Art and social structure
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Art and social structure
Polity Press, 1995
- : hbk
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hbk ISBN 9780745611334
Description
This text's central concern is artistic revolutions - the major formal developments of art which divide, for example, the archaic art of the Egyptians from the classical art of the Greeks, and the perceptual-realist tradition of the European Renaissance from the art of the Middle Ages and the modernist art of the 20th century. Witkin develops his approach through a drawing together of the sociology of art, the German historical tradition and the French semiotic tradition. Styles of art are seen as a function of the semiotic demands for organizing experience at different levels of abstraction. These, in turn, are grounded in the structure of social relations which constrains the level of abstraction at which value can be thought in any given society. The book analyzes the structural isomorphism between aesthetic, semiotic and social systems and pursues the implications of this for theorising aesthetic developments in postmodernity. The analysis is illustrated through particular works of art, including works by Jan van Eyck and Cezanne.
Table of Contents
1. Art and History - The Grand Version. 2. Abstraction and Social relations. 3. Perceptual Systems and Presentational Codes. 4. Art and Ideology. 5. Bourgeois Society and Realist Styles of Art. 6. Van Eyck through the Looking Glass. 7. To Amaze Paris with an Apple. 8. Machines, Dreams and the Room at Unilever.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780745611341
Description
This book is a major contribution to the sociology of art. Its central concern is the social determinants of artistic revolutions. Art is seen as a powerful means of thinking and constructing social relations. In analysing the art of ancient civilizations as well as those of Renaissance Europe and of the modern world, Witkin claims that each style makes it possible to think experience in ways that both reflect and realize the predominant system of social relations.Witkin offers an original version of the sociology of art, one which is in the grand tradition of sociological theory and at the same time fully in touch with current discourses on modernity. The discussion of art 'styles' and 'movements' is illustrated with pictures of well-known paintings. There is also a detailed discussion of the work of Jan van Eyck and of Paul Cezanne, each of whom is held to occupy an important transitional position between 'tradition' and 'modernity'. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of the sociology of the arts, art history, the sociology of culture, cultural studies and media studies generally.
Table of Contents
List of Plates. Preface. 1. Art and History - The Grand Version. 2. Abstraction and Social Relations. 3. Perceptual Systems and Presentational Codes. 4. Art and Ideology. 5. Bourgeois Society and Realist Styles of Art. 6. Van Eyck through the Looking Glass. 7. To Amaze Paris with an Apple. 8. Machines, Dreams and the Room at Unilever. Notes. Index.
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