Hello all:
I wanted to let you know about two new publications that may be of interest
to members of the list. For more information, just visit either of the
links below. Thanks!
David
http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262011867
Origins, Imitation, Convetions:
Representation in the Visual Arts
James S. Ackerman
This collection contains studies written by art historian James Ackerman
over the past decade. Whereas Ackerman's earlier work assumed a development
of the arts as they responded to social, economic, political, and cultural
change, his recent work reflects the poststructural critique of the
presumption of progress that characterized Renaissance and modernist
history and criticism. In this book he explores the tension between the
authority of the past--which may act not only as a restraint but as a
challenge and stimulus--and the potentially liberating gift of invention.
He examines the ways in which artists and writers on art have related to
ancestors and to established modes of representation, as well as to
contemporary experiences.
The "origins" studied here include the earliest art history and criticism;
the beginnings of architectural drawing in the Middle Ages and Renaissance;
Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches for churches, the first in the Renaissance to
propose supporting domes on sculpted walls and piers; and the first
architectural photographs. "Imitation" refers to artistic achievements that
in part depended on the imitation of forms established in practices outside
the fine arts, such as ancient Roman rhetoric and print media.
"Conventions," like language, facilitate communication between the artist
and viewer, but are both more universal (understood across cultures) and
more fixed (resisting variation that might diminish their clarity). The
three categories are closely linked throughout the book, as most acts of
representation partake to some degree of all three.
James S. Ackerman, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts Emeritus
at Harvard University, is the author of books on Michelangelo's
architecture, Palladio, and the villa.
7 x 9, 288 pp., 131 illus., cloth, ISBN 0-262-01186-7
http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262112582
Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern Art
Sybil Gordon Kantor
Growing up with the twentieth century, Alfred Barr (1902-1981), founding
director of the Museum of Modern Art, harnessed the cataclysm that was
modernism. In this book--part intellectual biography, part institutional
history--Sybil Gordon Kantor tells the story of the rise of modern art in
America and of the man responsible for its triumph. Following the
trajectory of Barr's career from the 1920s through the 1940s, Kantor
penetrates the myths, both positive and negative, that surround Barr and
his achievements.
Sybil Gordon Kantor is an independent scholar living in Columbus, Ohio, and
Lugano, Switzerland.
7 x 9, 472 pp., 83 illus., cloth, ISBN 0-262-11258-2
David Weininger
Associate Publicist
MIT Press
5 Cambridge Center, 4th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
617.253.2079
617.253.1709 fax
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