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Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art
Esther Pasztory Manufacturer: University of Texas Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 029270691X |
Book Description
"As a major scholar of Meso-American art, Pasztory has written a valuable and substantive text."
Art Documentation
"It would greatly contribute to the revitalization of art history if its practitioners would respond to Esther Pasztory's book with an energy commensurate with its critical polemic. She views art from a very long historical perspective, places it in a social science context, shifts the emphasis from taste to cognition, and brings it under the methodology implied by her title Thinking with Things. Taken together, this involves nothing less than a transformation of vision, with the widest implications for the practice of her discipline."
Arthur C. Danto, art critic, The Nation
" Thinking with Things is an ambitious essay that addresses some of the fundamental issues in the fields of art history, anthropology, and aesthetics. Extending the discourse of George Kubler's classic The Shape of Time, Pasztory more directly confronts questions of form, representation, and the meaning of objects created by homo faber."
David Rosand, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History, Columbia University
"Esther Pasztory, a renowned art historian, has immersed herself in the data and theory of anthropology, helping her forge tools which she employs to great advantage in this volume. Eschewing a narrowly 'esthetic' point of view, she shows, over and over again, how a people's art emerges from and reflects its social context. Fearlessly invading the thorny thickets of esthetic theory, Dr. Pasztory grapples with its great issues and presents to the reader a succession of views that are at once engaging, incisive, and provocative."
Robert L. Carneiro, Curator, American Museum of Natural History
What is "art"? Why have human societies through all time and around the globe created those objects we call works of art? Is there any way of defining art that can encompass everything from Paleolithic objects to the virtual images created by the latest computer technology? Questions such as these have preoccupied Esther Pasztory since the beginning of her scholarly career. In this authoritative volume, she distills four decades of research and reflection to propose a pathbreaking new way of understanding what art is and why human beings create it that can be applied to all cultures throughout time.
At its heart, Pasztory's thesis is simple and yet profound. She asserts that humans create things (some of which modern Western society chooses to call "art") in order to work out our ideasthat is, we literally think with things. Pasztory draws on examples from many societies to argue that the art-making impulse is primarily cognitive and only secondarily aesthetic. She demonstrates that "art" always reflects the specific social context in which it is created, and that as societies become more complex, their art becomes more rarefied.
Pasztory presents her thesis in a two-part approach. The first section of the book is an original essay entitled "Thinking with Things" that develops Pasztory's unified theory of what art is and why we create it. The second section is a collection of eight previously published essays that explore the art-making process in both Pre-Columbian and Western societies. Pasztory's work combines the insights of art history and anthropology in the light of poststructuralist ideas. Her book will be indispensable reading for everyone who creates or thinks about works of art.
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Color & Human Response: Aspects of Light and Color Bearing on the Reactions of Living Things and the Welfare of Human Beings
Faber Birren Manufacturer: Wiley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471288640 |
Book Description
"Birren presents a kaleidoscopic view of color information that has been a source of fascination " Color Research and Application "Keeps up with the latest developments in biology and psychology where light and color are involved." AIA Journal Here is a major work by one of the best-known color authorities in the world. Faber Bitten pioneered in the field of "functional" color, using color properties to promote human welfare psychologically, visually, and physiologically; in this volume he has assembled a wealth of information on the subject. Color and Human Response offers intriguing factual and hypothetical observations on the influences of color in life, supported by historical references and the latest scientific data. Birren explores the biological, visual, emotional, aesthetic, and psychic responses to color referring both to ancient symbolic uses of color as well as its application in the modern environment. His specifications for color in homes, offices, hospitals, and schools are geared toward relieving modem tensions and anxieties. Complete with drawings, color photographs, and a chapter on the personal meaning of color preferences, Color and Human Response will fascinate anyone concerned with the human environment, including scientists and psychologists. It has become a basic reference for architects, teachers, and interior and industrial designers.Customer Reviews:
A Well Rounded Resource for Students.......2000-08-09
Color and Human Response.......2000-04-18
Color and Human Response.......2000-04-18
Book Description
“Useful men are some of the greatest blessings of a people. To have many such is more for a people’s happiness than almost anything, unless it be God’s own gracious, spiritual presence amongst them; they are precious gifts of heaven.”
Certainly one of the most useful men in evangelical history was the man who preached those words, pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards. Commemorating his 300th birthday, general editors John Piper and Justin Taylor chose ten essays that highlight different aspects of Edwards’s life and legacy and show how his teachings are just as relevant today as they were three centuries ago.
Even within the church, many people know little more about Edwards than what is printed in American history textbooks—most often, excerpts from his best-known sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” They unjustly envision Edwards preaching only fire and brimstone to frightened listeners. But he knew and preached God’s heaven as much as Satan’s hell. He was a humble and joyful servant, striving to glorify God in his personal life and public ministry.
This book’s contributors investigate the character and teachings of the man who preached from a deep concern for the unsaved and a passionate desire for God. Studying the life and works of this dynamic Great Awakening figure will rouse slumbering Christians, prompting them to view the world through Edwards’s God-centered lens.
Customer Reviews:
Gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for Edwards.......2007-09-07
Historical Theology/Biography with Plenty of Application!.......2005-02-17
great book - edwards continues to inspire!.......2004-09-04
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World Without End: Mainstream American Protestant Visions of the Last Things, 1880-1925 (Religion in North America, 28)
James H. Moorhead Manufacturer: Indiana University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0253335809 |
Book Description
In the 19th century American Protestants firmly believed that when progress had run its course, there would be a Second Coming of Christ, the world would come to a supernatural End, and the predictions in the Apocalypse would come to pass. During the years covered in James Moorhead's study, however, moderate and liberal mainstream Protestants transformed this postmillennialism into a hope that this world would be the scene for limitless spiritual improvement and temporal progress. The sense of an End vanished with the arrival of the new millennium.Customer Reviews:
Excellent History of Changing of End Times Guard in USA.......2001-10-14
He works from the thesis that historical criticism undercutting the Biblical foundation for post-mill and thus the removal of all coping mechanisms when crisis hits (such as depression and world war and societal declline) led to this eschatological shift.
Moorhead is a fine writer and documents his research with both primary and secondary sources. I enjoyed this read immensely and will find it a worthwhile resource to turn to. Well worth the read and purchase for all interested in end times in America.
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On Seeing: Things Seen, Unseen, and Obscene
F. Gonzalez-Crussi Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1585676748 |
Book Description
A probing and profoundly entertaining literary meditation on vision.
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Vision Thing: Myth, Politics and Psyche in the World
Thomas Singer Manufacturer: Routledge ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0415195543 |
Book Description
Contemporary politics goes on at a mythic level. This is the provocative argument put forward in this unique book which results from the collaboration of practising politicians, organisational and political consultants, scholars of mythology and culture, and Jungian analysts from several countries.
The first part of the book focuses on leadership and vision, and features a reflection on myth and leadership by former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. The second part deals with the way the theme of 'the one and the many' works itself out in politics today. From the perspective of 'the many', there are chapters on factionalism, ethnic strife, genocide and multiculturalism. From the perspective of 'the one', there are chapters on the economic myth and gender politics showing how these bring coherence to today's confused political scene, culminating in the suggestion that the modern political psyche is itself in the midst of a rite of passage.
The relevance of the book to the practice and study of politics, mainstream and marginal, cannot be overemphasised and the book will provide stimulating reading for practitioners and students in these areas as well as for those engaged in psychological work such as therapy, counselling or analysis.
Customer Reviews:
A VISION WORTH SEEING.......2000-06-08
A sure sign of the power contained in this way of analysis, and of the contributors' skills in presenting it, is that THE VISION THING stirred my emotions as well as my thoughts. One piece made me dizzy; another left me sickened; I marvelled at one and despaired at another - rare reactions to a book so chock full of first class thinking. I read most articles with an excitement appropriate to mystery stories, eager to know the outcome as I was led on by the author's own sense of adventure. Without exception, each contribution left me more thoughtful, informed, and sensitive to its topic.
Chapter after chapter recounts thoughts and deeds which will inspire, instruct, and amuse casual and professional readers for decades to come. I anticipate this book will hold a unique and valued place in the library of everyone fortunate enough to have come upon it.
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Seeing Things Hidden: Apocalypse, Vision and Totality
Malcolm Bull Manufacturer: Verso ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 1859842631 |
Book Description
The multiplicity of the self and the inaccessibility of truth are commonplaces of contemporary thought. But in Seeing Things Hidden they become key features of a philosophy of history that reunites emancipatory political theory with the apocalyptic tradition. Exploiting affinities between the work of Lukacs and recent American philosophers like Rorty and Cavell, Bull argues that the central dynamic of late modernity is the coming into hiding of the contradictory identities generated through political and social emancipation. Drawing on analytic and Continental philosophy he articulates the most ambitious philosophy of history since Francis Fukuyama's The End of History, presenting fresh interpretations of such icons of modernity as Hegel's master-slave dialectic, Benjamin's angel of history, Du Bois's concept of double consciousness, and Rawls's veil of ignorance.Customer Reviews:
An excellent, genuinely accessible introduction........2000-07-05
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Things No Longer There: A Memoir of Losing Sight and Finding Vision
Susan Krieger Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0299208648 |
Book Description
Things No Longer There is a lovingly crafted collection of personal stories about the author's struggle toward enlightenment while losing her eyesight. It is also, more broadly, about invisible landscapes—places of the heart that linger long after they have disappeared from the world outside. In these ten brief tales and one novella-length intimate drama, Susan Krieger takes us on a series of adventures in vision, a journey both inward and to various parts of the country. We travel with her as she goes birdwatching before sunrise in the New Mexico desert, learns to walk with a white cane, revisits an old love, returns to a summer camp of her youth, and reflects on the nature of blindness and sight.Customer Reviews:
The personal stories of the author Susan Krieger's slow loss of sight .......2005-10-05
The personal stories of the author Susan Krieger's slow loss of sight .......2005-10-05
The personal stories of the author Susan Krieger's slow loss of sight .......2005-10-05
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Things That Grow (Learning Adventure Preschool)
Brighter Vision Manufacturer: Brighter Vision Publications ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 1552540073 |
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Terminal Visions: The Literature of Last Things
W. Warren Wagar Manufacturer: Indiana University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0253358477 |
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