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Start here

Explore art
First things first
What is art history and where is it going?
Why you don't like art history
why look at art?
A brief history of Western culture
Common questions about dates
What maps tell us
What made art valuable—then and now
Unlock Art: Where are the Women?
Is there a difference between art and craft?
How art can help you analyze
What is cultural heritage?
Tools for understanding art
Introduction to art historical analysis
How to do visual (formal) analysis
Art historical analysis with Goya's Third of May, 1808
A brief history of the representation of the body in Western painting
A brief history of the representation of the body in Western sculpture
Contrapposto explained
Foreshortening explained
Chiaroscuro explained
Linear perspective explained
Atmospheric perspective explained
Classical orders of architecture explained
The Power to Look
Surface and Depth
Light and shadow
The Case for Copying
Tools for understanding religion in art
Beginner's guide
The five major world religions
A brief history of religion in art
Christianity
Christianity, an introduction
A new pictorial language: The image in Early Medieval art
Standard scenes from the life of Christ in art
Architecture and liturgy
The audacity of Christian art
The problem with Christ
Christ is not like a snail: Signs and symbols
Putting God in his place: here, everywhere, and nowhere
Time and eternity: Yesterday, today, and always
This world and the next: Christ on earth; Christ in heaven
So near and yet so far: visions and thresholds
Unspeakable images: when words fail
Islam
Introduction to Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam
Hajj
The Kaaba
Introduction to mosque architecture
Hinduism
Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction
Beliefs made visible: Hindu art in South Asia
Hindu temples
Varanasi: sacred city
Buddhism
The historical Buddha
The stupa
Images of Enlightenment: Aniconic vs. Iconic Depictions of the Buddha in India
Four Buddhas at the American Museum of Natural History
Bodh Gaya: center of the Buddhist world
Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
Buddhist Monasteries
Judaism
Judaism, an introduction
Jewish history to the middle ages
Jewish history 1750 to WW II
Jewish history in the post-war period
Tools for understanding museums
The case for museums
A brief history of the art museum
Museums and politics: the Louvre, Paris
The changing social functions of art museums
How museums shape meaning
For the very beginner
Ancient Greek and Roman art
Medieval and Byzantine art
Renaissance art
Baroque and Rococo
Nineteenth-century art
Introduction to Twentieth-Century Art
Introduction to Contemporary Art
Glossary

Introduction to Contemporary Art

by Utah System of Higher Education

Video from the Utah System of Higher Education (with special thanks to Dr. Nancy Ross). Video created by Ydraw.

Cite this page as: Utah System of Higher Education, "Introduction to Contemporary Art," in Smarthistory, January 23, 2016, accessed August 14, 2018, https://smarthistory.org/introduction-to-contemporary-art/.

Smarthistory deepens respect for art and culture through history and across the globe for the broadest possible audience and by doing so, increases cross-cultural understanding.

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