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Drawing on a variety of interdisciplinary debates in cultural studies and contemporary theory, Modernism, Inc. provides a new look at the relationship between modernism and postmodernism within the critical frame of twentieth-century American culture. Organized around the idea of "incorporation"--embodiment, repressed memory, and advanced capitalism--Modernism, Inc. covers a wide range of topics: Josephine Baker's "hot house style"; the president's penis in American political life; myth-making and the Hoover Dam; trauma, poetics, and the Armenian genocide; feminist kitsch and the recuperation of North America's "Great Lady painters"; Gertrude Stein and Jewish Social Science; the Reno Divorce...
David Galenson's work on the history of art is a unique fusion of econometrics and cultural analysis that is unprecedented in the literature on creativity in any discipline, whether economics, psychology, literary studies or art history.
Jamaica Kincaid's works consistently explore the long-lasting effects of colonial history on contemporary lives. Focusing on the media of text, image, and the human body, the chapters of this book show how Kincaid's ''poetics of impermanence'' destabilize hegemonial representations of history and in their stead establish self-determined versions of the past through a multiplication of perspectives and voices.
Cruising with Robert Louis Stevenson: Travel, Narrative, and the Colonial Body is the first booklengthstudy about the influence of travel on RobertLouis Stevenson's writings, both fiction and nonfiction.Within the contexts of late-Victorian imperialism andethnographic discourse, the book offers original closereadings of individual works by Stevenson while bringingnew theoretical insights to bear on the relationshipbetween travel, authorship, and gender identity in theVictorian fin de siècle. Oliver S. Buckton develops "cruising" as a criticalterm, linking Stevenson's leisurely mode of travelwith the striking narrative motifs of disruption andfragmentation that characterize his writings. Buc...
From its eye-popping cover to the last page, this collection of optical illusion, hyper-realism, and visual puns is a fun and fascinating exploration of five centuries of trompe l'oeil painting. Each of the forty paintings in this book is presented twice--a first glimpse of the painting captures one reality, and then a subsequent view reveals the visual deception within. In this way readers are introduced to some of the tricks artists have skillfully and playfully deployed over the years to manipulate spatial perception. "A Trick of the Eye includes examples of "trompe l'oeil from Renaissance masters such as van Eyck and Veronese to modern works by Rene Magritte and Duane Hanson, among many others. Engaging texts describe each work, but the real magic is in the illustrations, which offer an intriguing visual experience.
KEYNOTE: This authoritative history of one of modern art's most important movements celebrates one hundred years since the inception of the Blue Rider artists' group. Although it only lasted three years--from 1911 to 1914--the collaborative force of German and Russian artists that made up "Der Blaue Reiter" had an amazing impact on the development of Expressionist art and, as a result, on modern art as a whole. This publication looks at the history of this group from the early artists' salons to its dissolution as a result of World War I. Richly illustrated with reproductions of iconic and lesser-known works as well as photographs of the artists, the book looks at the events and places considered the most formative to the movement, taking readers on the trail of the Blue Rider as they weathered intense criticism while inspiring dozens in their wake. The book considers many unresolved questions about the symbolism inherent in the group's paintings, and ends with an appreciation of the legacy these daring artists left behind. AUTHOR: Eckhard Hollmann is an art historian and the author of many books on art. ILLUSTRATIONS: 140 colour illustrations *
From the late seventeenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries, large-scale Italian frescoes soared in popularity as nobles in the German principalities of the Holy Roman Empire constructed new palaces at an unprecedented rate. They competed with one another to produce lavish decorative schemes that expressed their claim to princely power and political authority. Whereas previous art historians have primarily focused on iconographic and stylistic issues and generally treated these programs as individual commissions of regional courts, this book places the works of art within their broad cultural and historical contexts during the Enlightenment. This monograph explains how rulers gradually shifted from emphasizing military heroism to stressing their cultivation of the arts and sciences, and addresses how expressing membership in a specifically European civilization emerged as an integral visual theme and a key ambition of the German nobility.
In 1660, at the age of thirteen, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) began her study of butterfly metamorphosis—years before any other scientist published an accurate description of the process. Later, Merian and her daughter ventured thousands of miles from their home in the Netherlands into the rainforests of South America seeking new and amazing insects to observe and illustrate. Years after her death, Merian’s accurate and beautiful illustrations were used by scientists, including Carl Linnaeus, to classify species, and today her prints and paintings are prized by museums around the world. More than a dozen species of plants and animals are named after Merian. The first Merian biography written for ages 10 and up, this book will enchant budding scientists and artists alike. Readers will be inspired by Merian’s talent, curiosity, and grit and will be swept up in the story of her life, which was adventurous even by today’s standards. With its lively text, quotations from Merian’s own study book, and fascinating sidebars on history, art, and science, this volume is an ideal STEAM title for readers of all ages and interests.
Includes entries for maps and atlases.
This is the first volume of the catalogue raisonne of the work of Mark Rothko, the abstract artist. It documents Rothko's entire output of paintings on canvas and panel, reproducing all the works in colour. An introductory text investigates the essential features of Rothko's art.