Looking askance : skepticism and American art from Eakins to Duchamp / Michael Leja.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leja, Michael, 1951- author.

Series:

Ahmanson Murphy fine arts imprint.

Ahmanson Murphy fine arts imprint

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Optical illusions in art.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 300 pages) : illustrations.

Other Title:

Looking askance

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2018]

Summary:

"Looking Askance offers a new paradigm for understanding American visual culture, from the art of Thomas Eakins, William Harnett, and Marcel Duchamp to such fascinating historical episodes as the trial of spirit photographer William Mumler, scientist Helen Abbott's interpretation of Monet's Impressionism, the myriad illusions featured at the Buffalo World's Fair of 1901, and William James's analysis of automatic drawing. Leja traces the roots of skeptical seeing in the culture of modernity and in national values of entrepreneurship, invention, competition, and unregulated marketing." "This original book shows how "looking askance" has shaped American visual culture from the mid-nineteenth century to our own time."-- Jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: looking askance

Mumler's fraudulent photographs

Eakins's reality effects

Impressionism and nature's deceptions

Touching pictures by William Harnett

Buffalo's illusions

The self's deceptions

Humbugs for highbrows: Duchamp's readymades in New York.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.