The Formalesque: A Guide to Modern Art and Its History

In this well-illustrated book Professor Bernard Smith, who is often referred to as 'the father of art history in Australia', condenses the arguments presented in an earlier publication Modernism's History, 1998) into a very accessible and helpful text will prove useful for students and arts-interested readers. He begins by listing and carefully explaining those terms which frequently occur in arts literature dealing with the modern period and then goes on to show that 'modernism' has become an historical period with its art forms both 'institutionalised' and 'globalised'. Now an historical entity, art history's basic tools can be employed to explain and describe it. They include an investigation of the period's 'style', use of 'form' and attitudes to 'meaning'. In his defence of art history's traditions and methodologies he argues that the period that encompasses 'modernism' in the arts might now be known as The Formalesque.Smith, Bernard is the author of 'The Formalesque: A Guide to Modern Art and Its History', published 2007 under ISBN 9781876832339 and ISBN 1876832339.