Art for the Ages

Rating:
Summary: a decent resource that ultimately misses it's mark
Review: This compilation was the embodiment of just about every single thing that frustrates me with textbooks; it takes such a scholarly approach that it really has no real conceptual grasp of it's subject. Every bio ends up stripping the artist of their personal life and turning them into some sort of icon with boorish and sometimes even irrelivant facts, which in my mind is stifling to the very nature of art. You can't systematically deconstruct a Van Gogh unless you have somewhat of an insight on the artist's life. You can't simply state that Gustav Klimt was a founding member of "the secession" without delving into his motivations, and who is going to know what the "the secession" is without already having a knowledge of Klimt's background? The motivational interpretations are sometimes just as muddled, inaccessible and dare i say even somewhat pretentious (when we learn from sources such as this, it's no wonder why the general public has such a tendency to disregard the fine arts).

I really don't know who the target audience was by these programs because it's most likely to disinterest any novice to the world of art and it lacks the depth to appease anyone that's even remotely educated with art.

"Art for the Ages" is a decent basic resource for your usual uninvolved, highschool/college report but it really has a talent of taking some of history's most fascinating figures and dehumanizing them into boring, vague and detatched descriptions.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: This product never worked. I mean NEVER worked. I have a Pentium 3 450 Dell system, and I follwed all the directions given, but the product was never able to be opened. I tried to contact the manufacturer and not only was no one able to help me, I was not able to return the product because it is software and you could, potentially, copy it once it is opened. Perhaps this product would work on your system, but why chance it? Save your money and buy a product from a more reputable company with good customer service.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: This product never worked. I mean NEVER worked. I have a Pentium 3 450 Dell system, and I follwed all the directions given, but the product was never able to be opened. I tried to contact the manufacturer and not only was no one able to help me, I was not able to return the product because it is software and you could, potentially, copy it once it is opened. Perhaps this product would work on your system, but why chance it? Save your money and buy a product from a more reputable company with good customer service.