Beautiful ugliness : Christianity, modernity, and the arts / Mark William Roche.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roche, Mark William, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ugliness in art.

Aesthetics--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Aesthetics.

Christian art and symbolism--Modern period, 1500-.

Christian art and symbolism.

Ugliness in literature.

Aesthetics in literature.

Genre:

Illustrated works.

Physical Description:

xvii, 499 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Indiana : University of Notre Dame Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Many great artworks include elements of ugliness: repugnant content, disproportionate forms, unresolved dissonance, and unintegrated parts. Mark William Roche's authoritative monograph Beautiful Ugliness: Christianity, Modernity, and the Arts challenges current practices of the dominant aesthetic schools by exploring the role of ugliness in art and literature. Roche offers a comprehensive and unique framework that integrates philosophical and theological reflection, intellectual-historical analysis, and interpretations of a large number of works from the arts. The study is driven by the recognition that, though ugliness is usually understood as the opposite of beauty, ugliness nonetheless contributes significantly to the beauty of many artworks. Roche's analysis unfolds in three parts. The first offers a refreshing conceptual analysis of ugliness in art. The second considers the history of ugliness in art and literature, with special attention to its role in Christian art and its central place in modern and contemporary art. The third synthesizes earlier material, offering a taxonomy of beautiful ugliness derived from Hegelian philosophical categories. Roche mesmerizes the reader with an extraordinary range of literary scholarship and expertise, with a particular focus on English, Latin, and German literature, and with a broad range of analyzed phenomena, including fine arts, architecture, and music" -- Page [4] of cover.

Contents:

Part I. Conceptual framework

Unveiling ugliness

Aesthetic categories

Intellectual resources

Part II. The history of beautiful ugliness

Imperial Rome

Late Medieval Christianity

The theological rationale for Christianity's immersion in ugliness

Historical interlude

Modernity

Modernity's ontological and aesthetic shift

Part III. Forms of beautiful ugliness

Styles of beautiful ugliness

Repugnant beauty

Fractured beauty

Aischric beauty

Structures of beautiful ugliness

Beauty dwelling in ugliness

Dialectical beauty

Speculative beauty

Conclusion

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-477) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Roche, Mark William. Beautiful ugliness.

ISBN:

0268207011

9780268207014

OCLC:

1370488165