The Parameters of Our Cage (DISCOURSE Book 1)


Alec Soth - 2020
    

The Pre-Raphaelites


Timothy Hilton - 1971
    Surveys the origins, development, techniques, approaches, principles, motifs, and major paintings of the nineteenth-century British school, relating the painters and their works to their society.

Egyptian Art


Cyril Aldred - 1960
    Of the ancient art that has survived from the non-Classical world, that of Egypt makes a unique appeal.In this authoritative and splendidly illustrated guide Cyril Aldred surveys nearly 3000 years of Egyptian art and architecture, concentrating on the fine arts of painting and sculpture.

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures


Robert K. Wittman - 2010
    Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his career for the first time.Rising from humble roots as the son of an antiques dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid.In this memoir, Wittman relates the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments.The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow.By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless.The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners.  The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat.  The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man.  The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched.In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.

Greek Art


John Boardman - 1964
    It takes into account new finds as well as new ideas and attitudes to the subject, and emphasizes that Greek art should be seen in its proper context, not that of galleries and museums. 302 illustrations, 73 in color

Classical Art: From Greece to Rome


Mary Beard - 2001
    The expanding Greek world of Alexander the Great had an enormous impact on the Mediterranean superpower of Rome. Generals, rulers, and artists seized, imitated, and re-thought the stunning legacy of Greek painting and sculpture, culminating in the greatest art-collector the world had ever seen: the Roman emperor Hadrian.This exciting new look at Classical art starts with the excavation of the buried city of Pompeii, and investigates the grandiose monuments of ancient tyrants, and the sensual beauty of Apollo and Venus. Concluding with that most influential invention of all, the human portrait, it highlights there-discovery of Classical art in the modern world, from the treasure hunts of Renaissance Rome to scientific retrieval of artworks in the twenty-first century.

Art History: A Critical Introduction to Its Methods


Michael Hatt - 2006
    Offering a lucid account of approaches from Hegel to post-colonialism, the book provides a sense of art history's own history as a discipline from its emergence in the late-eighteenth century to contemporary debates.

The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting


Rolf Toman - 1999
    Gothic monuments bear witness to a dynamic age, when old values were being redefined, often with great drama and debate. Here is a richly-illustrated overview of the period's architecture, sculpture, painting, stained glass, and jewelry, from its 12th-century French origins to its early 16th-century conclusion.

Idea: A Concept in Art Theory


Erwin Panofsky - 1924
    A study of the changes in the definition and conception of the term "idea," from Plato to the 17th century, when the modern definition emerged.

Camille Claudel: A Life


Odile Ayral-Clause - 2002
    After she crumbled under the combined weight of social reproof, deprivations, and art world prejudices, her family had her committed to an asylum, where she died 30 years later. Although Claudel's life has been romanticized in print and on film, a fully researched biography has never been written until this one. The book draws upon much unpublished material, including letters and photographs that confirm the brilliance of her sculpture, clarify her relationship with Rodin (who did not exploit her, but, in fact, supported her work throughout his life), and reveal the true story of her confinement in a mental institution. Claudel's fascinating life touches many aspects of women's issues: creativity, struggle for recognition, conflict with social values, and art world inequities. Illustrated with personal family photographs, this is an intimate and moving tribute to an artist whose life and work have, until now, been misinterpreted and undervalued.

Prebles' Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts


Patrick L. Frank - 2005
    We form Art. Art forms us. The title of this book has a dual meaning. Besides the expected discussion of the various forms of art, the title also reflects the fact that art does indeed help to form us as people. As we create forms, we are in turn formed by what we have created. Several years ago, the title was changed to "Preblesa Artforms," acknowledging the pioneering contribution of the original authors, Duane and Sarah Preble, to the study of art. Their vision and spirit have touched hundreds of thousands of students who have studied this book. "Artforms "grew out of a desire to introduce art through an engaging visual experience, and to expose students to a culturally diverse canon of work. It is written and designed to help readers build an informed foundation for individual understanding and enjoyment of art.By introducing art theory, practice, and history in a single volume, this book aims to draw students into a new or expanded awareness of the visual arts. Beyond fostering appreciation of major works of art, this booka s primary concern is to open studentsa eyes and minds to the richness of the visual arts as unique forms of human communication and to convey the idea that the arts enrich life best when we experience, understand, and enjoy them as integral parts of the process of living.

Paul Klee, 1879-1940


Paul Klee - 1991
    His works stand out for the variety in their forms of artistic expression. His Tunisian water-colours depicting landscape, architecture and, above all, the North African light of this Mediterranean land constitute the true beginning of Klee's painting career. Although these paintings still fall under the heading of "objective", they already exhibit indications of his tendency toward abstraction and a language of forms. Geometrical figures and hieroglyphic elements characterize the majority of these works, which for this reason seem reminiscent of "naive" and playful children's painting. In reality, however, his paintings have their roots in theoretical considerations, their recurrent symbols conveying personal and at times political content.

A Choreographer's Handbook


Jonathan Burrows - 2010
    In an inspiring and unusually empowering sequence of stories, ideas and paradoxes, internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher Jonathan Burrows explains how it's possible to navigate a course through this complex process.It is a stunning reflection on a personal practice and professional journey, and draws upon five years' of workshop discussions, led by Burrows.Burrows' open and honest prose gives the reader access to a range of exercises, meditations, principles and ideas on choreography that allow artists and dance-makers to find their own aesthetic process.It is a book for anyone interested in making performance, at whatever level and in whichever style.

The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology


Donald PreziosiMieke Bal - 1998
    Since the foundation of the modern discipline of art history in Germany in the late eighteenth century, debates about art and its histories have intensified. Historians, philosophers, psychologists, and anthropologists among others have changed our notions of what art history has been, is, and might be. The Art of Art History is a unique guide to understanding art history through a critical reading of the field's most innovative and influential texts over the past two centuries. Each section focuses on a key issue: aesthetics, style, history as an art, iconography and semiology, gender, modernity and postmodernity, deconstruction and museology. More than thirty readings from writers as diverse as Winckelmann, Kant, Gombrich, Warburg, Panofsky, Heidegger, Lisa Tickner, Meyer Schapiro, Jacques Derrida, Mary Kelly, Michel Foucault, Rosalind Krauss, Louis Marin, Margaret Iversen, and Nestor Canclini are brought together, and Donald Preziosi's introductions to each topic provide background information, bibliographies, and critical elucidations of the issues at stake. His own concluding essay is an important and original contribution to scholarship in the field.Contents:Art history : making the visible legible by Donald PreziosiReflections on the imitation of Greek works in painting and sculpture by Johann Joachim WinckelmannWinckelmann divided : mourning the death of art history by Whitney DavisPatterns of intention by Michael BaxandallWhat is enlightenment? ; The critique of judgement by Immanuel KantPhilosophy of fine art by G.W.F. HegelPrinciples of art history by Heinrich Wölfflin"Form," nineteenth-century metaphysics, and the problem of art historical description by David SummersStyle by Meyer SchapiroStyle by Ernst GombrichLeading characteristics of the late Roman "Kunstwollen" by Alois RieglImages from the region of the Pueblo Indians of North America by Aby WarburgWarburg's concept of "Kulturwissenschaft" and its meaning for aesthetics by Edgar WindRetrieving Warburg's tradition by Margaret IversenSemiotics and iconography by Hubert DamischSemiotics and art history : a discussion of context and senders by Mieke Bal and Norman Bryson"Et in Arcadia ego" : Poussin and the elegiac tradition by E. PanofskyToward a theory of reading in the visual arts : Poussin's "The Arcadian shepherds" by Louis MarinSculpture in the expanded field by Rosalind KraussWhat is an author? by Michel FoucaultThe allegorical impulse : toward a theory of postmodernism by Craig OwensMapping the postmodern by Andreas HuyssenThe art historical canon : sins of omission by Nanette SalomonSexuality andbyin representation : five British artists by Lisa TicknerNo essential femininity by Mary Kelly and Paul SmithPostfeminism, feminist pleasures, and embodied theories of art by Amelia JonesThe temptation of new perspectives by Stephen MelvilleThe origin of the work of art by Martin HeideggerThe still life as a personal object : a note on Heidegger and van Gogh by Meyer SchapiroRestitutions of the truth in pointing ["pointure"] by Jacques DerridaOrientalism and the exhibitionary order by Timothy MitchellThe art museum as ritual by Carol DuncanInventing the "postcolonial" : hybridity and constituency in contemporary curating by Annie E. CoombesRemaking passports : visual thought in the debate on multiculturalism by Néstor García CancliniThe art of art history by Donald Preziosi

Lost, Stolen or Shredded: Stories of Missing Works of Art and Literature


Rick Gekoski - 2013
    Rick Gekoski tells the very human stories that lie behind some of the greatest losses to artistic culture - and addresses the questions such disappearances raise. Some of the items are stolen (the Mona Lisa), some destroyed (like Philip Larkin's diaries, shredded, then burnt, on his dying request) and some were lost before they even existed, like the career of the brilliant art deco architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which foundered amid a lack of cash - but behind all of them lies an often surprising story which reveals a lot about what art means to us. Gekoski explores in depth the greater questions these tremendous losses raise - such as the rights artists and authors have over their own work, the importance of the search for perfection in creativity, and what motivated people to queue to see the empty space where the Mona Lisa once hung in the Louvre.