|
Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 500 CE to 1400 > General
Spirited Prospect: A Portable History of Western Art from the
Paleolithic to the Modern Era is a lively, scholarly survey of the
great artists, works, and movements that make up the history of
Western art. Within the text, important questions are addressed:
What is art, and who is an artist? What is the West, and what is
the Canon? Is the Western Canon closed or exclusionary? Why is it
more important than ever for individuals to engage and understand
it? Readers are escorted on a concise, chronological tour of
Western visual culture, beginning with the first art produced
before written history. They learn about the great ancient cultures
of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Italy; the advent of
Christianity and its manifestations in Byzantine, Medieval,
Renaissance, and Baroque art; and the fragmentation of old
traditions and the proliferation of new artistic choices that
characterize the Enlightenment and the Modern Era. The revised
second edition features improved formatting, juxtaposition, sizing,
and spacing of images throughout. Spirited Prospect is an ideal
textbook for introductory courses in the history of art, as well as
courses in studio art and Western civilization at all levels.
The 1997 conference of the British Archaeological Association was
held in Glasgow and took the Cathedral there ars its main theme.
This volume includes many of the papers given at the conference.
Follwoing a general introduction on the building history of the
cathedral, there are chapters covering the cult of St Kentigern,
the major excavations of 1992-3, the design of the crypt, the choir
and its timber ceiling. Other chapters look at aspects of
patronage, the wider architectural context of the cathedral, and at
the Romaneque sculpture and manuscripts with the diocese.
Taking a new approach to medieval art, "Meaning in Motion"
reveals the profound importance of movement in the physical,
emotional, and intellectual experience of art and architecture in
the Middle Ages. Focusing on the physical movement of objects and
viewers, as well as movements of the mind, this richly illustrated
collection of interdisciplinary essays explores a wide range of
rituals, performances, works of art, and texts in which movement is
crucial to meaning. These include liturgical and devotional
practices, but also pilgrimage, reading techniques, and the use of
art and allegory in late medieval courtly society. The contributors
consider movement not only as a physical action but also as an
active intellectual process involving the reception of images, one
that creates layers of meaning through the multidimensional
experience of objects and spaces, both real and imaginary. This
novel approach to medieval art, building on the concept of agency
and the understanding of ritual as a performative act, is
influenced by two anthropological perspectives: Victor Turner's
"processual" analysis of rites of passage and Alfred Gell's
conception of the interactive relationship between art and the
viewer as a process. The essays in this volume engage in an
interdisciplinary discussion of the significance of movement for
the making and perception of medieval art.
A World Perspective of Art History: Ancient Art History from the
First Artists to the 14th Century - Volume One provides students
with a worldwide, integrated introduction to art. The book features
a distinct emphasis on women, minorities, and civilizations around
the world using a coordinated time sequence and comparing art in
multiple cultures simultaneously. Students discover art and culture
from a global perspective and are encouraged to connect their own
cultures with key learnings. The material is presented in
historical time sequences based on the rise and fall of various
civilizations and how they created art and architecture during that
time. Students are introduced to the early art of around 50,000 BCE
and encouraged to consider why these original artists created their
works. Additional units progress chronologically and show how art
evolved in step with developed settlements. The book introduces
great structures erected during the Bronze Age and demonstrates how
the Iron Age influenced the art of ancient Greece. Students read
about trade, the rise of empires, the dawn of deities, and how each
of these historical developments profoundly impacted the type of
art created during each time period. The final unit focuses on the
end of ancient civilizations. Featuring a uniquely inclusive
approach, A World Perspective of Art History is an ideal resource
for courses in art history and art appreciation.
Whereas twelfth-century pilgrims flocked to the church of St-Lazare
in Autun to visit the relics of its patron saint, present-day
pilgrims journey there to admire its superb sculpture, said to have
been created by the artist Gislebertus whose name is inscribed
above one of the church doors. These two cults, of sculptor and of
saint, form points of departure and arrival for Linda Seidel's
study.
"Legends in Limestone" reveals how "Gislebertus, sculptor" was
discovered and subsequently sanctified over the course of the last
century. Seidel makes a compelling case for the identification of
the name with an ancestor of the local ducal family, invoked for
his role in the acquisition of the precious relics. With the aid of
evidence drawn from the richly carved decoration of the building,
she demonstrates how medieval visitors would have read a different
holy narrative in the church fabric, one that constructed before
their eyes an account of their patron saint's life.
"Legends in Limestone, " an absorbing study of one of France's most
revered medieval monuments, provides fresh insights into modern and
medieval interpretive practices.
|
|