Five hundred years of British art

Kirsteen McSwein

Book - 2020

Tate Britain is the home of British art from 1500 to the present day. This guide to the highlights of the collection provides an introduction to the development of British art over the centuries, telling the story of the collection and presenting a selection of the works on display. British art is also notable for genres unique to itself: group portraits, known as 'conversation pieces', focusing on social relations between friends, family and allies; themes from British literature, particularly Shakespeare, Milton and Tennyson (rather than classical mythology); and topical subjects in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries reflecting the wars with France and the scientific innovations of the Industrial Revolution. Hoga...rth ushered in an art of social engagement, as did the artists associated with the Young British Art movement more recently. This book reveals how 500 years of art can act as a lens through which to deepen our understanding of ourselves and society, past and present, in both Britain and in the rest of the world. This companion to the Tate collection provides a compendium of the history of British art, designed to offer readers an overview of the collection and demonstrate the range of art in the collection. more