This collection contains studies written by art historian James Ackerman                  over the past decade. Whereas Ackerman's earlier work assumed a development of the                  arts as they responded to social, economic, political, and cultural change, his                  recent work reflects the poststructural critique of the presumption of progress that                  characterized Renaissance and modernist history and criticism. In this book he                  explores the tension between the authority of the past--which may act not only as a                  restraint but as a challenge and stimulus--and the potentially liberating gift of                  invention. He examines the ways in which artists and writers on art have related to                  ancestors and to established modes of representation, as well as to contemporary                  experiences.The "origins" studied here include the earliest art history and                  criticism; the beginnings of architectural drawing in the Middle Ages and                  Renaissance; Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches for churches, the first in the Renaissance                  to propose supporting domes on sculpted walls and piers; and the first architectural                  photographs. "Imitation" refers to artistic achievements that in part depended on                  the imitation of forms established in practices outside the fine arts, such as                  ancient Roman rhetoric and print media. "Conventions," like language, facilitate                  communication between the artist and viewer, but are both more universal (understood                  across cultures) and more fixed (resisting variation that might diminish their                  clarity). The three categories are closely linked throughout the book, as most acts                  of representation partake to some degree of all three.

Origins, imitation, conventions: representation in the visual arts PDF

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