The Practice of Persuasion

Paradox and Power in Art History

Keith Moxey author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cornell University Press

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The Practice of Persuasion cover

This sequel to The Practice of Theory stresses the continued need for self-reflective awareness in art historical writing. Offering a series of meditations on the discipline of art history in the context of contemporary critical theory, Moxey addresses such central issues as the status of the canon, the nature of aesthetic value, and the character of historical knowledge. The chapters are linked by a common interest in, even fascination with, the paradoxical power of narrative and the identity of the authorial voice.

Moxey maintains that art history is a rhetoric of persuasion rather than a discourse of truth. Each chapter in The Practice of Persuasion attempts to demonstrate the paradoxes inherent in a genre that—while committed to representing the past—must inevitably bear the imprint of the present. In Moxey's view, art history as a discipline is often unable to recognize its status as a regime of truth that produces historically determined meanings and so continues to act as if based on a universal aesthetic foundation. His new book should enable art historians to engage with the past in a manner less determined by tradition and more responsive to contemporary values and aspirations.

The Practice of Persuasion stresses the ongoing need for awareness in art history writing, providing reflections on art history and modern critical theory and examining the nature of aesthetic judgments and history.

* The Midwest Book Review *

This important book consists of philosophical essays on the crucial relation between contemporary theory and the discipline of art history.

-- Walter S. Melion, Johns Hopkins University * Renaissance Quarter

ISBN: 9780801438011

Dimensions: 235mm x 155mm x 18mm

Weight: 454g

160 pages