Sculpture – Some Observations on Shape & Form from Pygmalion′s Creative Dream (Emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith) - Hardcover

Herder, Johann Gottfrie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226327531 ISBN 13: 9780226327532

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2002

Synopsis

Long recognized as one of the most important 18th-century works on the aesthetics of the visual arts, Johann Gottfried Herder's "Plastik" ("Sculpture", 1778) has never before appeared in a complete English translation. In this landmark essay, Herder combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources - from the classics to Norse legend, Shakespeare to the Bible - to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture. Standing on the fault line between classicism and romanticism, Herder draws most of his examples from classical sculpture, while nevertheless insisting on the historicity of art and the senses themselves. Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us. Jason Gaigers translation of "Sculpture" includes an extensive introduction to Herder's thought and illustrations of all the sculptures discussed in the text.

About this title

About the Author

Jason Gaiger is lecturer in art history at the Open University. He is coeditor of Art in Theory 1815-1900 and Art in Theory 1648-1815.

From the Back Cover

"The eye that gathers impressions is no longer the eye that sees a depiction on a surface; it becomes a hand, the ray of light becomes a finger, and the imagination becomes a form of immediate touching."--Johann Gottfried Herder

Long recognized as one of the most important eighteenth-century works on aesthetics and the visual arts, Johann Gottfried Herder's Plastik (Sculpture, 1778) has never before appeared in a complete English translation. In this landmark essay, Herder combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources--from the classics to Norse legend, Shakespeare to the Bible--to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture.

Standing on the fault line between classicism and romanticism, Herder draws most of his examples from classical sculpture, while nevertheless insisting on the historicity of art and of the senses themselves. Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us. One of the key articulations of the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang, Sculpture is also important as an anticipation of subsequent developments in art theory.

Jason Gaiger's translation of Sculpture includes an extensive introduction to Herder's thought, explanatory notes, and illustrations of all the sculptures discussed in the text.

From the Inside Flap

"The eye that gathers impressions is no longer the eye that sees a depiction on a surface; it becomes a hand, the ray of light becomes a finger, and the imagination becomes a form of immediate touching." Johann Gottfried Herder

Long recognized as one of the most important eighteenth-century works on aesthetics and the visual arts, Johann Gottfried Herder'sPlastik (Sculpture, 1778) has never before appeared in a complete English translation. In this landmark essay, Herder combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources from the classics to Norse legend, Shakespeare to the Bible to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture.

Standing on the fault line between classicism and romanticism, Herder draws most of his examples from classical sculpture, while nevertheless insisting on the historicity of art and of the senses themselves. Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us. One of the key articulations of the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang,Sculpture is also important as an anticipation of subsequent developments in art theory.

Jason Gaiger's translation of Sculpture includes an extensive introduction to Herder's thought, explanatory notes, and illustrations of all the sculptures discussed in the text.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226327531
• ISBN 13: 9780226327532
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 152