Conditions of visibility /
We often assume that works of visual art are meant to be seen. Yet that assumption may be a modern prejudice. The ancient world, from China to Greece, Rome to Mexico, provides many examples of statues, paintings and other images that were not intended to be visible. Instead of being displayed, they...
| Other Authors: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2019]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | Visual conversations in art and archaeology.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | We often assume that works of visual art are meant to be seen. Yet that assumption may be a modern prejudice. The ancient world, from China to Greece, Rome to Mexico, provides many examples of statues, paintings and other images that were not intended to be visible. Instead of being displayed, they were hidden, buried or otherwise obscured. In this third volume in the 'Visual Conversations in Art & Archaeology' series, leading scholars working at the intersection of archaeology and the history of art address the fundamental question of art's visibility. What conditions must be met, what has to be in place, for a work of art to be seen at all? The answer is both historical and methodological. It concerns ancient societies and modern disciplines, and encompasses material circumstances, perceptual capacities, technologies of visualization, protocols of classification and a great deal more. The emerging field of archaeological art history is uniquely suited to address such questions. Intrinsically comparative, this approach cuts across traditional ethnic, religious and chronological categories to confront the academic present with the historical past. The goal is to produce a new art history that is at once cosmopolitan in method and global in scope, and in doing so establish new ways of seeing, new conditions of visibility, for shared objects of study. |
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| Physical Description: | xvi, 150 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780198845560 0198845561 |