H. W. Janson was a German American professor of art history. He is best known for his History of Art textbook, a significant contribution to the discipline of art history, specifically to the teaching of art history. His other book still in print is Janson’s Basic History of Western Art.
History of Art, first published in 1962, has since sold more than four million copies in fifteen languages and is now in its eighth edition—it has become the standard by which current art history textbooks are now measured.
