| Description |
xii, 383 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Series |
Philosophy of history and culture, 0922-6001 ; v. 22 |
|
Philosophy of history and culture. 0922-6001 ; v. 22
|
| Contents |
Introduction : a personification of "inspiration" -- Ch. 1. The modern condition of "inspiration" -- Ch. 2. Michelangelo's Bacchus as a historical metaphor -- Ch. 3. The classical sources of "inspiration" -- Ch. 4. Post-classical and Christian "inspiration" -- Ch. 5. The neoplatonic Bacchus of the Renaissance -- Ch. 6. The emblematic Bacchus and "inspired" art-making -- Ch. 7. Post-Renaissance "inspiration," from the Enlightenment to the romantics -- Ch. 8. A Dionysus reborn for the symbolist era -- Ch. 9. Dionysiac ecstasy and modernist art-worship -- Ch. 10. Surrealist Dionysian myth and gestural performance art -- Ch. 11. The inspired shaman-artist : the case of Joseph Beuys -- Ch. 12. Something like a post-modernist finale |
| Summary |
"The purpose of this book is to reveal the antique pedigree of a now commonplace term, Inspiration, an essential creation-myth now propelling notions of self-expression in modern art-making. Knowledge of the ancient sources of such supposedly modernist fixations will make a significant contribution to historical-cultural thinking, particularly by showing in detail the facts of an unrecognized evolutionary continuity. In order to personify Inspiration, this study initially focuses upon Michelangelo's Bacchus of 1496, so revealing now-forgotten meanings once typically to be attached in a generic way to any Bacchus. Then it demonstrates how these Dionysiac concepts arose in ancient Greece. Later developments - particularly from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance - are traced here for the first time. Due to further modifications by Friedrich Nietzsche, Dionysiac expressionism eventually became a staple of modern art theory and practice."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [357]-375) and index |
| Subject |
Dionysus (Greek deity)
|
|
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) -- History.
|
|
Inspiration -- History.
|
| LC no. |
2005042020 |
| ISBN |
9004142797 (alk. paper) |
|
