Compelling visuality : the work of art in and out of history

Typically, art history is an enterprise of recovery-of searching out the provenance, the original intentions, the physical setting, and historical conditions behind a work of art. The essays in Compelling Visuality address some of the ''other'' questions that are less frequently asked-and, in doing so, show how much is to be learned and gained by going beyond the traditional approaches of art history. In particular, the contributors take up the commonly unexplored question of what is actually present in a work of art-what we see, touch, and experience when confronted with Renaissance or Baroque works that have survived the vicissitudes of time. International and interdisciplinary, this volume conducts readers into an ongoing discussion of the value and significance of personal response to works of art. Contributors: F. R. Ankersmit, U of Groningen; Mieke Bal, U of Amsterdam and Cornell U; Oskar B?tschmann, U of Bern; Georges Didi-Huberman, ?cole des Hautes ?tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris; Michael Ann Holly, Clark Art Institute; Donald Preziosi, UCLA and Oxford U; Ren?e van de Vall, U of Maastricht. Claire Farago is professor of fine arts at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Robert Zwijnenberg is professor of art history in relation to the development of science and technology at the University of Maastricht.

Typically, art history is an enterprise of recovery-of searching out the provenance, the original intentions, the physical setting, and historical conditions behind a work of art. The essays in Compelling Visuality address some of the "other" questions that are less frequently asked-and, in doing so, show how much is to be learned and gained by going beyond the traditional approaches of art history.In particular, the contributors take up the commonly unexplored question of what is actually present in a work of art-what we see, touch, and experience when confronted with Renaissance or Baroque works that have survived the vicissitudes of time. International and interdisciplinary, this volume conducts readers into an ongoing discussion of the value and significance of personal response to works of art. Contributors: F. R. Ankersmit, U of Groningen; Mieke Bal, U of Amsterdam and Cornell U; Oskar Bätschmann, U of Bern; Georges Didi-Huberman, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris; Michael Ann Holly, Clark Art Institute; Donald Preziosi, UCLA and Oxford U; Renée van de Vall, U of Maastricht. Claire Farago is professor of fine arts at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Robert Zwijnenberg is professor of art history in relation to the development of science and technology at the University of Maastricht.

Annotation Explores what we actually see, touch, and experience when looking at art. Typically, art history is an enterprise of recovery--of searching out the provenance, the original intentions, the physical setting, and historical conditions behind a work of art. The essays in Compelling Visuality address some of the "other" questions that are less frequently asked--and, in doing so, show how much is to be learned and gained by going beyond the traditional approaches of art history. In particular, the contributors take up the commonly unexplored question of what is actually present in a work of art--what we see, touch, and experience when confronted with Renaissance or Baroque works that have survived the vicissitudes of time. International and interdisciplinary, this volume conducts readers into an ongoing discussion of the value and significance of personal response to works of art Contents......Page 6 Art History after Aesthetics: A Provocative Introduction......Page 8 ONE: Ecstatic Aesthetics: Metaphoring Bernini......Page 18 TWO: Before the Image, Before Time: The Sovereignty of Anachronism......Page 48 THREE: Aesthetics before Art: Leonardo through the Looking Glass......Page 62 FOUR: Touching the Face: The Ethics of Visuality between Levinas and a Rembrandt Self-Portrait......Page 110 FIVE: Presence and Absence: On Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint John the Baptist......Page 129 SIX: Rococo as the Dissipation of Boredom......Page 149 SEVEN: Mourning and Method......Page 173 EIGHT: A Guide to Interpretation: Art Historical Hermeneutics......Page 196 NINE: Seeing Soane Seeing You......Page 228 Contributors......Page 254 The authors of the essays in this book take up the often unexplored question of how one's experience, when confronted with Renaissance or Baroque artworks, survives the vicissitudes of time and itself becomes an important element of interpretation. International and interdisciplinary, this volume conducts readers into an ongoing discussion of the value and significance of personal response to works of art. Takes up the commonly unexplored question of what is actually present in art--what aspects have survived the vicissitudes of time. International and interdisciplinary, this volume conducts readers into a discussion of the significance of personal response to works of art