Art : Philosophy & Social Aspects

Arts organizations once sought patrons primarily from among the wealthy and well educated, but for many decades now they have revised their goals as they seek to broaden their audiences. Today, museums, orchestras, dance companies, theaters, and community cultural centers try to involve a variety of people in the arts. They strive to attract a more racially and ethnically diverse group of people, those from a broader range of economic backgrounds, new immigrants, families, and youth. The chapters in this book draw on interviews with leaders, staff, volunteers, and audience members from eighty-five nonprofit cultural organizations to explore how they are trying to increase participation and the extent to which they have been successful. The organizations discussed include large, medium, and small nonprofits located in urban, suburban, and rural areas—from large institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the San Francisco Symphony to many cultural organizations that are smaller, but often known nationally for their innovative work, such as AS220, The Loft Literary Center, Armory Center for the Arts, Appalshop, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and the Western Folklife Center. more...

Price: $21.00

Globalism is arguably the most pressing issue facing art criticism and art history. As the number of art history departments continues to grow, there is a danger art history will become a uniform practice around the world and may soon settle to a global standard. Is Art History Global? stages an international conversation among art historians and critics on the subject of the practice and responsibility of global thinking within the discipline. The topics are political, economic, philosophic, linguistic, and personal. Should Chinese art be discussed using Western methods such as psychoanalysis or deconstruction? Is it best to use words like ''space'' and ''time'' to describe non-Western art, or should historians try to employ the words used in different cultures? How is art history taught without books, slides, or artworks? What relevance does the Western narrative of art have for art history students in Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, or Tibet?. Is Art History Global? is essential reading on one of the thorniest questions facing the discipline today. This is the third volume in ''The Art Seminar,'' James Elkin's series of conversations on art and visual studies. more...

Price: $18.95

In a brilliant, wry, and provocative new book, National Book Award finalist Francine Prose explores the complex relationship between the artist and his muse. In so doing, she illuminates with great sensitivity and intelligence the elusive emotional wellsprings of the creative process. There is no ideal muse, but rather as many variations on the theme as there are individual women who have had the luck, or misfortune, to find their destiny conjoined with that of a particular artist ... more...

Price: $11.99

Philosophy of Art is a textbook for undergraduate students interested in the topic of philosophical aesthetics, introducing the techniques of analytic philosophy in addition to a selection of the major topics in this area. more...

Price: $35.95

This volume will include an introduction and two final, synoptic essays, as well as contributions from some of the most prominent thinkers on religion and art including Thierry De Duve, Georges Didi-Huberman, Gerhard Wolff, Jack Caputo, and Jean-Luc Marion. more...

Price: $29.95