Hailed as the most up-to-date and comprehensive contextual text published in a single volume, this enlightening survey presents art history as an essential part of the development of humankind. Encompassing the arts of Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas, it covers painting, mosaic, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, architecture and photography—spanning from the primitive art of hunters some 30,000 years ago to high-tech video art of the 1990s—and comes beautifully and generously illustrated with over 1,370 photographs, architectural plans, and color maps.