Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Art Isles: A 15,000-Year Story of Art in Britain and Ireland

The Art Isles: A 15,000-Year Story of Art in Britain and Ireland

Mullins, Charlotte

Hardcover

Art HistoryEuropean ArtBritish History

Publisher Price: $35.00

ISBN10: 0300272138
ISBN13: 9780300272130
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: Nov 4 2025
Pages: 372
Weight: 2.15
Height: 1.40 Width: 6.50 Depth: 9.50
Language: English
The British Isles hold a unique position in the history of art, a place where local traditions fuse with international ideas in extraordinary ways

At once isolated by coastal boundaries, yet also part of larger networks of diverse peoples, these islands have always benefited from a dual perspective.

Artistic creativity in the British Isles stretches back to Ice Age engravings of reindeer, horses and birds. International networks were already shaping prehistoric art and by 1,000 CE artists working in Britain and Ireland were using lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, walrus tusks from Greenland, garnets from India and elephant ivory from Africa. The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans introduced new styles from overseas, as did later European artists, attracted by the wealth of royal courts. Art was traded and looted across the British empire by colonial explorers, merchants and the military.

In the course of the 20th century these islands have been a refuge, but also a place where migrants have faced resistance. Sculptures by Jewish immigrants fleeing Nazi death camps, paintings by post-war Caribbean artists and protest murals sparked by the Troubles in Northern Ireland all express artists' complex relationships with the idea of home.

Artists today such as Grayson Perry, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, Rachel Whiteread and Edmund de Waal consciously reflect on this long history in their work, exploring concepts of identity and belonging.

Fresh, pacy and surprising, The Art Isles tells the story of why art in Britain and Ireland is so rich and dynamic - and why it has always extended far beyond geographical borders.

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