This work provides an introduction to the history of art, Western as well as non-Western. The first part presents the available media and how each works. The second part traces a history of various artistic styles to demonstrate how artists have used those media to portray human reality. The book offers critical comparisons among various styles while covering all the arts, including more than 50 pages of non-western materials to provide the readers with a multi-cultural and multi-arts view. The third edition has been revised to include boxed features on reality-related artworks exposing the critical relationships linking art, media and artists.