Victor I. Stoichita untangles the history of one of the most enduring challenges to beset Western artiststhe depiction and meaning of shadows. This compelling account of the shadow in Western art draws on texts by Renaissance artist-authors like Vasari and Cennini, fairy tales and classical myths, paintings by van Eyck, Malevich, Picasso and other masters, German Expressionist cinema, as well as works by more recent artists such as Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys. It is a wholly original incursion into a subject that for centuries has challenged the very meaning of art itself as representation.