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Light as Experience and Imagination from Medieval to Modern Times
synthesizes and interpretates the experience of light as revealed
in a wide range of art and literature from medieval to modern
times. The true subject of the book is making sense of the
individual's relationship with light, rather than the investigation
of light's essential nature. It tells the story of light "seducing"
individuals from the Middle Ages to our modern times. Consequently,
it is not concerned with the "progress" of scientific inquiries
into the physical properties and behavior of light (optical
science), but rather with subjective reactions as reflected in art,
architecture, and literature. Instead of its evolution, this book
celebrates the complexity of our relation to light's character. No
individual experience of light being "truer" than any other.
Some of the most breathtaking art in America lies behind doors that
few ever open. One such masterpiece is The Prophetic Quest, a
series of ten monumental stained glass windows in the Keneseth
Israel synagogue, just north of Philadelphia. This informative and
exquisitely illustrated volume pulls back the curtain on this
little-known work of art. Designed by the renowned American artist
Jacob Landau, The Prophetic Quest encompasses ten masterful
abstract pieces of stained glass that depict the lives and words of
the biblical prophets, each towering nearly twenty-five feet high
and spanning five feet across. Featuring essays recounting
Landau’s vision, the history of his project, and detailed
interpretive commentary on each window, this book presents an
immersive experience of Landau’s religious masterwork. Personal
reflections written by artists, art historians, poets, clergy, and
congregants about their experience of The Prophetic Quest round out
the volume with new ways to view and appreciate Landau’s
creation. Gorgeously illustrated, this book sheds light on American
synagogue art and the history of stained glass in America, and it
cements Landau’s reputation as one of the leading American
protest artists. The volume features essays by the editors as well
as Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Rita Rosen Poley, and Lance J. Sussman,
along with additional reflections from fifteen other contributors
and the photography of Tom Crane.
This book is an interdisciplinary synthesis and interpretation
about the experience of light as revealed in a wide range of art
and literature from Paleolithic to Roman times. Humanistic in
spirit and in its handling of facts, it marshals a substantial body
of scholarship to develop an explication of light as a central,
even dramatic, reality of human existence and experience in diverse
cultural settings. David S. Herrstrom underscores our intimacy with
light-not only its constant presence in our life but its
insinuating character. Focusing on our encounters with light and
ways of making sense of these, this book is concerned with the
personal and cultural impact of light, exploring our resistance to
and acceptance of light. Its approach is unique. The book's true
subject is the individual's relationship with light, rather than
the investigation of light's essential nature. It tells the story
of light seducing individuals down through the ages. Consequently,
it is not concerned with the "progress" of scientific inquiries
into the physical properties and behavior of light (optical
science), but rather with subjective reactions to it as reflected
in art (Paleolithic through Roman), architecture (Egyptian,
Grecian, Roman), mythology and religion (Paleolithic, Egyptian),
and literature (e.g., Akhenaten, Plato, Aeschylus, Lucretius, John
the Evangelist, Plotinus, and Augustine). This book celebrates the
complexity of our relation to light's character. No individual
experience of light is "truer" than any other; none improves on any
previous experience of light's "tidal pull" on us. And the wondrous
variety of these encounters has yielded a richly layered tapestry
of human experience. By its broad scope and interdisciplinary
approach, this pioneering book is without precedent.
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