A Brief History of the Masses : Three Revolutions / Stefan Jonsson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jonsson, Stefan, author.

Series:

Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art and history--Europe.

Art and history.

History, Modern, in art.

Revolutions--Europe.

Revolutions.

Social classes in art.

Social movements--Europe.

Social movements.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : 30 b&w text halftones, 5 color and 1 halftone in insert

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2008]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Stefan Jonsson uses three monumental works of art to build a provocative history of popular revolt: Jacques-Louis David's The Tennis Court Oath (1791), James Ensor's Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889 (1888), and Alfredo Jaar's They Loved It So Much, the Revolution (1989). Addressing, respectively, the French Revolution of 1789, Belgium's proletarian messianism in the 1880s, and the worldwide rebellions and revolutions of 1968, these canonical images not only depict an alternative view of history but offer a new understanding of the relationship between art and politics and the revolutionary nature of true democracy. Drawing on examples from literature, politics, philosophy, and other works of art, Jonsson carefully constructs his portrait, revealing surprising parallels between the political representation of "the people" in government and their aesthetic representation in painting. Both essentially "frame" the people, Jonsson argues, defining them as elites or masses, responsible citizens or angry mobs. Yet in the aesthetic fantasies of David, Ensor, and Jaar, Jonsson finds a different understanding of democracy-one in which human collectives break the frame and enter the picture.Connecting the achievements and failures of past revolutions to current political issues, Jonsson then situates our present moment in a long historical drama of popular unrest, making his book both a cultural history and a contemporary discussion about the fate of democracy in our globalized world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

1789: Jacques-Louis David, The Tennis Court Oath

1889: James Ensor, Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889

1989: Alfredo Jaar, They Loved It So Much, the Revolution

Afterword

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9780231517928

0231517920

OCLC:

1013937328