More history-and a greater variety of art-is crowded into the territory of Yugoslavia than perhaps into any comparable area in the world. Since prehistoric times civilizations and cultures have met, crossed one another, and intermingled in this region.
This superbly illustrated volume presents an overview of the complex artistic currents that have affected Yugoslav tradition and temperament, and of the great and diverse artefacts and monuments that bear witness to an intense and many-faceted evolution. The work opens with an overall survey by the editor, Oto Bihalji-Merin, noted art critic and author also of the Abrams books Adventure of Modern Art, Modern Primitives: Masters of Naive Painting, and Great Masks. The authors of the individual chapters, each an authority in his field, guide us through the ages, starting with the sixth millennium B.C. at Lepenski Vir, in northeastern Yugoslavia-where excavations have brought to light Europe's earliest monumental art, as well as evidences of the first forms of organized social, economic, and religious life-and proceeding through the periods of Barbarian art, Greek and Roman antiquity, the Great Migrations, the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Two final chapters set forth the modern developments in art and architecture that have made Yugoslavia so active a participant in the present international art scene. What this impressive book offers the reader is in fact the first full panorama of art in Yugoslavia. Besides the lavish illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, full index, and many maps make accessible to the art lover, scholar, and student the magnificent art and architecture of some of the least known but most rewarding centres of European culture.

559 illustrations including 76 in full color.