Scharf A. Introduction to Art

Open University Press, 1978. — 208 p.An Arts Foundation Course Units 16, 17 and 18.The principal objective of these three units is to do as it says: to introduce you to art or, more precisely- to the variety of styles in the visual arts, and to the theory and methods of the history of art as an academic discipline.No one, in so short a space and time, could with reason hope to deal in any comprehensive way with even an introduction to so vast a subject and one moreover which is not just historically based but, in its theoretical nature, touches on several other fields of study. Because of this, you shouldn't put vour expectations too high, nor should you be unduly concerned if everything doesn't register the first time. Learning and the ability to learn is a cumulative process. In the present climate it is all too easy to fall into the trap of wanting knowledge and understanding to come more or less instantaneously. Nothing worth having comes easily, and the study of art history (a term of convenience for what in practice is much more than history), no less than other areas of study, must be allowed to 'ripen' in the mind as one's general experience grows. That takes time.Art history is, in a way, a deceptive study. For it is all too easy to think that 'just looking at pictures' is not only a pleasant and relaxing way of spending one's time, but that it can't really require much hard work. Nothing is further from the truth. But such an attitude does rather account for an army of pundits who write and declaim about art but whose acquaintance with art history is often very superficial.