本教材主要选取有关美术及艺术设计的经典英文文章。全书共有18个单元，涉及一些著名艺术家介绍，重要设计理念、艺术风格和元素，设计与其他学科的关系以及艺术设计史上的重大事件。每单元以中文导读开篇，并配有清华大学美术学院的学生创作的插图作品或一些与课文内容相关的图片。各单元的两篇课文后均附有生词和练习，Part A课文后面还讲解了相关的语法问题。本书配套的教学资源（电子课件、相关图片、音频和视频等），可通过以下方式索要：shenym@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn；010-62781189。
本书适用于美术及艺术专业的学生，同时也适用于美术及艺术设计爱好者。

Unit 1 Vincent van Gogh 文森特·凡·高
Part A The Southern Sun of Arles
Part B Van Gogh & The Starry Night
Unit 2 Pictorial Elements 画面元素
Part A Line, Shape, and Color
Part B Value, Texture, and Space
Unit 3 Chinese Landscape Painting 中国山水画
Part A Chinese Landscape Painting
Part B Chinese Painting
Unit 4 Graphic Design 平面设计
Part A What Is Graphic Design?
Part B Better Graphic Design
Unit 5 The Influence of Japanese Art 日本艺术的影响
Part A Japonisme
Part B Edgar Degas
Unit 6 Taste and Style 品位与格调
Part A Good Taste and Style in Design
Part B On Beauty
Unit 7 Cézanne 塞尚
Part A Biography of Cézanne
Part B The Post-impressionism of Paul Cézanne
Unit 8 Chinese Calligraphy 中国书法
Part A The Brushwork of Chinese Calligraphy
Part B The Yin and Yang of Chinese Calligraphy
Unit 9 Traditional Chinese Painting in Modern China 近代中国的传统中国绘画
Part A The Inheritance and Revival of Traditional Chinese Painting
Part B Wu Changshuo and His Students
Unit 10 Design Movements 设计运动
Part A The Great Exhibition, Arts and Crafts Movement, and Art Nouveau
Part B The Bauhaus
Unit 11 Mary Cassatt 玛丽·卡萨特
Part A Nice Girls Don't Become Artists
Part B Mary Cassatt
Unit 12 Greek Art 古希腊艺术
Part A Greek Culture in General
Part B Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture
Unit 13 Auguste Rodin 奥古斯特·罗丹
Part A The Aesthetic of Rodin
Part B Other Works of Rodin
Unit 14 Pictorial Principles 画面原理
Part A Pictorial Principles
Part B Specific Design Guidelines
Unit 15 Drawing 素描
Part A Shading
Part B Perspective and Building Blocks
Unit 16 Norman Rockwell 诺曼·罗克威尔
Part A Norman Rockwell and Four Freedoms
Part B Other Works of Rockwell
Unit 17 Design After Modernism 现代主义之后的设计
Part A Design After Modernism
Part B Postmodernism
Unit 18 Poetry and Painting 诗与画
Part A Winslow Homer, a Master of Watercolor
Part B Wang Wei
漫话单词
Key to Exercises
Glossary