Picturing the Self: Changing Views of the Subject in Visual Culture

Doy, Gen

ISBN 10: 1850434131 / ISBN 13: 9781850434139

Published by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd., London; New York, 2005

About this Item

Condition: Fine, unread and excellent book, all pages excellent with no markings, no tears. Cover with minor shelf rubbings. Language: English.
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Ideas of selfhood, from Descartes' theory of "I think therefore I am" to postmodern notions of the fragmented and de-centred self, have been crucial to the visual arts. Gen Doy explores this relationship, from Holbein's "Ambassadors" and the early modern period up to and beyond Marc Quinn's "Self" (Blood Head). Arguing that the importance of subjectivity for art goes far beyond self-portraits, she explores such topics as self-expression; the self, work and consumption; self-presentation; photography and the theatre of the self; the marginalized - beggars and asylum seekers - and "the real me". A wide range of artists, including Tracey Emin, Jeff Wall, Eugene Palmer and Karen Knorr, are discussed, as well as historical material from earlier periods.
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258 pages; format: 23,3 x 15,7 x 2,0 cm; Bookweight: 640 g.

Seller Inventory # PHIL-26076

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Picturing the Self: Changing Views of the Subject in Visual Culture
• Publisher: I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd., London; New York
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1850434131
• ISBN 13: 9781850434139
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 2nd Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dimensions: 23.3W x 15.7H x 2D centimeters 23.3 centimeters width by 15.7 centimeters height by 2 centimeters depth
• Weight: 640 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Humanities

About this title

Synopsis

Ideas of selfhood, from Descartes to postmodern notions of the fragmented and de-centred self, have been crucial to the visual arts. Gen Doy explores this relationship, primarily in relation to contemporary art but also going back to the early modern period and Holbein's Ambassadors. She argues that the importance of subjectivity for art goes far beyond self-portraits, exploring the self and identity--both the artist's and the viewer's--and seeks a way of thinking the self that goes beyond both Cartesian and postmodern approaches to subjecthood. She looks too at work and consumption; self-presentation; photography and the theatre of the self; the marginalized--beggars and asylum seekers--and ""the real me."" A wide range of artists, including Claude Cahun, Tracey Emin, Jeff Wall, Barbara Kruger, Eugene Palmer and Karen Knorr are discussed, as well as historical material from earlier periods.

About the Author

Gen Doy is Professor of the History and Theory of Visual Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester and the author of Black Visual Culture: Modernity and Postmodernity and Drapery: Classicism and Barbarism in Visual Culture (both I.B.Tauris)