Flesh and the ideal : Winckelmann and the origins of art history

this Is The First Intellectual Biography In English Of Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), One Of The Most Famous Eighteenth-century German Philosophers And Aestheticians Who Is Considered By Many To Be The Father Of Modern Art History. Analyzing Winckelmann's Magnum Opus, History Of The Art Of Antiquity, Potts Explains The Fundamental Importance To Art History Of This Eloquent Account Of The Aesthetic And Imaginative Greek Ideal In Art. 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Considerable Stature. He Was Also A Very Powerful Writer Who Offered An Unusually Eloquent Account Of The Aesthetic And Imaginative Charge Of The Greek Ideal In Art. He Is Particularly Revealing As To The Political And The Homoerotic Sexual Content Of The Fantasies That Gave The Antique Ideal Male Nude Its Larger Resonance. This Book Re-examines Winckelmann's Canonical Status As The So-called Father Of Modern Art History Showing How His Systematic Definitions Of Style And Historical Development Can Cast A New Light On Present-day Understanding Of These Notions. The Complexities Of His New Historical Perspectives On The Art Of Antiquity Both Prefigure And Undermine The More Strictly Historicising Views Of The Greek Ideal Put Forward In The Nineteenth Century. The Force Of Winckelmann's Writing Can Only Be Fully Understood If It Is Seen In The Context Of The Distinctive Preoccupations And Values Of Enlightenment Culture. It Has Acquired A New Significance, However, As The Darker Aspect Of Enlightenment Ideals - Such As The Fantasy Of A Completely Free Sovereign Subjectivity Associated With Greek Art - Come More And More To The Fore. Winckelmann's Writing Has A Richness And Density That Take It Well Beyond The Bounds Of The Simple Rationalist Art History And Neo-classical Art Theory With Which It Is Usually Associated. He Often Seems To Speak Disturbingly Directly To Our Present Awareness Of The Discomforting Ideological And Psychic Contradictions Inherent In Supposedly Ideal Symbolic Forms. I. Inventing A History Of Art. The Significance Of Winckelmann's History ; A New Paradigm ; History As System -- Ii. Fact And Fantasy. A Lover's Discourse ; Rise And Decline ; Dichotomies Of Freedom ; Presences And Absences -- Iii. Style. The High Style And The Beautiful Style ; Precedents ; Visual Facts ; Verbal And Visual ; The Rhetoric Of The Image -- Iv. Beauty And Sublimity. The Sex Of The Sublime ; Beautiful Masculinity ; The Sublime Fetish -- V. Ideal Bodies. The Greek Ideal And The Ideal Ego ; Oneness And Ideal Beauty ; The Body Of Narcissus ; Nightmare And Utopia -- Vi. Freedom And Desire. A Free Subject ; Politics, Patronage, And Identity ; Friendship And Desire ; Endings -- Vii. Afterlife. Jacobin Politics And Victorian Aestheticism ; Revolutionary Heroes ; Modernity And Its Discontents. Alex Potts. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [254]-255) And Index. Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), one of the most important figures ever to have written about art, is considered by many to be the father of modern art history. This book is an intellectual biography of Winckelmann that discusses his magnum opus, History of the Art of Antiquity , in the context of his life and work in Germany and in Rome in the eighteenth century. Alex Potts analyzes Winckelmann's eloquent account of the aesthetic and imaginative Greek ideal in art, an account that focuses on the political and homoerotic sexual content that gave the antique ideal male nude its larger resonance. He shows how Winckelmann's writing reflects the well-known preoccupations and values of Enlightenment culture as well as a darker aspect of Enlightenment ideals--such as the fantasy of a completely free sovereign subjectivity associated with Greek art. Potts explores how Winckelmann's historical perspective on the art of antiquity both prefigures and undermines the more strictly historicizing views put forward in the nineteenth century and how his systematic definition of style and historical development casts a new light on the present-day understanding of these notions. According to Potts, Winckelmann goes well beyond the simple rationalist art history and Neoclassical art theory with which he is usually associated. Rather, he often seems to speak directly to our present awareness of the discomforting ideological and psychic contradictions inherent in supposedly ideal symbolic forms.