Table of Contents

Preface/short introduction * The works * Timeline, Glossary, Directory of Museums * Index and Credits

About the Author

Twenty-eight curators, critics, art historians, and artists contributed their expertise to create this art-lover's ideal museum. They come from such institutions as: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the British Museum, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu; the University of California, Berkeley; La Trobe University, Melbourne; the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London; and The Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Reviews

'Hokusai and Turner, Michelangelo and African sculpture, are some of the dramatic and unusual pairings in this impressive follow-up to The Art Book... High-quality colour reproductions [...] are accompanied by informative but concise descriptions that don't distract the reader from the work in hand. This enormous tome of encyclopedic proportions is an essential addition to any library.' The Bookseller, 31 August 2007 'fun to look at - You watch the slowly changing - or sometimes unchanging - progress of culture across six continents. - you can feel your outlook slowly expanding - this book has delightful curiosity value - there is plenty to fascinate' Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times, 23 October 2007 'gives you a vivid sense of how cultures and civilisations progress - helped to give me more of a shape to the history of art, rather than just seeing it as one bloody painting after another. - 30,000 Years of Art, by dint of the grandeur of its sweep, awakened within this thoroughgoing philistine a glimmer of awe in mankind's irrepressible itch to create. ' Robbie Millen, The Times, 23 October 2007 'a bold new publishing event that promises to redefine the parameters of art history ... glorious ... Turning its pages is like wandering through spectacular museum only filled with masterpieces. The book's strengths are its radical format, bold design, and eye-catching price of less than GBP30 - or a pound for every millennium. ... there are examples of every conceivable medium, from primitive sculpture to video art. The sweep of objects is huge ... One of the book's most beguiling - and novel - qualities is that it sheds light on the very different types of art produced simultaneously in far-flung cultures.' The Daily Telegraph, 27 October 2007 'a bargain ... reproduce[s] sumptuously exactly 1,000 images from world art at a cost of about three pence a shot. - delivers pleasingly bizarre juxtapositions: "Zemi", an ironwood carving from the Dominican Republic, alongside da Vinci's portrait "Ginevra de' Benci", both from 1475, say, or Dan Flavin's fluorescent "'Monument' for V. Tatlin 1" (1964) followed by "Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan" (1966) by Liu Chunhua. Reflecting the jam of discordant, competing images all around us, this anonymous tome, shaped and weighted like a tombstone, has an end-of-history feel. With little text but impressive timelines and glossaries, it is also the ultimate do-it-yourself story of art' Financial Times, 2 November 2007 'Strolling through this impressive gallery of a book is a delightful and illuminating experience. It is art from an unusual angle. Well-researched and cleverly designed, the book begins in the beginning and takes us to the most contemporary of modern art.' The Good Book Guide, November 2007 'The idea's ambitious, and it's beautifully realised: a series of 1,000 images, chronologically arranged and bringing in every major culture from the paleolithic to the post-modern era.' The Scotsman, 3 November 2007 'one for the cultured armchair traveller looking for inspiration for future journeys.' The Times, 17 November 2007 'You can't beat a good book' Evening Standard, 14th November 2007 'What at first looks like a gimmick is, in fact, an engrossing educational journey through the world's art from the Paleolithic period to the present day.' Frank Whitford, The Sunday Times 'Culture' magazine Christmas books, 25 November 2007 '1,000 beautiful plates - illustrate such a variety of objects that even the most erudite reader is bound to find something new.' Martin Gayford, The Sunday Telegraph, 'Seven' magazine Christmas books, 25 November 2007 'for people who don't even have an art book on their shelf, this is the book that starts it all off .' Sir Antony Caro, RA, The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 6 December 2007 'you certainly get a lot for your money - 1,000, often wonderfully photographed, 'masterpieces' from thirty millennia of world history - In many ways, the aim and scope of this book are same as the British Museum's: to allow its viewers to look at human history from many different cultural perspectives and to cross-reference between contemporary developments in different parts of the world.' Jonathan Williams, Department of Prehistory and Europe, British Museum Magazine, April 2008