How Pictures Complete Us

The Beautiful, the Sublime, and the Divine

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Aesthetics
Cover of the book How Pictures Complete Us by Paul Crowther, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Paul Crowther ISBN: 9780804798587
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: April 13, 2016
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Paul Crowther
ISBN: 9780804798587
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: April 13, 2016
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

Despite the wonders of the digital world, people still go in record numbers to view drawings and paintings in galleries. Why? What is the magic that pictures work on us? This book provides a provocative explanation, arguing that some pictures have special kinds of beauty and sublimity that offer aesthetic transcendence. They take us imaginatively beyond our finite limits and even invoke a sense of the divine. Such aesthetic transcendence forges a relationship with the ultimate and completes us psychologically. Philosophers and theologians sometimes account for this as an effect of art, but How Pictures Complete Us distinguishes itself by revealing how this experience is embodied in pictorial structures and styles. Through detailed discussions of artworks from the Renaissance through postmodern times, Paul Crowther reappraises the entire scope of beauty and the sublime in the context of both representational and abstract art, offering unexpected insights into familiar phenomena such as ideal beauty, pictorial perspective, and what pictures are in the first place.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Despite the wonders of the digital world, people still go in record numbers to view drawings and paintings in galleries. Why? What is the magic that pictures work on us? This book provides a provocative explanation, arguing that some pictures have special kinds of beauty and sublimity that offer aesthetic transcendence. They take us imaginatively beyond our finite limits and even invoke a sense of the divine. Such aesthetic transcendence forges a relationship with the ultimate and completes us psychologically. Philosophers and theologians sometimes account for this as an effect of art, but How Pictures Complete Us distinguishes itself by revealing how this experience is embodied in pictorial structures and styles. Through detailed discussions of artworks from the Renaissance through postmodern times, Paul Crowther reappraises the entire scope of beauty and the sublime in the context of both representational and abstract art, offering unexpected insights into familiar phenomena such as ideal beauty, pictorial perspective, and what pictures are in the first place.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Corporate Responsibility Coalitions by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Confessions of the Shtetl by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Occupational Hazards by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Suddenly, the Sight of War by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Sacrificing Families by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book No Miracles by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book An Early Self by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Homer Economicus by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Broken Links, Enduring Ties by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book As Light Before Dawn by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book The Marriage Plot by Paul Crowther
Cover of the book Revolution within the Revolution by Paul Crowther
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy