.
Phaidon; Dutton, 1979.  A chronological list of "the most important"
individual works of art (painting, architecture, and sculpture).   Movements
and schools are only identified within the description of individual works.
Illustrations accompany each period.

Paxton, John and  Sheila Fairfield.  The Calendar of Creative Man.  Facts on
File, 1980 c1979.  A detailed (but barely illustrated) 497-page time line of
the arts, with a separate listing for architecture.

Series:
Arts of Mankind.  G. Braziller, 1967-71?  Each issue in the series contains
a handy timeline of the art-historic period it covers.  Typical four-part
entries included a column for birth/death dates of major figures, events,
the fine arts, and thought.   Unfortunately this series died with the
Renaissance, and, as typical of pre-70s sources, ignores the accomplishment
of women and undiscovered works.

Stylebooks (from Abbeville).   Small, concise books covering Early
Victorian, Gothic Revival, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, and
Renaissance.  The timelines in these books include key events & developments
in politics and society, literature and the performing arts, and visual arts
and design.

Time-Life Library of Art.

Timelines of Specific Subjects or Periods:
American Architecture.  A simple 2-page timeline in Old House Journal,
Mar/Apr 1987, pp. 40-41.

Atkin, Robert.  Artspeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and
Buzzwords.  Abbeville, 1990.

Atkin, Robert.  Artspoke: A Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords,
1948-1944.  Abbeville, 1993.

Auping, Michael (et al.).  Abstract Expressionism: the Critical
Developments.  Abrams, 1987.  A chronology by Beryl Wright, pp. 256-273,
covers the years 1930-60.  In-depth listings are given for: exhibitions;
artists' and critics' statements; publications (with quotes); statements;
events.

Craig, James and Bruce Barton.  Thirty Centuries of Graphic Design: An
Illustrated Survey.  Watson-Guptill, 1987.

Hobbs, Robert Carleton and Gail Levin.  Abstract Expressionism, the
Formative Years. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University,
c1978.  Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Herbert
F. Johnson Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Muller, Claudia.  The Costume Timeline: 5000 Years of Fashion History.
Thames & Hudson, 1993.  Heavily illustrated (in color); pulls out into a
single sheet of paper.

Naumann, Francis M. and Beth Venn.  Making Mischief: Dada  Invades New York.
Whitney Museum of American Art; Abrams, 1996.  Todd Alden's "Here nothing,
always nothing: a New York Dada index, etc.," pp. 33-175, covers the years
1913-1925 in chronological sequence.  Numerous illustrations.

Ross, Clifford (ed.). Abstract Expressionism: Creators and Critics.  Abrams,
1990.  Chronology, pp. 296-300, covers 1929-1970.  Brief listing of major
events related to AbEx movement: major museum and gallery exhibitions;
publications; activities, writings, deaths of major figures.

Tamplin, Ronald, ed.  The Arts: A History of Expression in the 20th Century.
Oxford Univ. Press, 1991.  Covers strictly the 20th century, but is similar
to other more general chronologies in that it shows  newsworthy world
history events as well as events related to the visual and performing arts.


Web Sites 

General Timelines

Timelines of Specific Subjects or Periods


Contributors:  Peter Blank, Heather Brodhead, Sarah Dickinson, Thomas Hill, Rayanne Lockard, Jill Cheryl Mainard, Jill McConkey, Barbara Padden, Marti Pike , Lee Sorensen, Matthew Tallow, Lorelei Tanji, Kathy Zimon.
Created 17 March 1997 | Updated 20 December 2002