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How do we look : the body, the divine, and the question of civilisation / Mary Beard.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2018Edition: First American editionDescription: 240 pages : illustrations ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781631494406
  • 1631494406
Uniform titles:
  • Civilisations. How do we look
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction : a history of looking -- Prologue : heads and bodies -- A singing statue -- Greek bodies -- The look of loss : from Greece to Rome -- The emperor of China and the power of images -- Supersizing a pharaoh -- The Greek revolution -- The stain on the thigh -- The revolution's legacy -- The Olmec wrestler -- Prologue : sunrise at Angkor Wat -- Who's looking? 'Cave art' at Ajanta -- Who or what was Jesus? -- Questions of vanity -- A living statue? -- The artfulness of Islam -- Bible stories -- The scars of battle -- Hindu images, Islamic idioms -- Faith in civilisation -- Afterword : looking at civilisation.
Summary: "From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as a gorgeously illustrated accompaniment to "How Do We Look" and "The Eye of Faith," the famed Civilisations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art. Focusing in Part I on the Olmec heads of early Mesoamerica, the colossal statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, and the nudes of classical Greece, Beard explores the power, hierarchy, and gender politics of the art of the ancient world, and explains how it came to define the so-called civilized world. In Part II, Beard chronicles some of the most breathtaking religious imagery ever made--whether at Angkor Wat, Ravenna, Venice, or in the art of Jewish and Islamic calligraphers-- to show how all religions, ancient and modern, have faced irreconcilable problems in trying to picture the divine. With this classic volume, Beard redefines the Western-and male-centric legacies of Ernst Gombrich and Kenneth Clark"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 704.942 B368 Available 33111009243003
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 704.942 B368 Available 33111008216299
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Conceived as a gorgeously illustrated accompaniment to "How Do We Look" and "The Eye of Faith," the famed Civilisations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art. Focusing in Part I on the Olmec heads of early Mesoamerica, the colossal statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, and the nudes of classical Greece, Beard explores the power, hierarchy, and gender politics of the art of the ancient world, and explains how it came to define the so-called civilized world. In Part II, Beard chronicles some of the most breathtaking religious imagery ever made--whether at Angkor Wat, Ravenna, Venice, or in the art of Jewish and Islamic calligraphers-- to show how all religions, ancient and modern, have faced irreconcilable problems in trying to picture the divine. With this classic volume, Beard redefines the Western-and male-centric legacies of Ernst Gombrich and Kenneth Clark.

"First published in Great Britain under the title CIVILISATIONS: How Do We Look/The Eye of Faith."

Companion to the British television series Civilisations.

"From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as a gorgeously illustrated accompaniment to "How Do We Look" and "The Eye of Faith," the famed Civilisations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art. Focusing in Part I on the Olmec heads of early Mesoamerica, the colossal statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, and the nudes of classical Greece, Beard explores the power, hierarchy, and gender politics of the art of the ancient world, and explains how it came to define the so-called civilized world. In Part II, Beard chronicles some of the most breathtaking religious imagery ever made--whether at Angkor Wat, Ravenna, Venice, or in the art of Jewish and Islamic calligraphers-- to show how all religions, ancient and modern, have faced irreconcilable problems in trying to picture the divine. With this classic volume, Beard redefines the Western-and male-centric legacies of Ernst Gombrich and Kenneth Clark"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : a history of looking -- Prologue : heads and bodies -- A singing statue -- Greek bodies -- The look of loss : from Greece to Rome -- The emperor of China and the power of images -- Supersizing a pharaoh -- The Greek revolution -- The stain on the thigh -- The revolution's legacy -- The Olmec wrestler -- Prologue : sunrise at Angkor Wat -- Who's looking? 'Cave art' at Ajanta -- Who or what was Jesus? -- Questions of vanity -- A living statue? -- The artfulness of Islam -- Bible stories -- The scars of battle -- Hindu images, Islamic idioms -- Faith in civilisation -- Afterword : looking at civilisation.

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