- Major theoretical work that presents a fresh approach to thinking about art and its history
- Replaces the notion of the ‘visual arts’ with that of the ‘spatial arts’, comprising two fundamental categories: ‘real space’ and ‘virtual space’
- Traces the development of human skill from the first hominid tools to the sophisticated universal three-dimensional grid of modern technology, and presents new insights into the making of three-dimensional images and the development of ‘virtual’ images on plane surfaces
- Proposes an innovative, flexible conceptual framework for the analysis and understanding of all art – enabling us to treat all traditions on an equal footing and to understand opposition and conflict both within and between cultures
David Summers sets forth that current formalist, contextual and post-structural approaches fail to provide an adequate account of all art, particularly art produced outside the Western tradition. He argues that there are profound problems right at the heart of Western thinking about art, and his new framework is an attempt to resolve these problems.
At the core of the argument is a proposal to replace the notion of the ‘visual arts’ with that of the ‘spatial arts’, comprising two fundamental categories: ‘real space’ and ‘virtual space’. Real space is the space we share with other people and things: the fundamental arts of real space are sculpture (the art of personal space) and architecture (the art of social space). Virtual space – which always entails a format in real space (thus making real space the primary category) – is space represented in two dimensions, as in paintings, drawings and prints.
Author: David Summers, English, Art General, hardcover, 704 pages, 343 black and white illustrations, ISBN: 978 0714842443,
Price: (ZA)R N/A
Keywords: Painting, Monograph - International, History, Design, Photography, Art, Monograph, David Krut Bookstores, International, South-African
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