Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199573011
- eISBN:
- 9780191722202
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573011.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics, History of Philosophy
This book is a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late 17th and 18th century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and ...
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This book is a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late 17th and 18th century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and themes of this tradition, but it is also a philosophical defence of some of its leading ideas such as: that beauty plays an integral role in life; that aesthetic pleasure is the perception of perfection; and that aesthetic rules are inevitable and valuable. It shows that the criticisms of Kant and Nietzsche of this tradition are largely unfounded. The rationalist tradition deserves re-examination because it is of great historical significance, marking the beginning of modern aesthetics, art criticism, and art history.Less
This book is a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late 17th and 18th century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and themes of this tradition, but it is also a philosophical defence of some of its leading ideas such as: that beauty plays an integral role in life; that aesthetic pleasure is the perception of perfection; and that aesthetic rules are inevitable and valuable. It shows that the criticisms of Kant and Nietzsche of this tradition are largely unfounded. The rationalist tradition deserves re-examination because it is of great historical significance, marking the beginning of modern aesthetics, art criticism, and art history.
John Elderfield
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263129
- eISBN:
- 9780191734861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263129.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the role of visual medium in art-historical study. It addresses the relationship of art history to the existential acts of painting and looking at ...
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This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the role of visual medium in art-historical study. It addresses the relationship of art history to the existential acts of painting and looking at painting and describes how the so-called story of modern art has been narrated in the history literature. It also considers how modern histories can accommodate the unfamiliar that is normally part of the story.Less
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the role of visual medium in art-historical study. It addresses the relationship of art history to the existential acts of painting and looking at painting and describes how the so-called story of modern art has been narrated in the history literature. It also considers how modern histories can accommodate the unfamiliar that is normally part of the story.
John Morrill (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263129
- eISBN:
- 9780191734861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263129.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
To mark its centenary in 2002, the British Academy invited leading universities around the UK to host public lectures on the current state of and future prospects for a cross section of the ...
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To mark its centenary in 2002, the British Academy invited leading universities around the UK to host public lectures on the current state of and future prospects for a cross section of the disciplines that fall within the Academy's compass. The Academy proposed the discipline and the universities nominated their preferred speakers. Those selected were drawn from Britain, Europe and the USA, and they rose magnificently to the challenge, while interpreting it in a way specific to their discipline. The eight chapters (plus four commentaries) span the disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, from the history of art to international relations and geography. These are reflections on the stability and instability of the ways in which we organize knowledge and on how far the academic community can and should be involved in the shaping of public policy.Less
To mark its centenary in 2002, the British Academy invited leading universities around the UK to host public lectures on the current state of and future prospects for a cross section of the disciplines that fall within the Academy's compass. The Academy proposed the discipline and the universities nominated their preferred speakers. Those selected were drawn from Britain, Europe and the USA, and they rose magnificently to the challenge, while interpreting it in a way specific to their discipline. The eight chapters (plus four commentaries) span the disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, from the history of art to international relations and geography. These are reflections on the stability and instability of the ways in which we organize knowledge and on how far the academic community can and should be involved in the shaping of public policy.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199573011
- eISBN:
- 9780191722202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573011.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics, History of Philosophy
This chapter focuses on Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a student of Baumgarten who later became one of the most celebrated writers of his day. Winckelmann is generally regarded as the father of art ...
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This chapter focuses on Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a student of Baumgarten who later became one of the most celebrated writers of his day. Winckelmann is generally regarded as the father of art history. Winckelmann's influence on his age was by all accounts enormous, and he became almost a cult figure in his own lifetime. With the possible exception of Klopstock, no German writer was held in such high regard. Winckelmann was admired by every major thinker of his generation — Lessing, Abbt, Nicolai, Mendelssohn, and Herder — and he was virtually canonized in the Goethezeit. In the early 1800s Goethe made him the patron saint of his own paganism and neo-classicism, invoking his memory to taunt the emerging Romantic movement. But the romantics too sanctified him. Even after his rebellion against neo-classicism, Friedrich Schlegel still revered ‘der heilige Winckelmann’.Less
This chapter focuses on Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a student of Baumgarten who later became one of the most celebrated writers of his day. Winckelmann is generally regarded as the father of art history. Winckelmann's influence on his age was by all accounts enormous, and he became almost a cult figure in his own lifetime. With the possible exception of Klopstock, no German writer was held in such high regard. Winckelmann was admired by every major thinker of his generation — Lessing, Abbt, Nicolai, Mendelssohn, and Herder — and he was virtually canonized in the Goethezeit. In the early 1800s Goethe made him the patron saint of his own paganism and neo-classicism, invoking his memory to taunt the emerging Romantic movement. But the romantics too sanctified him. Even after his rebellion against neo-classicism, Friedrich Schlegel still revered ‘der heilige Winckelmann’.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263952
- eISBN:
- 9780191734083
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263952.003.0029
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines the history of the study of medieval art in Great Britain during the period from 1950 to 2000. The British Academy created a separate section for History of Art and Music, but ...
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This chapter examines the history of the study of medieval art in Great Britain during the period from 1950 to 2000. The British Academy created a separate section for History of Art and Music, but in many quarters art history was still thought of as the province of the amateur art-lover rather than an object of serious study. Only the Courtland Institute continued to be the only institution in England offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. The situation changed in the 1960s and 1970s when all branches of the discipline experienced major growth in the areas of conservation studies and art-book publishing.Less
This chapter examines the history of the study of medieval art in Great Britain during the period from 1950 to 2000. The British Academy created a separate section for History of Art and Music, but in many quarters art history was still thought of as the province of the amateur art-lover rather than an object of serious study. Only the Courtland Institute continued to be the only institution in England offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. The situation changed in the 1960s and 1970s when all branches of the discipline experienced major growth in the areas of conservation studies and art-book publishing.
J. Onians
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264751
- eISBN:
- 9780191734229
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264751.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Michael Baxandall was probably the most important art historian of his generation, not just in Britain but in the world. In a series of books published between 1971 and 2003 he kept expanding the ...
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Michael Baxandall was probably the most important art historian of his generation, not just in Britain but in the world. In a series of books published between 1971 and 2003 he kept expanding the frontiers of the discipline, introducing new topics, new ways of writing, and new explanatory models, always demanding of himself and his readers an undissembling clarity of thought and expression. If art history is now a field that can hold its own with more established areas of the humanities, it is largely because Baxandall had a talent to transmit to others through the printed page the powerful intellectual resources he had built up through tireless inward reflection. These resources he applied with equal engagement to Italian Renaissance art criticism, German wood sculpture, the understanding of shadows in the 18th century, the planning of the Forth Bridge, and the functions of the neural structure of the retina.Less
Michael Baxandall was probably the most important art historian of his generation, not just in Britain but in the world. In a series of books published between 1971 and 2003 he kept expanding the frontiers of the discipline, introducing new topics, new ways of writing, and new explanatory models, always demanding of himself and his readers an undissembling clarity of thought and expression. If art history is now a field that can hold its own with more established areas of the humanities, it is largely because Baxandall had a talent to transmit to others through the printed page the powerful intellectual resources he had built up through tireless inward reflection. These resources he applied with equal engagement to Italian Renaissance art criticism, German wood sculpture, the understanding of shadows in the 18th century, the planning of the Forth Bridge, and the functions of the neural structure of the retina.
Susanna Bede Caroselli
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195170382
- eISBN:
- 9780199835669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195170385.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The disciplinary focus of Caroselli’s essay is the visual arts and art history. She examines how two styles of scholarship, the “considered response” and the “instinctive response,” come into play in ...
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The disciplinary focus of Caroselli’s essay is the visual arts and art history. She examines how two styles of scholarship, the “considered response” and the “instinctive response,” come into play in her own work. The essay focuses especially on the Italian Renaissance painting Christ on the Cross with Saints Vincent Ferrer, John the Baptist, Mark, and Antoninus.Less
The disciplinary focus of Caroselli’s essay is the visual arts and art history. She examines how two styles of scholarship, the “considered response” and the “instinctive response,” come into play in her own work. The essay focuses especially on the Italian Renaissance painting Christ on the Cross with Saints Vincent Ferrer, John the Baptist, Mark, and Antoninus.
Joseph Shatzmiller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691156996
- eISBN:
- 9781400846092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156996.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter briefly reviews the art history from 1230–1450 CE in order to better understand the cultural profile of the rabbi, and to evaluate the contribution of the wall paintings in his house as ...
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This chapter briefly reviews the art history from 1230–1450 CE in order to better understand the cultural profile of the rabbi, and to evaluate the contribution of the wall paintings in his house as indications of the artistic horizons of German Jews of the fourteenth century. It also shows how Jews had to abandon the art that they cherished for generations, yet they found ways to keep alive their fascination with the beautiful and to nurse their aesthetic needs. The interior synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca of Toledo and that of the recently reconstructed Sinagoga Mayor of Segovia manifest a profound attachment to Islamic public architecture. Jews showed great appreciation for the decorative value of their Hebrew alphabet. They also learned to paint inanimate or geometric images in miniature letters on the covers of their Bibles.Less
This chapter briefly reviews the art history from 1230–1450 CE in order to better understand the cultural profile of the rabbi, and to evaluate the contribution of the wall paintings in his house as indications of the artistic horizons of German Jews of the fourteenth century. It also shows how Jews had to abandon the art that they cherished for generations, yet they found ways to keep alive their fascination with the beautiful and to nurse their aesthetic needs. The interior synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca of Toledo and that of the recently reconstructed Sinagoga Mayor of Segovia manifest a profound attachment to Islamic public architecture. Jews showed great appreciation for the decorative value of their Hebrew alphabet. They also learned to paint inanimate or geometric images in miniature letters on the covers of their Bibles.
Michael Peppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300213997
- eISBN:
- 9780300216516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300213997.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third ...
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This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third century. The narrative then turns to twentieth-century excavation and interpretation of the site. Finally, the chapter presents a method for studying the interaction between biblical narrative, visual art, and ritual behavior in the initiatory space of the baptistery. It offers a focused survey of previous scholarly approaches to sites of early Christian initiation in general, and this house-church in particular.Less
This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third century. The narrative then turns to twentieth-century excavation and interpretation of the site. Finally, the chapter presents a method for studying the interaction between biblical narrative, visual art, and ritual behavior in the initiatory space of the baptistery. It offers a focused survey of previous scholarly approaches to sites of early Christian initiation in general, and this house-church in particular.
Jane Hawkes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264508
- eISBN:
- 9780191734120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264508.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines whether the current study of the early Christian sculpture of England and Ireland is the object of art history or archaeology. It explains that the methods used to study early ...
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This chapter examines whether the current study of the early Christian sculpture of England and Ireland is the object of art history or archaeology. It explains that the methods used to study early medieval sculpture in Ireland and England are accepted and discredited in both archaeological and art-historical circles. The chapter investigates two distinct approaches in Ireland and England, which intersect so thoroughly with art history and archaeology that they have come to be used to examine the medieval sculpture.Less
This chapter examines whether the current study of the early Christian sculpture of England and Ireland is the object of art history or archaeology. It explains that the methods used to study early medieval sculpture in Ireland and England are accepted and discredited in both archaeological and art-historical circles. The chapter investigates two distinct approaches in Ireland and England, which intersect so thoroughly with art history and archaeology that they have come to be used to examine the medieval sculpture.
Martina Meyer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199559213
- eISBN:
- 9780191594403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199559213.003.0016
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Feminist responses to Antigone's choice to rebel against masculine authority have largely refocused the text as a discourse of gender difference in order to expose patriarchy's victimization of ...
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Feminist responses to Antigone's choice to rebel against masculine authority have largely refocused the text as a discourse of gender difference in order to expose patriarchy's victimization of women. This chapter, while acknowledging feminine defiance as a crucial aspect of the text's internal contradictions, equally recognizes that Antigone's performance of the burial rites situates her firmly within paternalistic constructions of femininity. In classical art, contemporary (roughly) with Sophocles' play, defiance becomes invisible: only the traditional feminine role is portrayed. A long visual tradition follows from the classical one, always casting the ancient heroine in this same, typically feminine role, and this tradition serves as a perfect example of the modern feminist critique of the history of images, in which women are robbed of their agency. Such endemic aversion to the depiction of overt defiance is, it is proposed, symptomatic of the broader cultural response to the play's revelation of two discrete, but mutually dependent feminine constructs: one demands Antigone's submission to a patriarchal definition of femininity that would require her to relinquish her autonomous perception of her feminine role, and the other involves her wilful conformance to that self‐generated identity. Meyer proposes in this chapter to demonstrate that by politicizing Antigone in the most conservative fashion, images reinforce patriarchal gender and kinship hierarchies, implying a perception of the dangers of what the author interprets here as expressions of ‘excess’ femininity, and underlining the need for continuing oppression in the interests of masculine political systems and social stability.Less
Feminist responses to Antigone's choice to rebel against masculine authority have largely refocused the text as a discourse of gender difference in order to expose patriarchy's victimization of women. This chapter, while acknowledging feminine defiance as a crucial aspect of the text's internal contradictions, equally recognizes that Antigone's performance of the burial rites situates her firmly within paternalistic constructions of femininity. In classical art, contemporary (roughly) with Sophocles' play, defiance becomes invisible: only the traditional feminine role is portrayed. A long visual tradition follows from the classical one, always casting the ancient heroine in this same, typically feminine role, and this tradition serves as a perfect example of the modern feminist critique of the history of images, in which women are robbed of their agency. Such endemic aversion to the depiction of overt defiance is, it is proposed, symptomatic of the broader cultural response to the play's revelation of two discrete, but mutually dependent feminine constructs: one demands Antigone's submission to a patriarchal definition of femininity that would require her to relinquish her autonomous perception of her feminine role, and the other involves her wilful conformance to that self‐generated identity. Meyer proposes in this chapter to demonstrate that by politicizing Antigone in the most conservative fashion, images reinforce patriarchal gender and kinship hierarchies, implying a perception of the dangers of what the author interprets here as expressions of ‘excess’ femininity, and underlining the need for continuing oppression in the interests of masculine political systems and social stability.
Charles Gore
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748633166
- eISBN:
- 9780748652983
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748633166.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, African Studies
This book explores the roles of contemporary urban shrines and their visual traditions in Benin City. It focuses on the charismatic priests and priestesses who are possessed by a pantheon of deities, ...
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This book explores the roles of contemporary urban shrines and their visual traditions in Benin City. It focuses on the charismatic priests and priestesses who are possessed by a pantheon of deities, the communities of devotees, and the artists who make artifacts for their shrines. The visual arts are part of a wider configuration of practices that include song, dance, possession, and healing. These practices provide the means for exploring the relationships of the visual to both the verbal and performance arts that feature at these shrines. The analysis in this book raises fundamental questions about how the art of Benin, and non-Western art histories more generally, are understood. The book throws critical light on the taken-for-granted assumptions that underpin current interpretations and presents an original and revisionist account of Benin art history.Less
This book explores the roles of contemporary urban shrines and their visual traditions in Benin City. It focuses on the charismatic priests and priestesses who are possessed by a pantheon of deities, the communities of devotees, and the artists who make artifacts for their shrines. The visual arts are part of a wider configuration of practices that include song, dance, possession, and healing. These practices provide the means for exploring the relationships of the visual to both the verbal and performance arts that feature at these shrines. The analysis in this book raises fundamental questions about how the art of Benin, and non-Western art histories more generally, are understood. The book throws critical light on the taken-for-granted assumptions that underpin current interpretations and presents an original and revisionist account of Benin art history.
Jane Blocker
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696970
- eISBN:
- 9781452952321
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696970.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Visual Culture
In 2009, Hal Foster initiated a questionnaire to prominent art historians, critics, and curators about the problem of the contemporary in which he stated that there is “a sense that, in its very ...
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In 2009, Hal Foster initiated a questionnaire to prominent art historians, critics, and curators about the problem of the contemporary in which he stated that there is “a sense that, in its very heterogeneity, much present practice seems to float free of historical determination, conceptual definition, and critical judgment.” The responses he gleaned are just part of the recent scholarship in art and art history focused on understanding the nature and limits of the contemporary, and the significant debate about the problem of the contemporary for history. This book takes as its premise that the contemporary, as much as we may want to consider it otherwise, is being made history as it happens. The important question is not whether there is (or should be) contemporary art history, but how. And “how” is the primary concern of this book, the key argument of which is that we cannot answer the demands of the contemporary by using out-dated research practices, received theories of history, and linear temporal models. Nor can we proceed without rethinking our practices of writing. Acknowledging a significant trend in current art practice, in which artists have engaged with historical subject matter, methods, and questions, it asks how the work of the artist implicates and interrogates that of the critic or historian. It asks how to emulate the artist-historian, how to do history differently, and thus examines and attempts to deploy unorthodox historical methodologies that are witnessed in and distilled from the work of a number of contemporary artists.Less
In 2009, Hal Foster initiated a questionnaire to prominent art historians, critics, and curators about the problem of the contemporary in which he stated that there is “a sense that, in its very heterogeneity, much present practice seems to float free of historical determination, conceptual definition, and critical judgment.” The responses he gleaned are just part of the recent scholarship in art and art history focused on understanding the nature and limits of the contemporary, and the significant debate about the problem of the contemporary for history. This book takes as its premise that the contemporary, as much as we may want to consider it otherwise, is being made history as it happens. The important question is not whether there is (or should be) contemporary art history, but how. And “how” is the primary concern of this book, the key argument of which is that we cannot answer the demands of the contemporary by using out-dated research practices, received theories of history, and linear temporal models. Nor can we proceed without rethinking our practices of writing. Acknowledging a significant trend in current art practice, in which artists have engaged with historical subject matter, methods, and questions, it asks how the work of the artist implicates and interrogates that of the critic or historian. It asks how to emulate the artist-historian, how to do history differently, and thus examines and attempts to deploy unorthodox historical methodologies that are witnessed in and distilled from the work of a number of contemporary artists.
Claire Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028405
- eISBN:
- 9789882207738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028405.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter discusses the early correspondence formed by Huang Binhong and Fou Lei. It begins by introducing Huang Binhong, his early life in Jinhua, east Zhejiang, his education, and the paintings ...
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This chapter discusses the early correspondence formed by Huang Binhong and Fou Lei. It begins by introducing Huang Binhong, his early life in Jinhua, east Zhejiang, his education, and the paintings he created since his first few years in Shanghai. The other section focuses on the correspondence between Lei and Binhong. The first letter Lei wrote to Binhong was on May 1943 and alluded to Lei's knowledge of Western art history. The chapter also presents several of the letters exchanged between the two, which show that Binhong valued the friendship that formed between him and Lei.Less
This chapter discusses the early correspondence formed by Huang Binhong and Fou Lei. It begins by introducing Huang Binhong, his early life in Jinhua, east Zhejiang, his education, and the paintings he created since his first few years in Shanghai. The other section focuses on the correspondence between Lei and Binhong. The first letter Lei wrote to Binhong was on May 1943 and alluded to Lei's knowledge of Western art history. The chapter also presents several of the letters exchanged between the two, which show that Binhong valued the friendship that formed between him and Lei.
Amy Rebecca Gansell and Ann Shafer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- February 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190673161
- eISBN:
- 9780190673192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190673161.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, History of Art: pre-history, BCE to 500CE, ancient and classical, Byzantine
Serving as the volume introduction, Chapter 1 lays out the scope of the ancient Near Eastern canon as it has been understood since its inception. Situating the canon within Art History, Archaeology, ...
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Serving as the volume introduction, Chapter 1 lays out the scope of the ancient Near Eastern canon as it has been understood since its inception. Situating the canon within Art History, Archaeology, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, this chapter raises an inquiry about the fluidity and staying power of its content. Through a case study of the ancient Near Eastern canon as it appears in college art history textbooks, we detect patterns in the canon, which remains a flexible but essentially conservative phenomenon. Nevertheless, the individual contributions in the volume’s four sections are shown here through chapter synopses to be historically grounded, theoretically provocative, and full of potential avenues for research and revision of the seemingly outmoded phenomenon of the canon. The chapter proposes that celebrating the longevity and future of the canon, rather than dismissing it, can allow today’s researchers to take the study of the ancient Near East to new levels and share it with expanded audiences.Less
Serving as the volume introduction, Chapter 1 lays out the scope of the ancient Near Eastern canon as it has been understood since its inception. Situating the canon within Art History, Archaeology, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, this chapter raises an inquiry about the fluidity and staying power of its content. Through a case study of the ancient Near Eastern canon as it appears in college art history textbooks, we detect patterns in the canon, which remains a flexible but essentially conservative phenomenon. Nevertheless, the individual contributions in the volume’s four sections are shown here through chapter synopses to be historically grounded, theoretically provocative, and full of potential avenues for research and revision of the seemingly outmoded phenomenon of the canon. The chapter proposes that celebrating the longevity and future of the canon, rather than dismissing it, can allow today’s researchers to take the study of the ancient Near East to new levels and share it with expanded audiences.
Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628460391
- eISBN:
- 9781626740846
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628460391.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large ...
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This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large and music specifically from Western society. First scorned, African American music was assimilated with the help of critics. They notably contributed to an understanding of the music that eschewed social, historical and economic context in which the music was originally created. Promoting a classically Western understanding of art as distinct from social life, it allowed for a consumption of jazz devoid of political critique. This would change with the advent of black jazz criticism.Less
This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large and music specifically from Western society. First scorned, African American music was assimilated with the help of critics. They notably contributed to an understanding of the music that eschewed social, historical and economic context in which the music was originally created. Promoting a classically Western understanding of art as distinct from social life, it allowed for a consumption of jazz devoid of political critique. This would change with the advent of black jazz criticism.
Jennifer Scheper Hughes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195367065
- eISBN:
- 9780199867370
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367065.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Mexico is famous for its notoriously graphic and bloody crucifixes depicting the broken and tortured body of Jesus on the cross. Images of Christ’s suffering frequently outnumber images of the Virgin ...
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Mexico is famous for its notoriously graphic and bloody crucifixes depicting the broken and tortured body of Jesus on the cross. Images of Christ’s suffering frequently outnumber images of the Virgin Mary in local and household devotions throughout Latin America. How do we explain the enduring significance of these images for the popular Roman Catholic faith of poor and ordinary Mexicans? Based on original archival and ethnographic research, this book uncovers the diverse and sometimes contradictory meanings that the symbol of the crucifix has held for indigenous and mestizo Mexicans over many centuries. By recounting the epic story of the Christianization of Mexico from the perspective of a specific, sculpted crucifix of colonial origin, this book offers a profoundly sympathetic portrait of indigenous Christian belief and practice and a lively defense of the diverse and “heterodox” local expressions of Christianity alive in the world today.Less
Mexico is famous for its notoriously graphic and bloody crucifixes depicting the broken and tortured body of Jesus on the cross. Images of Christ’s suffering frequently outnumber images of the Virgin Mary in local and household devotions throughout Latin America. How do we explain the enduring significance of these images for the popular Roman Catholic faith of poor and ordinary Mexicans? Based on original archival and ethnographic research, this book uncovers the diverse and sometimes contradictory meanings that the symbol of the crucifix has held for indigenous and mestizo Mexicans over many centuries. By recounting the epic story of the Christianization of Mexico from the perspective of a specific, sculpted crucifix of colonial origin, this book offers a profoundly sympathetic portrait of indigenous Christian belief and practice and a lively defense of the diverse and “heterodox” local expressions of Christianity alive in the world today.
Jorge Duany (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781683400905
- eISBN:
- 9781683401193
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9781683400905.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This book delves into several defining moments of Cuba’s artistic evolution from a multidisciplinary perspective, including art history, architecture, photography, history, literary criticism, and ...
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This book delves into several defining moments of Cuba’s artistic evolution from a multidisciplinary perspective, including art history, architecture, photography, history, literary criticism, and cultural studies. Situating Cuban art within a wider social and historical context, fifteen prominent scholars and collectors scrutinize the enduring links between Cuban art and cultural identity. Covering the main periods in Cuban art (the colonial, republican, and postrevolutionary phases, as well as the contemporary diaspora), the contributors identify both the constant and changing elements and symbols in the visual representation of Cuba’s national identity. The essays collected in this volume provide insightful information and interpretation on the historical trajectory of Cuban and Cuban-American art. From colonial engravers to contemporary photographers, several generations of Cuban artists have been fascinated—perhaps even obsessed—with picturing Cuba’s landscapes, architecture, people, and customs. Each generation of artists focused on various tropes of Cuban identity, whether it was the tropical environment, the lights and colors of the island, certain human types, the fusion of European and African traditions, or the uprootedness produced by exile and resettlement in another country. Even when artists shed the attempt to represent their subject matter realistically, they sought to contribute to a longstanding national tradition in dialogue with a broader international scenario. The cumulative result of more than three centuries of Cuban art is a kaleidoscopic view of the island’s nature, population, culture, and history.Less
This book delves into several defining moments of Cuba’s artistic evolution from a multidisciplinary perspective, including art history, architecture, photography, history, literary criticism, and cultural studies. Situating Cuban art within a wider social and historical context, fifteen prominent scholars and collectors scrutinize the enduring links between Cuban art and cultural identity. Covering the main periods in Cuban art (the colonial, republican, and postrevolutionary phases, as well as the contemporary diaspora), the contributors identify both the constant and changing elements and symbols in the visual representation of Cuba’s national identity. The essays collected in this volume provide insightful information and interpretation on the historical trajectory of Cuban and Cuban-American art. From colonial engravers to contemporary photographers, several generations of Cuban artists have been fascinated—perhaps even obsessed—with picturing Cuba’s landscapes, architecture, people, and customs. Each generation of artists focused on various tropes of Cuban identity, whether it was the tropical environment, the lights and colors of the island, certain human types, the fusion of European and African traditions, or the uprootedness produced by exile and resettlement in another country. Even when artists shed the attempt to represent their subject matter realistically, they sought to contribute to a longstanding national tradition in dialogue with a broader international scenario. The cumulative result of more than three centuries of Cuban art is a kaleidoscopic view of the island’s nature, population, culture, and history.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846316456
- eISBN:
- 9781846316708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846316456.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
For Lawrence Alloway, the 1960s was ‘a period of exceptional high pressure, affluence, creativity, [and] confidence’, which was in stark contrast to the 1970s. This changed outlook in art was implied ...
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For Lawrence Alloway, the 1960s was ‘a period of exceptional high pressure, affluence, creativity, [and] confidence’, which was in stark contrast to the 1970s. This changed outlook in art was implied in the subtitle of Alan Sondheim's 1977 book on the contemporary avant-garde, Post-Movement Art in America. This section focuses on Lawrence Alloway's life as an art critic, beginning with his commitment to pluralism and his attitude towards Post-Modernism. It also discusses his views on art history and art criticism, his reputation as an art critic and the legacy of his pluralism.Less
For Lawrence Alloway, the 1960s was ‘a period of exceptional high pressure, affluence, creativity, [and] confidence’, which was in stark contrast to the 1970s. This changed outlook in art was implied in the subtitle of Alan Sondheim's 1977 book on the contemporary avant-garde, Post-Movement Art in America. This section focuses on Lawrence Alloway's life as an art critic, beginning with his commitment to pluralism and his attitude towards Post-Modernism. It also discusses his views on art history and art criticism, his reputation as an art critic and the legacy of his pluralism.
Emily J. Levine
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226061689
- eISBN:
- 9780226061719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226061719.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The sixth chapter argues that Panofsky forged a “third way” between the formalist and contextualist approaches of his art historical mentors, Wölfflin and Riegl. Influenced by Warburg’s early work, ...
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The sixth chapter argues that Panofsky forged a “third way” between the formalist and contextualist approaches of his art historical mentors, Wölfflin and Riegl. Influenced by Warburg’s early work, Panofsky’s methodology solidified around these scholars’ shared interests in symbols and drew on Hamburg’s combined resources: the library’s unique index of images, the Kunsthalle’s collection of local and modernist art, and the absence of an established and hierarchical department. To connect a particular insight with a more general principle, Panofsky and the Hamburg School promoted iconology—a holistic approach to analyzing images over time. While Ernst Gombrich would later criticize the cultural-historical assumption that art is representative of the Zeitgeist, this chapter argues that understanding Panofsky’s early work as a revision of Riegl’s notion of Kunstwollen and his engagement with Cassirer’s symbolic forms offers a more complete view of iconology’s origins.Less
The sixth chapter argues that Panofsky forged a “third way” between the formalist and contextualist approaches of his art historical mentors, Wölfflin and Riegl. Influenced by Warburg’s early work, Panofsky’s methodology solidified around these scholars’ shared interests in symbols and drew on Hamburg’s combined resources: the library’s unique index of images, the Kunsthalle’s collection of local and modernist art, and the absence of an established and hierarchical department. To connect a particular insight with a more general principle, Panofsky and the Hamburg School promoted iconology—a holistic approach to analyzing images over time. While Ernst Gombrich would later criticize the cultural-historical assumption that art is representative of the Zeitgeist, this chapter argues that understanding Panofsky’s early work as a revision of Riegl’s notion of Kunstwollen and his engagement with Cassirer’s symbolic forms offers a more complete view of iconology’s origins.
