Guide to Ancient Etruscan Art
PSH
Becker, J.A., Frischer, B., Harris, B., Neel, J., Taylor, L., & Zucker. (2019). Guide to Ancient Etruscan Art. https://smarthistory.org/etrruscan-book/
Reviewed by: PSH, Lehman College
Introduction
This resource is a collection of histories, images, and commentaries on different pieces of Etruscan Art. The Etruscans are the predecessors of the Romans, and thus their art and culture had deep influences on Roman art. This text goes into depth about different art styles, architecture, and the speculated purposes of various art pieces. It was published by Smarthistory, which is a leading nonprofit organization producing equitable art histories from around the world. Under the Creative Commons license, there is a disclaimer that this publication is not endorsed or associated with AP® Art History by College Board. Because of this, I will assume that this resource would be very useful to high school students taking an AP art history course. This guide is one of six books about art history around the Mediterranean including Grecian and Roman art. This specific textbook is broken into thirteen sections across 61 pages, so not only is it a quick read but it is also concise in its focus on the art that is included in the text.
Evaluation
Content: The language used in the book is very easy to read—set at a high school junior reading level. There is no confusing historical jargon that would make the content difficult for a new learner to get through; this resource could even be used by someone going to a museum who wants a bit more supplementary information (that is how easy it is to read this). Each chapter goes into depth about different pieces of Estrucan art or general types of artwork from the period. For example, section 2 is about burnished black ceramicware called Bucchero, which includes information about its history, how it was made, and what influenced this style, while Section 3’s primary focus is the Temple of Minerva. There could be an improvement in the background history of the areas where these pieces were crafted or excavated, as this would give better context to what readers are learning about. The images are brightly colored and enrich the text, and all images are accompanied by the name of the work, where to find it, and a small description of the picture if the work doesn’t have a name. They are generously dispersed throughout the text, but not too much so that it overwhelms the text. At the end of every chapter, there is a shortlist of websites, podcasts, books, and videos for additional reinforcement. The textbook also includes a discussion between two contributors of the book discussing a piece of art.
Structural, Organization, & Technical: This piece is offered in a free PDF format and a hard copy (color, double-sided, comb-bound) for $24.13. The pdf opens into a Dropbox document which is a bit difficult to maneuver as it is presented as one long document and in a small font. However, the user can go