The Intelligence of Art (Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art History) - Tapa dura

Thomas Crow has written an instant classic of historiography, one that will refuse to stay on its shelf. It will be open on our desks, issuing continual and daunting challenges to our discipline. (Leonard Folgarait, Vanderbilt University) This short but flawlessly written and intricately argued book offers a profoundly challenging critique of the current state of art history. ("Times Literary Supplement") Crow has presented a rare set of reflections that might be termed a "Bildungsroman" whose characters are works of art as interpreted by art historians and anthropologists. ("Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism") Thomas Crow is one of the most exacting and vigilant of art historians, never prone to following received opinions, methods, or practices. ("CAA. Reviews", College Art Association)

With this volume, the author contributes an analysis of the present state of art history, the practice of interpreting art and making it "intelligible". He aims to relocate the discussion of theory and method in art history away from models borrowed from other disciplines. Sketching the history of trends in art history - from description and biography, to social-historical methods, to the wave of postmodernist approaches - he seeks to set out a course that affirmsthe tools of language and methodology developed by generations of art historians.