Kategoria BISAC: Art >> Criticism & Theory

• An accessible, story-driven introduction to aesthetic theory and philosophy
• Prompts readers to develop independent ideas about aesthetics; this is a guide on how to think, not what to think
• Includes discussions of non-western, contemporary, and...

This richly illustrated book examines the changing significance of ruins as vehicles for cultural memory in Chinese art and visual culture from ancient times to the present. Leading scholar of Chinese art Wu Hung shows how the story of ruins in China is different from but connected to "ruin culture" in the West. He investigates indigenous Chinese concepts of ruins and their visual manifestations, as well as the complex historical interactions between China and the West since the eighteenth century.

Analyzing a broad variety of traditional and contemporary visual materials, including...

What is the force in art, C. Stephen Jaeger asks, that can enter our consciousness, inspire admiration or imitation, and carry a reader or viewer from the world as it is to a world more sublime? We have long recognized the power of individuals to lead or enchant by the force of personal charisma and indeed, in his award-winning "Envy of Angels," Jaeger himself brilliantly parsed the ability of charismatic teachers to shape the world of medieval learning. In "Enchantment," he turns his attention to a sweeping and multifaceted exploration of the charisma not of individuals but of art.

For...

Drawing upon a lifetime's knowledge, Patterns of Stylistic Change in Islamic Architecture presents Michael Meinecke's unique view of the evolution and development of Islamic architecture.

Departing from conventional method which groups buildings and monuments according to dynasties and defines national characteristics based on the ethnic origins of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish patrons, Meinecke emphasizes the similarities which resulted from interrelations among neighboring or far-away areas. He argues that transformations in the development of Islamic architecture can be explained...

The "biennale culture" now determines much of the art world. Literature on the worldwide dissemination of art assumes nationalism and ethnic identity, but rarely analyzes it. At the same time there is extensive theorizing about globalization in political theory, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, political economy, sociology, and anthropology. Art and Globalization brings political and cultural theorists together with writers and historians concerned specifically with the visual arts in order to test the limits of the conceptualization of the global in art.

Among the...