The book concentrates on fundamental texts in the study of architectural history with special reference to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain. The texts under discussion address key themes or methods in the construction of architectural histories. Alongside this, philosophical or theoretical writings which address the abstract issues surrounding the main texts are presented as a kind of exegesis on the chosen texts. This together with an introduction and discursive essays which preface each of the sections present a transdisciplinary discourse around the discipline of architectural history.

Bringing together a collection of high-profile authors, Biographies and Space presents essays exploring the relationship between biography and space and how specific subjects are used as a means of explaining sets of social, cultural and spatial relationships. Biographical methods of historical investigation can bring out the authentic voice of subjects, revealing personal meanings and strategies in space as well as providing a means to analyze relations between the personal and the social. Writing about both actual (architectural) and imagined (pictorial) space, the authors consider issues of gender, childhood, sexuality and race, highlighting an increasing fluidity and interaction between theory, methods and history. Biographies and Space is an original and exciting new book, with direct relevance to both architectural and art history.

The Spaces of the Hospital examines how hospitals operated as a complex category of social, urban and architectural space in London from 1680 to 1820. This period witnessed the transformation of the city into a modern metropolis. The hospital was very much part of this process and its spaces, both interior and exterior, help us to understand these changes in terms of spatiality and spatial practices. Exploring the hospital through a series of thematic case studies, Dana Arnold presents a theoretically refined reading of how these institutions both functioned as internal discrete locations and interacted with the metropolis. Examples range from the grand royal military hospital, those concerned with the destitute and the insane and the new cultural phenomenon of the voluntary hospital. This engaging book makes an important contribution to our understanding of urban space and of London, uniquely examining how different theoretical paradigms reveal parallel readings of these remarkable hospital buildings.

Bringing together a collection of high-profile authors, Biographies and Space presents essays exploring the relationship between biography and space and how specific subjects are used as a means of explaining sets of social, cultural and spatial relationships.

Biographical methods of historical investigation can bring out the authentic voice of subjects, revealing personal meanings and strategies in space as well as providing a means to analyze relations between the personal and the social. Writing about both actual (architectural) and imagined (pictorial) space, the authors consider issues of gender, childhood, sexuality and race, highlighting an increasing fluidity and interaction between theory, methods and history.

Biographies and Space is an original and exciting new book, with direct relevance to both architectural and art history.

Contents:
Preface 1. Misprisions of Stonehenge, Andrew Ballantyne 2. 'The Mutability of All Things': The Rise, Fall and Rise of the Meta Sudans, Elizabeth Mae Marlowe 3. Piranesi's Pantheon, Susan M. Dixon 4. From Medieval Sacred Place to Modern Secular Space: Changing Perspectives on the Cathedral and Town of Chartres, Laura H. Hollengreen 5. Paths of Empowerment: Ritual Reinscription of Meaning on the Plan of Amsterdam, 1886-1914, Nancy Stieber 6. Caput Mundi?: St Peter's and the Deterritorialized Church, Donald McNeill 7. Places and Memory: Multiple Readings of a Plaza in Paris During the Commemoration of the French Revolution, Sarah Bonnemaison 8. Three Views of 'Frontier' at the World's Columbian Exposition, Christine Macy 9. From Victorian Asylum to 'Princess Park Manor', Deborah Weiner 10. If Walls Could Talk: Exploring the Dimensions of Heterotopia at the Istanbul Four Seasons Hotel, Zeynep Kezer 11. Ritual as Radical Change: The Burial of the Unknown Soldier and 'Ways of Using' the Space of Washington, DC, November 11 1921, Hélène Lipstadt 12. London Bridge Revisited, Dana Arnold

This book investigates the perception and appropriation of places across intervals of time and culture. The particular concern of the volume is to bring together fresh empirical research and animate it by contact with theoretical sophistication, without letting that overwhelm the material. The chapters establish the continuity of a particular physical object under discussion and show it in at least two different historical perspectives, in which recognisable features are shown in different lights.

The evolution of an urban self-consciousness in London in the early nineteenth century played a fundamental role in the shaping of the city. In this volume Dana Arnold explores the responses to the city among the urban bourgeoisie and their influence on the experience and development of London. Each of the chapters re-presents the metropolis through a thematic consideration of the urban infrastructure and architecture including public open spaces, new roads and bridges, public monuments, and buildings for show including museums, galleries and townhouses. These discrete 'walks' around London cohere into a kaleidoscopic view of the metropolis as a continually evolving entity. The nature and perception of urban experience and social life are mapped against this changing image of London revealing at once the modernity of the metropolis and the importance of the past - especially antiquity - to the construction of this transient present. Evidence of attitudes towards the metropolis is drawn from a range of contemporary visual and written sources including commentaries, guidebooks, literature and parliamentary reports and enquiries. The study of sensory responses to the city allows the exploration of the dynamic between city and society and a broader cultural understanding of urban form. London is re-presented as a matrix of key architectural, social and cultural themes and as the emblematic expression of different kinds of identities relating to gender,class and nationhood.

Architectural History is more than just the study of buildings. Architecture of the past and present remains an essential emblem of a distinctive social system and set of cultural values and as a result it has been the subject of study of a variety of disciplines. But what is architectural history and how should we read it?

Reading Architectural History examines the historiographic and socio/cultural implications of the mapping of British architectural history with particular reference to eighteenth - and nineteenth-century Britain. Discursive essays consider a range of writings from biographical and social histories to visual surveys and guidebooks to examine the narrative structures of histories of architecture and their impact on perception adn understanding of the architecture of the past. Alongside this, each chapter cites canonical histories juxtaposed with a range of social and cultural theorists, to reveal that these writings are richer than we have perhaps recognised and that architectural production in this period can in interrogated in the same way as that from more recent past - and can be read in a variety of ways.

The essays and texts combine to form an essential course reader for methods and critical approached to architectural history, and more generally as examples of the kind of evidence used in the formation of architectural histories, while also offering a thematic introduction to architecture in Britain and its social and cultural meaning.

The Spaces of the Hospital examines how hospitals operated as a complex category of social, urban and architectural space in London from 1680 to 1820. This period witnessed the transformation of the city into a modern metropolis. The hospital was very much part of this process and its spaces, both interior and exterior, help us to understand these changes in terms of spatiality and spatial practices.

Exploring the hospital through a series of thematic case studies, Dana Arnold presents a theoretically refined reading of how these institutions both functioned as internal discrete locations and interacted with the metropolis. Examples range from the grand royal military hospital, those concerned with the destitute and the insane and the new cultural phenomenon of the voluntary hospital.

This engaging book makes an important contribution to our understanding of urban space and of London, uniquely examining how different theoretical paradigms reveal parallel readings of these remarkable hospital buildings.

An unprecedented work on contemporary art as viewed through a global lens, offering cutting-edge ideas for decolonizing the art world and its global community A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework explores the ways the fine arts, performing arts, curation, cultural studies, and art history have attempted to situate themselves in a more global framework. Offering analyses of the successes and setbacks of those aiming to globalize the art world, this innovative volume presents a new and exciting way of considering art in its global contexts. Essays by an international panel of leading scholars and practicing artists assert that what we talk about as ‘art’ is essentially a Western concept, thus any attempts at understanding art in a global framework requires a revising of established conceptual definitions. Organized into three sections, this work first reviews the history and theory of the visual arts since 1980 and introduces readers to the emerging area of scholarship that seeks to place contemporary art in a global framework. The second section traces the progression of recent developments in the art world, including the voices of scholars as well as artists in exploring the significance of each of the four decades since 1980. The final section addresses a wide range of key themes in contemporary art over this period, such as the fundamental institutions and ontologies of art practice, and the interactions between art, politics, and the public sphere. This exciting new work: Offers offer a wholly new approach to methods for exploring global dimensions of art Covers many fields of the contemporary visual art world, including performance art, public art, curation, and archiving Analyses the grounding of art and its institutions in European colonialism, along with parallel structures of Western capitalism, imperialism, and nationalism Discusses the challenges encountered by scholars and artists who have attempted to globalize the art world as related to indigeneity, gender, sexuality, race, colonialism, ethnicity, and diaspora A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, researchers, and general readers interested in exploring global art beyond the traditional Euro-American context.

Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture and the other visual arts. In this Very Short Introduction, Dana Arnold presents an introduction to the issues, debates, and artefacts that make up art history. Beginning with a consideration of what art history is, she explains what makes the subject distinctive from other fields of study, and also explores the emergence of social histories of art (such as Feminist Art History and Queer Art History). Using a wide range of images, she goes on to explore key aspects of the discipline including how we write, present, read, and look at art, and the impact this has on our understanding of art history. This second edition includes a new chapter on global art histories, considering how the traditional emphasis on periods and styles in art originated in western art and can obscure other critical approaches and artwork from non-western cultures. Arnold also discusses the relationship between art and history, and the ways in which art can tell a different history from the one narrated by texts. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Architecture and ekphrasis examines how eighteenth-century prints and drawings of antique architecture operated as representations of thought. Using original archival material, it considers the idea of the past in the period, specifically how it was discovered and described, and investigates how space and time inform visual ekphrasis or descriptions of architecture. The idea of embodiment is used to explore the various methods of describing architecture - including graphic techniques, measurement and perspective - all of which demonstrate choices about different modes of ekphrasis. This well-illustrated, accessibly written study will be of interest to academics and students working in a broad range of subject areas. It will also be an essential teaching tool for increasingly popular cross-disciplinary courses. -- .

Architecture and ekphrasis examines how eighteenth-century prints and drawings of antique architecture operated as representations of thought. Using original archival material, it considers the idea of the past in the period, specifically how it was discovered and described, and investigates how space and time inform visual ekphrasis or descriptions of architecture. The idea of embodiment is used to explore the various methods of describing architecture - including graphic techniques, measurement and perspective - all of which demonstrate choices about different modes of ekphrasis. This well-illustrated, accessibly written study will be of interest to academics and students working in a broad range of subject areas. It will also be an essential teaching tool for increasingly popular cross-disciplinary courses. -- .

This original and innovative book examines a period in with the development of London was perhaps at its most intense, for in the opening decades of the nineteenth century a concerted attempt was made to transform the metropolis into a modern European capital. For the first time the re-imaging of London is considered in relation to attitudes towards land, land ownership and the use of landscapes. The author contends that methods of land management and development and the associative values of landscape usually connected with rural environments, were in many ways equally applicable to country and city and formed essential components in the evolution of the metropolis. This study of London landscapes will be of relevance to a broad range of researchers, academics and those with a lively interest in architectural, social, economic and cultural history. -- .

Rather than subscribing to a single position, this collection informs the reader about the current state of the discipline looking at changes across the broad field of methodological, theoretical and geographical plurality. Divided into three sections, Rethinking Architectural Historiography begins by renegotiating foundational and contemporary boundaries of architectural history in relation to other fields, such as art history and archaeology. It then goes on to critically engage with past and present histories, disclosing assumptions, biases and absences in architectural historiography. It concludes by exploring the possibilities provided by new perspectives, reframing the discipline in the light of new parameters and problematics. This timely and illustrated title reflects upon the current changes in historiographical practice, exploring potential openings that may contribute further transformation of the disciplines and theories on architectural historiography and addresses the current question of the disciplinary particularity of architectural history.

This book examines British imperial, colonial and postcolonial national identities within their political and social contexts. By considering the export, adoption and creation of such cultural identities, these essays show how nationhood and nationalism are self-consciously defined tools designed to focus and inspire loyalty. The contributors present these ideas with particular reference to English cultural identity and its interaction with the "Empire." They examine the national, imperial and colonial aesthetic--how architecture, landscape, painting, sculpture and literature were used, appropriated and re-appropriated in the furtherance of social and political agendas, and how this impacted on the making of "Britishness" in all its complexities. It is demonstrated that not only did the dominant aesthetic culture reinforce the dominant political and social ideology, it also re-presented and re-constructed the notion of British national identity.

This short book introduces the reader to the key concepts in art from ancient times to the present day. Unlike many previous publications, in which non-Western art is a mere add-on to the great artists and movements of the Western canon, this tells the story of art from a fresh perspective, integrating previously marginalised aspects of artistic creation into the principal narrative. The text focuses on illustrated examples, ranging from the iconic to the unusual, providing a stimulating and throught-provoking introduction to a complex and challenging subject. Concise and informative, the book is written in a clear, jargonfree style. While it is ideal for first-year students of art, art history and related subjects, it will also be invaluable for general readers wanting to know and understand more about art and culture.

The villa remains one of the most potent architectural forms in western culture. The ideal of a rural retreat for relaxation and contemplation has endured from antiquity up to the present day. Yet there have been significant changes in the form and function of the villa and the social and economic circumstances of its occupants. Many of these changes took place in the Georgian period. This stimulating book brings together leading historians to look at the eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century villa in its wider context. Images of the villa-real or imagines - are shown to reveal much about contemporary attitudes. The role of Andrea Palladio is re-examined through the response of architects throughout the period to his work, including Colen Campbell's Stourhead and Lord Burlington's villa at Cheswick. The range of form, planning and sources of the villa is seen and not only in Robert Adam's designs but also in the variations of the villa found in Edinburgh and Glasgow where it provided a balanced contrast between city and retreat. Later in the period, changes in the demand for houses and the urban fabric brought the villa into the city where its elitist aspirations were replaced by democratizing principles.

The country house was the focal point of Georgian architecture, landscape and society. This book explores the meaning of this distinct cultural form using a wide range of examples and approaches. Dana Arnold presents an analysis of the social and cultural significance of the country house, and her work is complemented by essays from experts in a variety of disciplines. Illustrations, showing exteriors, interiors and landscapes of houses ranging from Blenheim and Harewood to lesser known examples such as A la Ronde, provide a thorough historical and visual survey of the period. This title offers fresh interpretations and enables the reader to gain an insight into the pivotal role the country house played in 18th- and early 19th-century society.

For over four decades, art historian and cultural theorist Adrian Rifkin has been producing visionary and esoteric work, influencing a variety of artists and scholars. Inspired by Rifkin's innovative work in the field, Interdisciplinary Encounters offers an exploration of the question of 'interdisciplinarity' in cultural and visual studies. In it, close readings of specific artwork engage with aspects of Rifkin's work as diverse as Parisian urban formation, queer theory, the breathless subject and the object of art history itself. As the contributors reflect on how their own methodologies have interacted with Rifkin's, the common thread throughout these contributions becomes the interweaving of the seemingly disparate itself, both exploration and demonstration of the Rifkinian refiguring and redeployment of critical concepts within different fields of the study of culture and the visual. The scholarly contributions range from the artefactuality of objects and the seduction of the hidden to the question of how the past is made visible to us, to the relationship between mourning, the image and writing in art criticism's 1990s turn towards the personal. Grounded in different aspects of Rifkin's writings - the relationship between art and industry, pedagogical practices, reimagining historicity - these acclaimed scholars are by turns transgressive, meditative, incisive and revolutionary in an implicit argument for the value of Rifkin to teaching and learning, thinking and writing. Finally, Rifkin responds in a (non-) conclusion, unfolding his own travels through Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis and queer theory and asking what has been jettisoned along the way, deconstructing the iconography of the self and questioning what can be achieved by revisiting the fault-lines of our pasts and investigating the alternative histories of our critical selves. Interdisciplinary Encounters is a unique collaboration between the subject and object of Rifkin's groundbreaking writing, opening up new vistas of interdisciplinary interaction for researchers of art history and cultural studies.