Dreaming of Michelangelo : Jewish variations on a modern theme / Asher D. Biemann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Biemann, Asher D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564--Appreciation--Germany--History--19th century.

Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564--Appreciation--Germany--History--20th century.

Jewish aesthetics--Germany--History--19th century.

Jewish aesthetics.

Jewish aesthetics--Germany--History--20th century.

Jews--Germany--Intellectual life--19th century.

Jews.

Jews--Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (201 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Dreaming of Michelangelo is the first book-length study to explore the intellectual and cultural affinities between modern Judaism and the life and work of Michelangelo Buonarroti. It argues that Jewish intellectuals found themselves in the image of Michelangelo as an "unrequited lover" whose work expressed loneliness and a longing for humanity's response. The modern Jewish imagination thus became consciously idolatrous. Writers brought to life—literally—Michelangelo's sculptures, seeing in them their own worldly and emotional struggles. The Moses statue in particular became an archetype of Jewish liberation politics as well as a central focus of Jewish aesthetics. And such affinities extended beyond sculpture: Jewish visitors to the Sistine Chapel reinterpreted the ceiling as a manifesto of prophetic socialism, devoid of its Christian elements. According to Biemann, the phenomenon of Jewish self-recognition in Michelangelo's work offered an alternative to the failed promises of the German enlightenment. Through this unexpected discovery, he rethinks German Jewish history and its connections to Italy, the Mediterranean, and the art of the Renaissance.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Prefatory Note

1. The Unrequited Eros: Michelangelo and the Jewish Love for Italy

2. The Dream of the Moving Moses: Michelangelo and Jewish Statue-Love

3. Fragments of Desire: Michelangelo and the Aesthetics of Jewish Thought

Epilogue

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804784368

0804784361

OCLC:

818815038