Why does the artworld often privilege one cultural form over another? Why does it grant more attention to reviews in; say; Artforum over ARTnews? And how can an artist once hailed as visionary be dismissed as derivative just a few years later? Exploring the ever-shifting estimations of value that make up the confluence of artists; critics; patrons; and gallery owners known as the artworld; Timothy van Laar and Leonard Diepeveen argue that prestige; a matter of socially constructed deference and conferral; plays an indispensable role in the attention and reception given to modern and contemporary art.After an initial chapter that develops a theory of prestige and the poignancy of its loss; the book looks at how arguments of prestige function in systems of representation; various media; and arts relationship to affect. It considers twentieth-century artists who moved not away from; but toward figuration; looks at what is at stake in the recurrent argument about the death of painting; examines the decline and an apparent return of sensual pleasure as a central attribute of visual art; and concludes with a look at the peculiar function of prestige in outsider art.Illustrated with artwork by David Park; Jorge Pardo; Gerhard Richter; Anish Kapoor; Cecily Brown; Howard Finster; and others; Artworld Prestige provides an engaging guide to the changes; debates; and shifts that animate aesthetic judgments.
#2331980 in eBooks 2013-01-09 2013-01-09File Name: B00ABDZTKC
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Why we have gotten away from using our imaginations.By M. SchirackI use this book as my bible of sorts; to reflect on what is going on socially and culturally that curbs our imaginative and creative spirits. I read a few of the negative reviews and feel they just didnt get it. Winterson critiques the pragmatic and pushes the boundaries of dreaming and imagining!3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. (of course you have to say the second word as a verb)By JSA LoweIn my unlettered opinion this was Wintersons last relevant work. Shell flame me someday if she finds this; but thats okay; because I could argue that with her most compellingly. Its so compressed and pungent; the title essay is so scathing; at the time; pre-memoir; it offered this rare insight into the process of and influences on one of the most original prose stylists; before the work became self-derivative and cocky and (for this reader) disappointing. Stopping now before she flings electronic Le Creuset at my head; shes still tregrave;s formidable and I wouldnt want to meet her in a literary-critical dark alley. This book is essential; was vital for me at a certain time; and I press it upon my fellow writers like an arterial-stopping compress. In a word: necessary. Art objects; it objects; specifically; to YOU; and if you dont pay attention you will be bereaved of something you never even knew you had to have in order to live.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I recommend it warmlyBy Flora Botton BurlaThis is a book about literature written by a person who dos not confine herself to an academic audience. It is fascinating; and also very clear: the sections on Virginia Woolf read almost as a novel. I recommend it warmly.