Art in Theory

A ground-breaking new anthology in the Art in Theory series, offering an examination of the changing relationships between the West and the wider world in the field of art and material culture

Art in Theory: The West in the World is a ground-breaking anthology that comprehensively examines the relationship of Western art to the art and material culture of the wider world. Editors Paul Wood and Leon Wainwright have included 370 texts, some of which appear in English for the first time.

The anthologized texts are presented in eight chronological parts, which are then subdivided into key themes appropriate to each historical era. The majority of the texts are representations of changing ideas about the cultures of the world by European artists and intellectuals, but increasingly, as the modern period develops, and especially as colonialism is challenged, a variety of dissenting voices begin to claim their space, and a counter narrative to western hegemony develops. Over half the book is devoted to 20th and 21st century materials, though the book's unique selling point is the way it relates the modern globalization of art to much longer cultural histories.

As well as the anthologized material, Art in Theory: The West in the World contains:

• A general introduction discussing the scope of the collection

• Introductory essays to each of the eight parts, outlining the main themes in their historical contexts

• Individual introductions to each text, explaining how they relate to the wider theoretical and political currents of their time

Intended for a wide audience, the book is essential reading for students on courses in art and art history. It will also be useful to specialists in the field of art history and readers with a general interest in the culture and politics of the modern world.

Auteur

Paul Wood is Research Associate in the Department of Art History at the Open University. He has published widely in the field of art history and is co-editor of three previous volumes of Art in Theory, recounting the development of Western art from the Academy to postmodernism.

Leon Wainwright is Professor of Art History at the Open University. He is the author of Timed Out: Art and the Transnational Caribbean (2011) and Phenomenal Difference: A Philosophy of Black British Art (2017). He has co-edited studies on modern and contemporary art, anthropology and museums.

Résumé

A ground-breaking new anthology in the Art in Theory series, offering an examination of the changing relationships between the West and the wider world in the field of art and material culture

Art in Theory: The West in the World is a ground-breaking anthology that comprehensively examines the relationship of Western art to the art and material culture of the wider world. Editors Paul Wood and Leon Wainwright have included 370 texts, some of which appear in English for the first time.

The anthologized texts are presented in eight chronological parts, which are then subdivided into key themes appropriate to each historical era. The majority of the texts are representations of changing ideas about the cultures of the world by European artists and intellectuals, but increasingly, as the modern period develops, and especially as colonialism is challenged, a variety of dissenting voices begin to claim their space, and a counter narrative to western hegemony develops. Over half the book is devoted to 20th and 21st century materials, though the book's unique selling point is the way it relates the modern globalization of art to much longer cultural histories.

As well as the anthologized material, Art in Theory: The West in the World contains:

• A general introduction discussing the scope of the collection
• Introductory essays to each of the eight parts, outlining the main themes in their historical contexts
• Individual introductions to each text, explaining how they relate to the wider theoretical and political currents of their time
  Intended for a wide audience, the book is essential reading for students on courses in art and art history. It will also be useful to specialists in the field of art history and readers with a general interest in the culture and politics of the modern world.

Contenu

Acknowledgements xxvii

A Note on the Presentation and Editing of Texts xxviii

General Introduction xxxi

I Encountering the World 1

Introduction 1

IA Figures of Wealth and Power 9

1 Robert of Clari

from The Conquest of Constantinople 1204/1216 9

2 Giovanni di Pian de Carpini ('John of Carpini')

from his Journey to the Court of Kuyuk Khan 12457 11

3 Marco Polo

from The Travels c.1299 13

4 'Sir John Mandeville'

from his Travels c.1356 16

5 Various authors on artistic and cultural relations between Italian city states and the Ottoman and Mamluk empires during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries 18

5 (i) Sigismondo Malatesta of Rimini

Letter of introduction for Matteo de' Pasti to Mehmed II 1461 19

5 (ii) Marin Sanudo

from his diary for 1 August 1479 20

5 (iii) Mehmed II

to the Venetian Senate 1480 20

5 (iv) The Venetian Senate

Letter to Mehmed II 1480 21

5 (v) Luca Landucci

from his Florentine diary 1487 21

5 (vi) Leonardo da Vinci

from a letter to Sultan Bayezid II before 1512 22

5 (vii) Tommaso di Tolfo

from a letter to Michelangelo 1519 22

6 Giovanni da Empoli

On India, Ceylon and the Spice Islands 1514 23

7 João de Castro

from Roteiro de Goa até Dio 1540s 24

8 Simão de Melo

from an inventory of his goods 1570s 26

9 Johann Huyghen van Linschoten

On Indian religious art 1596 29

10 Duarte de Sande

from 'An Excellent Treatise of the Kingdom of China' c.1590 32

11 Matteo Ricci

from his journal c.15821610/1615 34

12 JeanBaptiste Tavernier

On the Peacock Throne 38

IB Across the Ocean Sea 40

1 Christopher Columbus

Two texts from his first voyage to America 1492 40

2 Amerigo Vespucci

Letter to Lorenzo Pietro Franco de Medici 1503 43

3 Hernán Cortés

Two letters from Mexico 1519 and 1520 45

4 Bartolomé de Las Casas

from Apologetic History of the Indies c.154252 48

5 Toribio de Benavente ('Motolinía')

from History of the Indians of New Spain 1536 51

6 First Provincial Council in Lima 15512

On the destruction of Indian sacred sites 52

7 Jean de Léry

from History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil c.156380 53

8 Thomas Harriot

from A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia 1590 54

9 Bernardo de Balbuena

from Grandeza Mexicana 1604 57

10 Juan Rodriguez Freile

On the legend of El Dorado 1636 60

11 John Lok

A Voyage to Guinea in the year 1554 61

12 Olfert Dapper

On the city of Benin 1668 62

13 William Dampier

The first encounter with Indigenous Australian people c.1688/99 64

IC Scholarly Responses 66

1 Anon.

from the Inventory of the Palazzo Medici 1492 66

2 Albrecht Dürer

from his diary of his journey to the Netherlands 1520 70

3 Thomas Platter

On Mr Cope's cabinet of curiosities 1599 71

4 Michel de Montaigne

'On the Cannibals' c.1580s 74

5 Christopher Marlowe

from Tamburlaine the Great c.1590 76

6 Francis Bacon

'Of Plantations' c.15971625 77

7 Francis Bacon

from New Atlantis c.16205 79

8 Martin de Charmois from his Petition to the King and to t...