Art Theory

2. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4051-8414-4
Verlag: Wiley-Blackwell

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 902 g

ART THEORY

ART THEORY

“[Art Theory] is a first-class introduction to the subject, revealing an unusual historical range, a command of diverse and often difficult ideas, and a natural flair for seeing the point – of art and of theory… Robert Williams has written a book I will keep on my shelf for rereading and I look forward to further works by him.”

John Haldane in The Art Book

Art Theory, Second Edition is a unique survey of Western thought about art from ancient times to today. This lucid and lively narrative, geared to the needs of the general reader and beginning students, consists of six chapters covering the major periods of Western art history: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the early modern period (Renaissance and Baroque), the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, early twentieth-century modernism, and postmodernism. This new edition expands the original to include more in-depth coverage of contemporary art.

Wide-ranging and exceptionally balanced in its analysis, Art Theory relates theory to the practice as well as to the intellectual and cultural-historical currents of each period. This new edition is an indispensable read for students and art lovers alike.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Williams, Robert

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Plates vii

List of Figures viii

Introduction 1

1 Antiquity and the Middle Ages 7

The Shield of Achilles 7

Imitation and Knowledge 18

Beauty 26

Rhetoric 35

Word and World 43

2 The Early Modern Period 55

Craftsmen and Theorists 55

Humanism 66

The Academic System 79

3 The Enlightenment 95

The Eighteenth Century 95

Radical Idealism 109

4 The Nineteenth Century 122

The Crisis of the Academy 122

Impressionism 135

“Absolute Art Exists at Last” 147

Ruskin and the Aesthetes 160

5 The Early Twentieth Century 176

Beyond Nature 176

Beyond Reason 192

American Modern 213

6 Postmodernism 231

The Critique of Culture 231

The Phenomenology of Signs 243

Future Present 261

Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading 279

Index 315

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Williams is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Art Theory and Culture in Sixteenth-century Italy: From Techne to Metatechne.