Meltdown!: Picturing the World's First Bubble Economy

Madeleine Viljoen; Meredith Martin; Nina Dubin

ISBN 10: 1912554518 / ISBN 13: 9781912554515

Published by Harvey Miller, 2020

About this Item

Fast Free Shipping â Good condition. It may show normal signs of use, such as light writing, highlighting, or library markings, but all pages are intact and the book is fully readable. A solid, complete copy that's ready to enjoy.

Seller Inventory # GWV.1912554518.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Meltdown!: Picturing the World's First Bubble Economy
• Publisher: Harvey Miller
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912554518
• ISBN 13: 9781912554515
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

The international crash of 1720 long served as a touchstone for behavioral economists who perceive it as a gateway to the boom-and-bust cycles of the modern world. Perhaps not surprisingly, art history has contributed relatively little to our understanding of the significance of 1720. This book aims to redress this imbalance via a focus on the depiction of the first international financial crisis following the 1720 collapse of stock market bubbles in England, France, and the Netherlands. Its most important visual source, Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid ('The Great Mirror of Folly'), is a series of approximately seventy-five bawdy, tragicomic engravings satirizing the crisis and its catastrophic effects. The visual sources of the series are also explored, including prints related to the earlier 'tulip mania' bubble, as well as related materials including propaganda and satirical pamphlets, letters, coins, and paper currency. Key themes or motifs that recur in the Tafereel prints, include the New World and colonial trade; mass illness; paper and its association with insubstantiality, illusion and trickery; debauchery; and the carnivalesque.