30 November 2007 | Books, Theory
In CAA Reviews, Peg Brand considers Alexander Nehamas’ new book Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art: This is a grand work by a distinguished scholar in the field of aesthetics, and as such, deserves the attention of art historians, theorists, and artists in addition to the book’s [...]
29 November 2007 | Museums
We read in The Independent: The city of Brussels is to host the largest showcase of European art that the continent has seen, an exhibition that aims to prove how “joined up” its artistic heritage really is. The Grand Atelier: Pathways of Art in Europe from the 5th to the 18th Centuries brings together 350 [...]
28 November 2007 | Books
Alexandra Mangel recently reviewed for Deutschlandradio art historian Alessandro Nova‘s “Das Buch des Windes” (“The Book of Winds”), an historical survey of the visual depiction of wind: … a convincing combination of excitingly told history and basic course in method. This results essentially from his clever choice of subject: Because the wind itself is invisible, [...]
27 November 2007 | Uncategorized
In the November issue of CAA News, we read that caa.reviews has five new field editors: 18th Century European Art: Laura Auricchio (Parsons) Pre-Columbian / Colonial Latin American Art: Charlene Villaseñor Black (UCLA) American Art: Cécile Whiting (UC-Irvine) Modern/Contemporary Art Exhibitions in New England: Patricia Hills (BU) Modern/Contemporary Art Exhibitions in New York / Abroad: [...]
26 November 2007 | Photography, Theory
The summer 2007 issue of new formations is devoted to Siegfried Kracauer. Edtior Jan Campbell writes that his “contribution to twentieth century thought is undeniable. Yet he is difficult to define in relation to any particular tradition or discipline of knowledge.” Some of Kracauer’s writings concern photography: In his famous Photography essay Kracauer reveals how [...]
21 November 2007 | Uncategorized
The Art History Newsletter will next publish on Monday, November 26.
21 November 2007 | Architecture, Journals, Theory
In the latest issue of New German Critique (99), editor Andreas Huyssen writes: Since the waning of the debate about “postmodernism” and the rise of “globalization” as master signifier of our time, the discourses of modernity and modernism have staged a remarkable comeback. Jean-Francois Lyotard’s provocative quip that any work of art has to be [...]
20 November 2007 | Ancient, Books
In the most recent issue of Mouseion (VI:2), Kelly Olson reviews John R. Clarke’s Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-Elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C. – A.D. 315: When I first received this book for review, I admit I was quite skeptical. Could we really identify “ordinary” Romans? Could one [...]
19 November 2007 | Books, Modern, Theory
In the most recent issue (40:5) of the provocative art-science journal Leonardo (Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology), Jan Baetens reviews Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture, edited by Patricia Johnson: This collection of essays is great reading … [it] opens new ground for the [...]
16 November 2007 | Architecture
In the July 2007 issue of Material Religion, Jeanne Halgren Kilde writes In recent years, the critical study of sacred space has stake a new and prominent claim on the landscape of religious studies … Critical approaches to the study of religious space vary widely: hermeneutical analyses informed by the neo-Eliadean perspective of Lindsay Jones; [...]
15 November 2007 | Photography
German art historian Siegfried Wichmann has found evidence that “Mad King” Ludwig II of Bavaria died not of suicide but of murder. From the Independent: He was gay, wildly eccentric and built fairytale castles that today rate as Germany’s leading tourist attractions – but more than a century ago “Mad King” Ludwig II of Bavaria [...]
15 November 2007 | Renaissance
From the Times of London: They are among the most prized treasures held by the Royal Collection, the British Museum and the Ashmolean in Oxford. But drawings that are said to give an unparalleled insight into the creative process of Michelangelo should no longer be attributed to him, according to new research. Three academics from [...]
13 November 2007 | Conferences
The 2008 College Art Association conference, to be held February 20-23 in Dallas, now has a full website, including a list of all papers to be presented. A session entitled “Cute” will feature the following papers: The Apotheosis of Cute: The Sacred and Profane in the Work of Mark Ryden How Cute: eBay’s “Black Americana” [...]
9 November 2007 | Books, Modern
Lea Vergine’s 1997 exhibition catalogue Trash, Quando i rifiuti diventano arte has been translated into English, as When Trash Becomes Art: TRASH rubbish mongo. It considers the use of trash by a wide variety of artists from Picasso, Tatlin and Marinetti to Mimmo Rotella, Louise Nevelson and Christian Boltanski. Vergine writes: … why did the [...]
8 November 2007 | Uncategorized
The August 2007 issue of the Journal of Visual Culture is devoted to “Detritus and the Moving Image.” Caetlin Benson-Allott writes on VCRs, specifically … a Panasonic 4-Head, Hi-Fi Stereo VHS VCRplus+. Its name appears in gold letters across the VCR’s faceplate, which is otherwise visually dominated by an oblong flap in the middle of [...]
7 November 2007 | Americas, Modern
In the July 2007 Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, Andrea Pappas argues that, although abstract expressionism was marketed as an art of “timeless, ‘universal’ themes and subjects,” at least one of its artists had other things on his mind: The standard view of Rothko presents him as an artist who eschewed the particular, the local [...]
6 November 2007 | Books, Modern, Teaching
In CAA Reviews, Juliet Bellow has published an essay, “Surveying the ‘Long Nineteenth Century’: A Review of Art-History Textbooks in the Field,” that evaluates the following texts: 19th-Century Art by Robert Rosenblum and H.W. Janson (2005); 19th Century European Painting: David to Cézanne by Lorenz Eitner (2002); Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History by Stephen [...]
5 November 2007 | Uncategorized
In the September 2007 Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Pamela Turton-Turner has contributed an article, “The Role of Ridicule in Naked Charity Calendars.” According to the author, there appeared at least 556 naked fundraising calendars between 1996 and 2007. One produced by “elderly women in a small Tasmanian village in 2002″ generated $100,000 in [...]
2 November 2007 | Modern
Yes, there is an entire journal devoted to La Celestina, the 15th century Spanish play attributed to Fernando de Rojas. It’s called Celestinesca and a recent issue (30) has an article by Carol Salus on “Some Early Celestina Drawings by Picasso.” The artist took an interest in the play at a time when it “was [...]
1 November 2007 | Uncategorized
In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Karin Hellwig tells the story of the 36-year correspondence between art historians Carl Justi and Wilhelm Bode. (Rough Google translation here.)
