The Agency of Things in Medieval and Early Modern Art
Materials, Power and Manipulation
Grażyna Jurkowlaniec editor Ika Matyjaszkiewicz editor Zuzanna Sarnecka editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:7th May '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£135.00(9781138054226)
This volume explores the late medieval and early modern periods from the perspective of objects. While the agency of things has been studied in anthropology and archaeology, it is an innovative approach for art historical investigations. Each contributor takes as a point of departure active things: objects that were collected, exchanged, held in hand, carried on a body, assembled, cared for or pawned. Through a series of case studies set in various geographic locations, this volume examines a rich variety of systems throughout Europe and beyond.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781315401867, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
"Developing, and sometimes challenging, the theory proposed by Alfred Gell in his seminal study Art and Agency (1998), this book explores the ability of ‘things’ to communicate and perform actions across a wide range of geographical and historical situations. Artefacts of many different types in a variety of media are explored in this fascinating series of essays, which brilliantly straddle microcosm and macrocosm. This is a lively, readable and important book."
- Deborah Howard, University of Cambridge
"Bringing together conversations in art history, anthropology, and archaeology, this book is an important contribution to the field that puts the agency of things into direct dialogue with traditional art historical concerns regarding artistic creation, patronage, reception, and materiality. This collection demonstrates that what is at stake in the intersection of matter and agency are the bounds of art history’s purview and its role is in mediating the ever promiscuous relations between things and those who interject or direct these relations."
- Roland Betancourt, University of California, Irvine
ISBN: 9780367359720
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
202 pages