Description
What is form in modern art? How could a work of art achieve its organic life in a world increasingly dominated by mechanism, by new technology? In this new book, Brandon Taylor proposes that biology and the life sciences themselves supplied many of the analogies and metaphors by which modern artists were guided. For the creative giants of the period - Picasso, Miro, Kandinsky, Strzeminski, Dali, Arp, Motherwell and Pollock, as well as less-known figures such as Taeuber, Erni and Kobro - questions of 'living' form loomed large in studio conversation, in the press, and in the writings of the artists themselves. In a book rich in new research and fresh thinking, a well-known art historian proposes six modalities of organic and vital life that pervade the radical experiments of modern art: the organic, the biomorphic, the ambiguous, the monstrous, the dialectical, and the liquid.
Offers a new understanding of European modern art at mid-century, and a unique guide to the form-languages of modern art, from Dada, Surrealism and Geometrical Art to Abstract Expressionism, Informal art and beyond.
About the Author
Brandon Taylor is Professor Emeritus in History of Art at the University of Southampton, England, and Visiting Tutor in History and Theory of Art at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. His research interests include modern and contemporary art, artists' writings, the history of art institutions, and East European art. His most recent books include Collage: The Making of Modern Art (Thames and Hudson, London 2004), After Constructivism (Yale University Press 2014), and St Ives and British Modernism (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2015). He exhibits occasionally as a painter.
Reviews
Taylor's unbounded curiosity and eye for detail make for a fascinatingly complex narrative. * Art Quarterly *
[This book] really does unite and relate science and the arts in a deeper and more meaningful way ... What is impressive about Taylor's study is that he shows the way in which art is not hived off into a separate sanctum, but both influences and draws on the elements of surrounding life, be they political, sociological, philosophical, scientific. * Oxford Magazine *
This book is a tour de force by one of the foremost scholars of abstract art. Delving into a fascinating array of scientific and philosophical sources, Brandon Taylor invites us to think afresh about modern art's enduring preoccupation with dynamic processes and the becoming of forms. Across a broad range of compelling analyses, he unearths little-known gems and sheds valuable new light on canonical examples. Like the artworks that it brings into sharp focus, the argument teems with vital energy. * Eric Robertson, Professor of Modern French Literary and Visual Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK *
Brandon Taylor's remarkable study of the pervasive impact of vitalist concepts of "aesthetic monism" on the interwar avant-garde is an important and timely contribution that greatly enriches our understanding of the art and culture of this complex era. * Mark Antliff, Anne Murnick Cogan Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History, Duke University, USA *
Book Information
ISBN 9781501356018
Author Dr Brandon Taylor
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 508g
Offers a new understanding of European modern art at mid-century, and a unique guide to the form-languages of modern art, from Dada, Surrealism and Geometrical Art to Abstract Expressionism, Informal art and beyond.
About the Author
Brandon Taylor is Professor Emeritus in History of Art at the University of Southampton, England, and Visiting Tutor in History and Theory of Art at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. His research interests include modern and contemporary art, artists' writings, the history of art institutions, and East European art. His most recent books include Collage: The Making of Modern Art (Thames and Hudson, London 2004), After Constructivism (Yale University Press 2014), and St Ives and British Modernism (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2015). He exhibits occasionally as a painter.
Reviews
Taylor's unbounded curiosity and eye for detail make for a fascinatingly complex narrative. * Art Quarterly *
[This book] really does unite and relate science and the arts in a deeper and more meaningful way ... What is impressive about Taylor's study is that he shows the way in which art is not hived off into a separate sanctum, but both influences and draws on the elements of surrounding life, be they political, sociological, philosophical, scientific. * Oxford Magazine *
This book is a tour de force by one of the foremost scholars of abstract art. Delving into a fascinating array of scientific and philosophical sources, Brandon Taylor invites us to think afresh about modern art's enduring preoccupation with dynamic processes and the becoming of forms. Across a broad range of compelling analyses, he unearths little-known gems and sheds valuable new light on canonical examples. Like the artworks that it brings into sharp focus, the argument teems with vital energy. * Eric Robertson, Professor of Modern French Literary and Visual Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK *
Brandon Taylor's remarkable study of the pervasive impact of vitalist concepts of "aesthetic monism" on the interwar avant-garde is an important and timely contribution that greatly enriches our understanding of the art and culture of this complex era. * Mark Antliff, Anne Murnick Cogan Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History, Duke University, USA *
Book Information
ISBN 9781501356018
Author Dr Brandon Taylor
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 508g
