Renaissance Theory

James Elkins, Robert Williams0415960452, 9780415960458, 9780203929865, 9780415960465, 0415960460, 0203929861

Renaissance Theory presents an animated conversation among art historians about the optimal ways of conceptualizing Renaissance art, and the links between Renaissance art and contemporary art and theory. This is the first discussion of its kind, involving not only questions within Renaissance scholarship, but issues of concern to art historians and critics in all fields. Organized as a virtual roundtable discussion, the contributors discuss rifts and disagreements about how to understand the Renaissance and debate the principal texts and authors of the last thirty years who have sought to reconceptualize the period. They then turn to the issue of the relation between modern art and the Renaissance: Why do modern art historians and critics so seldom refer to the Renaissance? Is the Renaissance our indispensable heritage, or are we cut off from it by the revolution of modernism?

The volume includes an introduction by Rebecca Zorach and two final, synoptic essays, as well as contributions from some of the most prominent thinkers on Renaissance art including Stephen Campbell, Michael Cole, Frederika Jakobs, Claire Farago, and Matt Kavaler.

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Table of contents :
BOOK COVER……Page 1
TITLE……Page 4
COPYRIGHT……Page 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS……Page 6
SERIES PREFACE……Page 8
1: INTRODUCTION……Page 12
RENAISSANCE THEORY: A SELECTIVE INTRODUCTION……Page 14
2: STARTING POINTS……Page 48
INTRODUCTION TO AN ABANDONED BOOK……Page 50
VASARI’S RENAISSANCE AND ITS RENAISSANCE ALTERNATIVES……Page 58
THE CONCEPT OF THE RENAISSANCE TODAY: WHAT IS AT STAKE?……Page 80
RETHINKING THE DIVIDE: CULT IMAGES AND THE CULT OF IMAGES……Page 106
GOTHIC AS RENAISSANCE: ORNAMENT, EXCESS, AND IDENTITY, CIRCA 1500……Page 126
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART AND THE SYSTEMATICITY OF REPRESENTATION……Page 170
3: THE ART SEMINAR……Page 196
4: ASSESSMENTS……Page 288
5: AFTERWORDS……Page 498
RENAISSANCE THEORY?……Page 500
HUGGING THE SHORE……Page 512
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS……Page 532
INDEX……Page 542