In January 2006; a man tried to break Marcel Duchamps Fountain sculpture with a small hammer. The sculpted foot of Michelangelos David was damaged in 1991 by a purportedly mentally-ill artist. With each incident; artists and intellectuals must confront the unsettling dynamic between destruction and art. Renowned art historian Dario Gamboni is the first to tackle this weighty issue in depth; exploring spectres of censorship; iconoclasm and vandalism that surround such acts.Initially galvanized by the sweeping obliteration of architecture and art under the Communist regimes of the Soviet Union and eastern bloc countries; Gamboni investigated other instances of destroyed art and architecture around the globe; uncovering a disquieting and surprisingly widespread phenomenon that still thrives today. As he demonstrates through analyses of incidents occurring in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in both the United States and Europe; a complex relationship exists among the evolution of modern art; contemporary destruction of art; and the long history of iconoclasm. Gamboni probes the concept of artists rights; the power of political protest and the ways in which iconoclasm offers a unique interpretation of societys relationship to art and material culture.A compelling and thought-provoking study; The Destruction of Art forces us to rethink the ways that we interact with art and react to its power to shock or subdue.
#1273414 in eBooks 2013-02-07 2013-02-07File Name: B00BCJTYUK
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy CustomerA must read