Visual Art Textbooks: Library Subscription and Open Access

Hosts learning objects on all phases of art history and art appreciation. Browse by topic, site is well designed and pleasant to use. Examples are linked below.

Global perspectives through an open-access, multimedia "textbook" for the 21st century, from SmartHistory. Excellent design. Includes "Key Questions to Guide Your Reading" and vocabulary lists with every module.

2018 by Kathy Curnow, Cleveland State University.
Aims to act as your map through the world of African art. and will help you define the competencies you need to develop–visual analysis, research, noting what information is critical, asking questions, and writing down your observations–and provide opportunities for you to practice these skills until you are proficient. It will also expose you to new art forms and the worlds that produced them, enriching your understanding and appreciation.

From Herkimer Community College. A Pressbook.
This is the same as the Boundless book but MUCH betterUI.

'The Boundless Art History textbook is a college-level, introductory textbook that provides an overview of the culturally rich subject of Art History from pre-history through to modern global art.
There is a lot o scrolling but the images are great.

Edited by Dr. Evan Freeman and Dr. Anne McClanan

2015 by Wayne Collins et al, British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Addresses the steps of creating and producing physical, printed, or other imaged products that people interact with on a daily basis. Covers the concept that, while most modern graphic design is created on computers using design software, the ideas and concepts don’t stay on the computer. The ideas need to be completed in the computer software, then progress to an imaging (traditionally referred to as printing) process. Keywords are highlighted throughout and summarized in a Glossary at the end of the book, and each chapter includes exercises and suggested readings.

Not a conventional Art history book but some chapters could be adopted to introduces the fundamental concepts of the practice and experience of art. Good design and usability.

2021 by Anahita Khodadadi, Portland State University.
Narrates fundamental concepts of structural design such that users have minimum involvement with math. Students learn about different types of loads, forces and vector addition, the concept of equilibrium, internal forces, geometrical and material properties of structural elements, and rules of thumb for estimating the proportion of some structural systems such as catenary cables and arches, trusses, and frame structures.