This standard introduction to visual art since 1945 has been revised, updated and redesigned for the first time since 2001. Movements, trends and individual artists from abstract expressionism to the present day are summarized, with detailed coverage of major developments such as pop art, conceptual and performance work, minimal art, neo-expressionist and figurative painting, the YBAs and the globalized art scene of the twenty-first century. A new chapter on art since 2000 includes discussion of work by Banksy and Ai Weiwei, as well as recent trends in art from Russia and Eastern Europe. Writing with exceptional clarity and a strong sense of narrative, Edward Lucie-Smith demystifies the work of dozens of artists, revealing how the art world has interacted with social, political and environmental concerns. Nearly 300 images of key artworks range from the paintings of Jackson Pollock via graffiti from 1980s New York and land art of the 1970s to contemporary painting from China and video from Japan. The book is as global in its reach as art has become in the 21st century.

Table of Contents
Preface 7
Introduction (2001) 9
Chapter 1 Abstract Expressionism 17
Chapter 2 The European Scene 40
Chapter 3 Post-painterly Abstraction 73
Chapter 4 Pop, Environments and Happenings 94
Chapter 5 Abstract Sculpture, Minimal Art, Conceptual Art 137
Chapter 6 An Age of Pluralism 160
Chapter 7 Neo-expressionist Tendencies 175
Chapter 8 The USA - 1970s to 1990s 192
Chapter 9 Issue-based Art and Globalization 213
Chapter 10 The Rise of Video 246
Chapter 11 The Photographic Medium 256
Chapter 12 Post-pop Blues 269
Chapter 13 The Present and the Future 284
Text References 300
Select Bibliography 302
Chronology 309
List of Illustrations 317
Index 327