Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century / Edition 1

by Gill Perry, Francis Frascina, Charles Harrison

Overview

This volume presents a survey of art from the first two decades of the twentieth century. The authors begin by exploring how aspects of the primitive were invoked by the rural artists' colonies formed in France and Germany at the end of the nineteenth century and by the work of the Fauves and the German Expressionists a few years later. The book then develops an analysis of Cubist works based on semiotic theory, considering the social and cultural values encoded in such signifying systems, and investigating the relationship between representation and ideology. The final chapter considers some problems of interpretation and evolution posed by specific examples of abstract art ranging from Malevich to Mondrian.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300055160
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/28/1993
Series:	Modern Art--Practices and Debates Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francis Frascina and Gill Perry are Lecturers in Art History, Nigel Blake is Lecturer in Educational Technology, and Charles Harrison is Staff Tutor and Reader in Art History at the Open University. Briony Fer and Tamar Garb are Lecturers in Art History at University College, London University.

Editorial Reviews

The second of four books which together constitute the main texts of an Open University course on art and its interpretation from the mid- 19th century to the end of the 1920s. Although organized chronologically, each chapter investigates a period or movement in relation to broader theoretical issues and problems of interpretation, raising questions about historical enquiry and methodology as well as about the status of "art." Generously illustrated in b&w and color. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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