Includes bibliographical references (pages 763-789) and index.

The origins of modern art -- The search for truth : early photography, Realism, and Impressionism -- Post-impressionism -- Arts and crafts, Art Nouveau, and the beginnings of Expressionism -- The new century : experiments in color and form -- Expressionism in Germany and Austria -- Cubism -- Early modern architecture -- European art after Cubism -- Picturing the wasteland : Western Europe during World War I -- Art in France after World War I -- Clarity, certainty, and order : De Stijl and the pursuit of Geometric Abstraction -- Bauhaus and the teaching of modernism -- Surrealism -- American art before World War II -- Abstract Expressionism and the new American sculpture -- Postwar European art -- Nouveau réalisme and Fluxus -- Taking chances with popular culture -- Playing by the rules : 1960s abstraction -- Modernism in architecture at mid-century -- Conceptual and activist art -- Post-minimalism, earth art, and new imagists -- Postmodernism -- Painting through history -- New perspectives on art and audience -- Contemporary art and globalization -- Glossary.