The Art of Understanding Art: A Behind the Scenes Story

“Through its refreshing, innovative approach to its subject, its short, thoughtful essays, and its selective case studies, Irina Costache's The Art of Understanding Art gives students and educators of art history a valuable new resource.”
- Clare Kunny, The J. Paul Getty Museum

“The Art of Understanding Art offers the readers multi-layered approaches to the visual history of being human, and to interpreting these visual representations; and it has very engaging creative assignments and writing projects for each chapter.”
- Laura Ruby, University of Hawai’i–Manoa

“Costache goes far beyond any other introductory text in its range of inquiry and examples, and the extent to which she maps out the art world, including the academic world the students who will be using the book find themselves in.  Instead of talking about only works by Monet and Van Gogh, in museums that none will visit, she connects the dots between the odd and perplexing stuff students are likely to see being made around them by fellow art students or faculty, and the art hanging in museums."
- Bruce Robertson, Professor, History of Art and Architecture, and Acting Director, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara