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The Invention of Art History in Ancient Greece

The Invention of Art History in Ancient Greece

The Invention of Art History in Ancient Greece

Religion, Society and Artistic Rationalisation
Jeremy Tanner, University College London
December 2009
Paperback
9780521114226
$60.00
USD
Paperback
USD
Hardback

    In this book contemporary perspectives in the sociology of art are brought to bear on a series of fundamental questions in the history of Greek art. It is argued that artists sought to enhance their status and autonomy in the classical period by writing theoretical treatises and producing works of art intended for purely aesthetic contemplation. This ultimately gave rise to the practice of art history writing, and the development of art collecting. The Greeks, however, developed their own very specific ethos of connoisseurship.

    • Brings an innovative sociological perspective to bear on a series of central problems in the history of classical art
    • Fully illustrated.
    • Of interest to sociologists and students of comparative art, as well as classicists and art historians

    Reviews & endorsements

    "Thoroughly interesting and stimulating...It will in any case further the discussion about role and status of art and artists in ancient Greece. The book is beautifully produced and illustrated."-- Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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    Product details

    December 2009
    Paperback
    9780521114226
    348 pages
    244 × 170 × 18 mm
    0.56kg
    57 b/w illus.
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction: art and society in classical art history
    • 2. Rethinking the Greek revolution: art and aura in an age of enchantment
    • 3. Portraits and society in classical Greece
    • 4. Culture, social structure and artistic agency in classical Greece
    • 5. Reasonable ways of looking at pictures: high culture in Hellenistic Greece and the Roman empire
    • 6. Epilogue: art after art history.
      Author
    • Jeremy Tanner , University College London

      Jeremy Tanner is Lecturer in Greek and Roman Art at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He is the author of The Sociology of Art: A Reader (2003).