The Art of Describing - Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century (Paperback, New edition)

"The art historian after Erwin Panofsky and Ernst Gombrich is not only participating in an activity of great intellectual excitement; he is raising and exploring issues which lie very much at the centre of psychology, of the sciences and of history itself. Svetlana Alpers's study of 17th-century Dutch painting is a splendid example of this excitement and of the centrality of art history among current disciples. Professor Alpers puts forward a vividly argued thesis. There is, she says, a truly fundamental dichotomy between the art of the Italian Renaissance and that of the Dutch masters. . . . Italian art is the primary expression of a 'textual culture, ' this is to say of a culture which seeks emblematic, allegorical or philosophical meanings in a serious painting. Alberti, Vasari and the many other theoreticians of the Italian Renaissance teach us to 'read' a painting, and to read it in depth so as to elicit and construe its several levels of signification. The world of Dutch art, by the contrast, arises from and enacts a truly 'visual culture.' It serves and energises a system of values in which meaning is not 'read' but 'seen, ' in which new knowledge is visually recorded."--George Steiner, "Sunday Times"
"There is no doubt that thanks to Alpers's highly original book the study of the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century will be thoroughly reformed and rejuvenated. . . . She herself has the verve, the knowledge, and the sensitivity to make us see familiar sights in a new light."--E. H. Gombrich, "New York Review of Books"

General

Imprint:	University of Chicago Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1984
First published:	April 1984
Authors:	Svetlana Alpers
Dimensions:	254 x 180 x 2mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	302
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-226-01513-2
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 1400 to 1600 > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Painting & paintings > General Promotions
LSN:	0-226-01513-0
Barcode:	9780226015132

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!