Perceiving the Arts: An Introduction to the Humanities

by Dennis J. Sporre

Designed for readers who have little or no knowledge of the arts, this well-illustrated, basic handbook of terms and concepts helps develop discriminating artistic perception for approaching, analyzing, and evaluating works of art. This invaluable handbook shows readers how to approach and analyze the visual arts, the performing arts, the environmental arts, and the language arts. For individuals interested in a concise introduction to evaluating works of art.

Genres: College, Art, Nonfiction, Humanities

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is of the 11th editions. Except for an editorial comment that rubbed me the wrong way (I admit I'm a bit touchy about certain things), this is a nice introduction to the humanities. It is rather pricey for such a small book--a concern for many of my students--but it does contain lots of useful material, including: color photos; helpful illustrations; boxed text highlighting artists, styles, and movements; extensive discussion of terms, with examples; and a helpful, end-of-the-book glossary for quick reference. (Includes 9 chapters, approximately 250 pages)

[Terri Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short text is a very basic introduction to the humanities. I think it needs to be a much larger book with a lot more detail in order to give painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature, film, theater, and dance justice. Each chapter is just a tiny introduction to the subject and therefore not particularly useful as a textbook.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very basic intro but not detailed enough regarding the humanities book that I read for my Arts in Healthcare class.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

red and green make gray?? REALLY?!?? *shakes head*

[Ralph N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought it would be more like Ways of Seeing but really it reads more like Wikipedia summaries

[Shantale Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book which helped in my into to arts class a crazy A!

[Rick Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this class and this book. This is one of the better college courses I've taken since I started back to college again. If you're into the arts at all, this book has everything you need to know about the basic structures of sculpture, 2 dimensional art like paintings, music, literature, cinema, and more. I enjoyed this much more the art appreciation class I took years ago. Just got our final grades today and I made a 97 for the course.

[Artlab]

We have two Copies of this book.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great intro book

I needed this for a class and the note card feature was a great plus! All the X-ray or dictionary features make the book an Easy read!