Includes bibliographical references (p. [216]-257) and index.

Emile Male. L'art religieux du XIIIe siecle en France: etude sur l'iconographie du Moyen Age et sur ses sources d'inspiration, 1898 / Alexandra Gajewski -- Bernard Berenson. The drawings of the Florentine painters classified, criticised and studied as documents in the history and appreciation of Tuscan art, with a copious catalogue raisonne, 1903 / Carmen C. Bambach -- Heinrich Wolfflin. Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe: das Problem der Stilentwicklung in der neueren Kunst, 1915 / David Summers -- Roger Fry. Cezanne: a study of his development, 1927 / Richard Verdi -- Nikolaus Pevsner. Pioneers of the Modern movement from William Morris to Walter Gropius, 1936 / Colin Amery -- Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Matisse: his art and his public, 1951 / John Elderfield -- Erwin Panofsky. Early Netherlandish painting: its origins and character, 1953 / Susie Nash -- Kenneth Clark. The nude: a study of ideal art, 1956 / John-Paul Stonard -- E.H. Gombrich. Art and illusion: a study in the psychology of pictorial representation, 1960 / Christopher S. Wood -- Clement Greenberg. Art and culture: critical essays, 1961 / Boris Groys -- Francis Haskell. Patrons and painters: a study in the relations between Italian art and society in the age of the baroque, 1963 / Louise Rice -- Michael Baxandall. Painting and experience in fifteenth century Italy: a primer in the social history of pictorial style, 1972 / Paul Hills -- T.J. Clark. Image of the people: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 revolution, 1973 / Alastair Wright -- Svetlana Alpers. The art of describing: Dutch art in the seventeenth century, 1983 / Mariet Westermann -- Rosalind Krauss. The originality of the avant garde and other Modernist myths, 1985 / Anna Lovatt -- Hans Belting. Bild und Kult: eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, 1990 / Jeffrey Hamburger.

"Which were the books that shaped art history as it developed in the twentieth century? This pioneering volume is a concise and brilliant study of the discipline of Art History and an invaluable resource for students, teachers, bibliophiles and all those interested in visual culture. It provides an invaluable roadmap of the field by reassessing the impact of several of the most important works of art history. Each chapter, focusing on a single title, is written by a leading art historian, curator or one of the promising scholars of today, presenting a varied and invaluable overview of the history of art, told through its seminal texts. The sixteen books include Nikolaus Pevsner's gospel of Modernism, Pioneers of the Modern Movement, Alfred Barr's now legendary monograph on Matisse, E.H. Gombrich's Art and Illusion, Clement Greenberg's Art and Culture, which had a seismic impact when it was published in 1961, and Rosalind Krauss's The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, which introduced structuralist and poststructuralist thinking into art historical study. Each chapter - with writers including John Elderfield, Boris Groys, Susie Nash and Richard Verdi - analyses a single major book, setting out its premises and argument and mapping the intellectual development of its author, discussing its position within the field of art history, and looking at its significance in the context both of its initial reception and its legacy. An introduction by John-Paul Stonard explores how art history has been forged by these outstanding contributions, as well as by the dialogues and ruptures between them. Supplementary documentation summarises the achievements of each art historian and provides a detailed publication history of their texts, with suggestions for further reading." -- Publisher's description.