 |
 |
 |
|
Beauty and the
Contemporary Sublime
By Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe
Esteemed critic, painter, and writer Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe offers a provocative critique of beauty in relation to the contemporary notion of the sublime, which is now found in technology and a high-powered economy rather than in nature. Refuting established views, this book questions today's ideas of beauty, including those applied to contemporary art, and proposes a secular theory of beauty as glamorous rather than good, frivolous rather than serious. An illuminating read, this book provides excellent course material for classes in philosophy, cultural studies, art history, and aesthetics.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Reviews
"A generation ago, no one could have predicted that, by the end of the twentieth century, the concept of the Sublime would re-emerge as a crucial framework for thinking about subjectivity, the visual, and representation's relationship to the world. Yet the idea of the Sublime is now as central to contemporary aesthetics as ever it was in the Romantic period. It is a Sublime, though, which has undergone a deep sea-change: all of its assumptions—concerning art, consciousness, gender, representation, and power—have been reconfigured almost beyond recognition. In a world where it is technology, rather than nature, that stands for the limitless, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe's book is an indispensable guide"
— Norman Bryson, professor, chair and head, History and Theory of Art, The Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London
"Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe's recent work both as a critic and a painter is the prime fruit of a long career dedicated to what matters in art. Few have maintained such quality in either field, let alone in both. His work as a painter endows his writing with a particular integrity and originality, and for those alert to subtlety and irony there are rich rewards indeed. This is prose that is energized rather than vitiated by complexity. What better language could there be in which to reformulate conceptions of beauty and sublimity for the next century?"
— P. J. M. Florence, director of research, Falmouth College of the Arts, England
"Painting, like the novel, is these days often pronounced dead, but Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe is not among the academic gravediggers: Instead, with feisty brilliance, he speaks for the life of art and of the mind. His book is a painter's defense of painting, with an eye on its practice, and a critic's defense of beauty, with an eye on its theory. Against those who would dismiss beauty as the handmaiden of ideology, he shows that beauty is irreducible to ideas; against those who think that beauty has gone out of style, he shows how style is inseparable from beauty. Beauty and the Contemporary Sublime is brimming with insights. It is spirited and incisive, knowledgeable and illuminating, subtle and wise" — Gilberto Perez, professor of Film Studies, Sarah Lawrence College
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
