The fourth edition of this book won a first-place award for outstanding design and production at the 1995 New York Book Show. The new sixth edition is even more luxurious and beautiful. Not only a book about art, but also an artfully made book, it has earned a reptuation for elegance and the highest standards of quality. The text supports student efforts to develop an appreciation of art by clearly communicating the ways one can approach various forms of expression, offering a comprehensive introduction to the visual arts from several perspectives: themes and purposes of art; the vocabulary of art; individual art media (painting, drawing, camera arts, sculpture, architecture, etc.); and the chronological history of art. The book is rich with illustrations drawn from a wide range of artistic cultures and time periods. The book is written in a warm, engaging style that one reviewer has characterized as "information being communicated by real flesh and blood, by someone who is a scholar but also has a sincere love of art". From the first edition, the goal of the book has been to encourage students, with lavish image and compelling word, to embark on their own lifetime experience with The essays in the Crossing Cultures section address the interaction of the European art with those of other cultures. To incorporate a broader sense of the aesthetics and traditions of the world, new works have been included. These images introduce artists from non-Western cultures to the opening sections of the text and provide a greater emphasis on context and meaning in art. The "Living with Art" CD-ROM offers students an interactive tutorial in the elements and media, as well as review aides and quizzes to help them bettter master the text material.