Gardner's Art through the Ages is an American textbook on the history of art, with the 2004 edition by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya. The 2001 edition was awarded both a McGuffey award for longevity[1] and the "Texty" Award for current editions[2] by the Text and Academic Authors Association. No other book has received both awards in the same year.
The first edition published in 1926 was written by Helen Gardner. It, like all following editions, was organized chronologically beginning with "The Birth of Art" in the Upper Paleolithic and progressing in a mainly chronological sequence to the contemporary period.
Gardner's initial edition was ahead of its time in that along with the Western canonofEuropean art, it examined the art of India, Aboriginal America, China, and Japan. This approach was maintained for the first three editions that were all edited by Helen Gardner. The second edition was published in 1936 and the 3rd came out in 1948, a year after Gardner died. In 1959, the fourth edition was published under the editorship of Sumner McK. Crosby by the Department of the History of Art at Yale University. This edition introduced readers to a new term "non-European art." It also moved away from Gardner's interest in drawing comparisons between art from different parts of the world. In the Preface, Crosby states:
Sumner's organization continues to be used in editions of Gardner's. The book has remained a required text for introductory classes in art history for American students into the 21st century.[3][4]
The book is now published in a number of different formats, with a "concise" version, and the Western and non-Western sections available separately. There are also "enhanced" editions with additional multimedia material, and versions in one to four volumes. According to the US publisher, Cengage, the following were available in 2010: