The Judicious Eye
Architecture Against the Other Arts
432 pages
|
120 halftones
|
6-3/5 x 9-1/5
|
© 2008
Is architecture art? This vexed question has been posed since the 1700s, when—breaking from earlier centuries in which there were no divisions between visual artist, architect, and engineer—architects and laypeople alike began to see these vocations as distinct. Exploring how this separation of roles occurred, and how in the twentieth century arts and architecture started to come together again, The Judicious Eye is the definitive history of the relationships between painting, sculpture, and architecture as they have shifted over the past three centuries.
Joseph Rykwert locates the first major shift during the Enlightenment, when key philosophers drew implied and explicit distinctions between the visual arts and architecture. As time progressed, architects came to see themselves as part of an established profession, while visual artists increasingly moved toward society’s margins, deepening the chasm between them. Detailing the eventual attempts to heal this breach, Rykwert concludes in the mid-twentieth century, when the artistic avant-garde turned to architects in its battle against a stagnant society. The Judicious Eye, then, provides a necessary foundation for understanding architecture and visual art in the twenty-first century, as they continue to break new ground by growing closer to their intertwined roots.
Joseph Rykwert locates the first major shift during the Enlightenment, when key philosophers drew implied and explicit distinctions between the visual arts and architecture. As time progressed, architects came to see themselves as part of an established profession, while visual artists increasingly moved toward society’s margins, deepening the chasm between them. Detailing the eventual attempts to heal this breach, Rykwert concludes in the mid-twentieth century, when the artistic avant-garde turned to architects in its battle against a stagnant society. The Judicious Eye, then, provides a necessary foundation for understanding architecture and visual art in the twenty-first century, as they continue to break new ground by growing closer to their intertwined roots.
A rchitects' Journal
“A strident mix of academic insight, wit and polemic, Rykwert's latest book, The Judicious Eye, makes a graceful contribution to his life's work.”
Choice
"[The author] writes for readers with a wide previous knowledge of the period, enriching their knowledge with a vast cast of characters and unexpected aspects of familiar material. Typically, the author draws on a prodigious range of sources, here presented in a highly engrossing and readable form, making the story intelligible for the less informed."
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
Google preview here
Architecture: Architecture--Criticism
Art: Art Criticism
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
