Figures of History

In this important new book the leading philosopher Jacques
Rancière continues his reflections on the representative power
of works of art. How does art render events that have spanned an
era? What roles does it assign to those who enacted them or those
who were the victims of such events?

Rancière considers these questions in relation to the works of
Claude Lanzmann, Goya, Manet, Kandinsky and Barnett Newman, among
others, and demonstrates that these issues are not only confined to
the spectator but have greater ramifications for the history of art
itself.

For Rancière, every image, in what it shows and what it
hides, says something about what it is permissible to show and what
must be hidden in any given place and time. Indeed the image, in
its act of showing and hiding, can reopen debates that the official
historical record had supposedly determined once and for all. He
argues that representing the past can imprison history, but it
can also liberate its true meaning.

Auteur

Jacques Rancière is a leading French philosopher and Professor
Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris-St. Denis. His
many books include The Politics of Aesthetics, Aesthetics and
Its Discontents and The Future of the Image.

Résumé

In this important new book the leading philosopher Jacques Rancière continues his reflections on the representative power of works of art. How does art render events that have spanned an era? What roles does it assign to those who enacted them or those who were the victims of such events?

Rancière considers these questions in relation to the works of Claude Lanzmann, Goya, Manet, Kandinsky and Barnett Newman, among others, and demonstrates that these issues are not only confined to the spectator but have greater ramifications for the history of art itself.

For Rancière, every image, in what it shows and what it hides, says something about what it is permissible to show and what must be hidden in any given place and time. Indeed the image, in its act of showing and hiding, can reopen debates that the official historical record had supposedly determined once and for all. He argues that representing the past can imprison history, but it can also liberate its true meaning.

Contenu
The Unforgettable

1. In Front of the Camera Lens
2. Behind the Window
3. The Threshold of the Visible
4. In the Face of Disappearance

Senses and Figures of History

1. Of Four Senses of History
2. History and Representation: Three Poetics of Modernity
3. On Three Forms of History Painting
   Films cited