Sculpture
Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalion's Creative Dream
Edited and translated by Jason Gaiger
141 pages
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15 halftones
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6 x 9
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© 2002
"The eye that gathers impressions is no longer the eye that sees a depiction on a surface; it becomes a hand, the ray of light becomes a finger, and the imagination becomes a form of immediate touching."—Johann Gottfried Herder
Long recognized as one of the most important eighteenth-century works on aesthetics and the visual arts, Johann Gottfried Herder's Plastik (Sculpture, 1778) has never before appeared in a complete English translation. In this landmark essay, Herder combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources—from the classics to Norse legend, Shakespeare to the Bible—to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture.
Standing on the fault line between classicism and romanticism, Herder draws most of his examples from classical sculpture, while nevertheless insisting on the historicity of art and of the senses themselves. Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us. One of the key articulations of the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang, Sculpture is also important as an anticipation of subsequent developments in art theory.
Jason Gaiger's translation of Sculpture includes an extensive introduction to Herder's thought, explanatory notes, and illustrations of all the sculptures discussed in the text.
Long recognized as one of the most important eighteenth-century works on aesthetics and the visual arts, Johann Gottfried Herder's Plastik (Sculpture, 1778) has never before appeared in a complete English translation. In this landmark essay, Herder combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources—from the classics to Norse legend, Shakespeare to the Bible—to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture.
Standing on the fault line between classicism and romanticism, Herder draws most of his examples from classical sculpture, while nevertheless insisting on the historicity of art and of the senses themselves. Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us. One of the key articulations of the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang, Sculpture is also important as an anticipation of subsequent developments in art theory.
Jason Gaiger's translation of Sculpture includes an extensive introduction to Herder's thought, explanatory notes, and illustrations of all the sculptures discussed in the text.
"From the debates during the Renaissance about the relative superiority of painting or sculpture to the modern claims that abstract art is the purest embodiment of the possibilities of art, there has often been an idea of a style or a form that trumped all other styles or forms. When Herder, in his book Plastik--first published in 1778 and now available in complete translation, under the title Sculpture, from the University of Chicago Pres--suggests a distinction between painting and sculpture by observing that 'sight gives us dreams, touch gives us truth,' we appreciate the deft way that he shapes this competition between two kinds of experience. We also know that the arts, by constantly engaging more and more of our senses, tend to shatter the very definitions that we construct. Herder's epigram can have a paradoxical power, for it serves to remind us that Brancusi gives us dreams and Rembrandt gives us truth."
"The structure and design of the whole volume is commendable. . . . The reader benefits from a version that reads easily, and Herder receives a polished introduction to the Englis-speaking world."
“Herder’s landmark essay combines rationalist and empiricist thought with a wide range of sources . . . to illuminate the ways we experience sculpture. . . . Through a detailed analysis of the differences between painting and sculpture, he develops a powerful critique of the dominance of vision both in the appreciation of art and in our everyday apprehension of the world around us.”--<I>Translation Review<I>
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note on the Translation
SCULPTURE, by Johann Gottfried Herder
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Editor’s Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note on the Translation
SCULPTURE, by Johann Gottfried Herder
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Editor’s Notes
Bibliography
Index
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