Klik på en miniature for at gå til Google Books
Indlæser... Abstraction and Empathy (1907)af Wilhelm Worringer
Ingen Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
Wilhelm Worringer's landmark study in the interpretation of modern art, first published in 1908, has seldom been out of print. Its profound impact not only on art historians and theorists but also for generations of creative writers and intellectuals is almost unprecedented. Starting from the notion that beauty derives from our sense of being able to identify with an object, Worringer argues that representational art produces satisfaction from our "objectified delight in the self," reflecting a confidence in the world as it is--as in Renaissance art. By contrast, the urge to abstraction, as exemplified by Egyptian, Byzantine, primitive, or modern expressionist art, articulates a totally different response to the world: it expresses man's insecurity. Thus in historical periods of anxiety and uncertainty, man seeks to abstract objects from their unpredictable state and transform them into absolute, transcendental forms. Abstraction and Empathy also has a sociological dimension, in that the urge to create fixed, abstract, and geometric forms is a response to the modern experience of industrialization and the sense that individual identity is threatened by a hostile mass society. Hilton Kramer's introduction considers the influence of Worringer's thesis and places his book in historical context. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsIngenPopulære omslag
Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)709.04052The arts Modified subdivisions of the arts History, geographic treatment, biography By Period 20th Century 20th Century Abstract Art And Constructivism Abstractionism, abstract expressionism, geometric abstractionism, neoplasticismLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
Er det dig?Bliv LibraryThing-forfatter. |
Worringer's study, a publication of his doctoral thesis, is certainly well-conceived, arguing in favor of a binary between the empathy invoked by realistic art and the fears and inadequacies that appear as a result of the abstraction that appears in medieval and modern art.
The book is obviously geared towards those with a strong background in art history, though his inclusion of examples relating to history and literature are useful for broadening his argument. The practical section is the more useful of the two, elucidating through example the somewhat ponderous theoretical section (which, I have no doubt, would be more of a breeze for the art-inclined). Ultimately, the recapitulations of his argument and its major points do keep things grounded, even when the text feels as if it's going to veer off over the layman's head.
Influential, for sure, and especially for those studying the modernist aesthetic, but this is a very specialized work and should be approached cautiously by those outside of the realm of its reach.