In this text, philosophers, psychologists and art historians explore the implications of theories of vision for our understanding of the nature of pictorial representation and picture perception.
An accessible and attractive beginner’s guide to getting the most out of looking at pictures Beautifully illustrated with some of the world’s greatest pictures, from cave paintings and Roman mosaics to Picasso and Damien Hirst, this affordable guide explains the art of looking at and understanding pictures, equipping the reader with the vision and tools to approach any museum picture with confidence. Looking at pictures can be an exciting or moving experience, but some pictures—often the most rewarding—require some explanation before they can be fully understood. Delving into the origins, designs, and themes of over one hundred pictures from different periods and places, this book illuminates the art of looking at—and talking about—pictures. Susan Woodford shows how one can read a picture by examining the formal and stylistic devices used by an artist, and she explores popular themes and subject matter, and the relationship of pictures to the societies that produced them. This indispensable guide is supplemented by a glossary of key terms, ranging from art movements and technical terms to religious and classical terminology, to give readers all the information they need at their fingertips.
Discusses the place of the illustration in children's picture books, looking particularly at how pictures can express abstract themes, such as moods, which cannot be shown directly. Uses examples from well-known works to illustrate the points discussed.
Features new duotone reproductions of one hundred landmark photographs from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art that chronicle the historical evolution of the photographic arts in works by Adams, Weston, Stieglitz, Steichen, and other notable photographers. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.
In this groundbreaking work, Ariella Azoulay thoroughly revises our understanding of the ethical status of photography. It must, she insists, be understood in its inseparability from the many catastrophes of recent history. She argues that photography is a particular set of relations between individuals and the powers that govern them and, at the same time, a form of relations among equals that constrains that power. Anyone, even a stateless person, who addresses others through photographs or occupies the position of a photograph’s addressee, is or can become a member of the citizenry of photography. The crucial arguments of the book concern two groups that have been rendered invisible by their state of exception: the Palestinian noncitizens of Israel and women in Western societies. Azoulay’s leading question is: Under what legal, political, or cultural conditions does it become possible to see and show disaster that befalls those with flawed citizenship in a state of exception? The Civil Contract of Photography is an essential work for anyone seeking to understand the disasters of recent history and the consequences of how they and their victims are represented.
Here is a nostalgic collection of intricate, challenging black-and-white Hidden Pictures puzzles for a grown-up audience! This adult coloring book from Highlights, the iconic children's brand, is an enjoyable, stress-free activity that provides hours of simple relaxation, as well as the fun of re-discovering a beloved childhood pastime. This is a coloring book that adults will love!
The language in which we speak about art has become steadily more abstruse, though for thousands of years this was not the case, Today, we live in a kaleidoscopic new world of images. Is there a vocabulary we can learn in order to read these images? Is there something we can do so as not to remain passive when we flip through an illustrated book or wander through a gallery, or are there ways in which we can 'read' the stories within paintings, monumnets, buildings and sculptures? We say 'every picture tells a story', but does it? Taking a handful of extraordinary images - photagraphed, painted, built, sculpted - Alberto Manguel explores, with delight and erudition, how each one attempts to tell a story that we, the viewer, must decipher or invent. Whether delving into the love of life in the twentieth-century world of Joan Mitchell, or the brutal complexities of Picasso's treatment of his mistress; revisiting the riddles of the past in the fifteenth-century painting of Robert Campin, or exploring the heartrending life of 'the hairy girl' whose matted fur so astonished sixteenth-century Italy, he helps us to enjoy and explore the visual landscape we live in.