This striking and innovative book opens up a new route into the study of British landscape art in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Each chapter discusses an area in which art and science came into contact with one another: the role played by assumptions drawn from physiology in conditioning eighteenth-century aesthetic debates; Robert J. Thornton's grandly conceived book of botanical illustrations, The Temple of Flora; the interaction between artists and geologists in the exploration of the Scottish landscape; the influence of the artist-scientist Cornelius Varley on the circle of artists around his brother, John Varley, pioneers in the use of open-air sketching. Charlotte Klonk's deeply researched accounts of the complex and often ambiguous interactions that took place between artists and scientists challenge simplistic accounts of developments in art as mere by-products of scientific progress as well as reductive socio-economic interpretations. For Klonk, the common thread running through the changes in both art and science is the emergence of a new phenomenalist conception of experience around the turn of the century. Phenomenalism involved a commitment to the scrupulous observation of particular phenomena, without making prior assumptions about meaning or underlying causes, and this ideal was common to both artists and scientists. In this way, Klonk argues, the period represents a brief moment of balance before the concerns of science and art split apart into objectivity and subjectivity, respectively. Lavishly illustrated, and drawing on a wealth of unfamiliar material, both written and pictorial, this is a book that will make a distinctive contribution to art history. Its bold interpretation and interdisciplinary approach will also make it of great interest to anyone concerned with this crucial period in British cultural and intellectual history.

Science and the Perception of Nature: British Landscape Art in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

Klonk, Charlotte

History

Paul Mellon Centre BA

This fascinating study of art gallery interiors examines the changing ideals and practices of galleries in Europe and North America from the 18th to the late 20th century. It offers a detailed account of the different displays that have been createdthe colors of the background walls, lighting, furnishings, the height and density of the art works on showand it traces the different scientific, political and commercial influences that lay behind their development.
Charlotte Klonk shows that scientists like Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt advanced theories of perception that played a significant role in justifying new modes of exhibiting. Equally important for the changing modes of exhibition in art galleries was what Michael Baxandall has called the period eye,” a way of seeing informed by the impact of new fashions in interior decoration and by department store and shop window displays. The history of museum interiors, she argues, should be appreciated as a revealing chapter in the broader history of experience.

Spaces of Experience: Art Gallery Interiors from 1800 to 2000

Arts & Photography

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Yale University Press

This book provides a lively and stimulating introduction to methodological debates within art history. Offering a lucid account of approaches from Hegel to post-colonialism, the book provides a sense of art history’s own history as a discipline from its emergence in the late-eighteenth century to contemporary debates.

Art History: A Critical Introduction to Its Methods

Hatt, Michael

History & Criticism

Manchester University Press

Art History: A critical introduction to its methods provides a lively and stimulating introduction to methodological debates within art history. Offering a lucid account of approaches from Hegel to post-colonialism, the book provides a sense of art history’s own history as a discipline from its emergence in the late-eighteenth century to contemporary debates. By explaining the underlying philosophical and political assumptions behind each method, along with clear examples of how these are brought to bear on visual and historical analysis, the authors show that an adherence to a certain method is, in effect, a commitment to a set of beliefs and values. The book makes a strong case for the vitality of the discipline and its methodological centrality to new fields such as visual culture. This book will be of enormous value to undergraduate and graduate students, and also makes its own contributions to ongoing scholarly debates about theory and method.

Art history: A critical introduction to its methods

P648 - MANCHESTER UNIV PR

Art history: A critical introduction to its methods: 2nd edition

Price, Dorothy

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