David Freedberg Livres

"This learned and heavy volume should be placed on the shelves of every art historical library."—E. H. Gombrich, New York Review of Books"This is an engaged and passionate work by a writer with powerful convictions about art, images, aesthetics, the art establishment, and especially the discipline of art history. It is animated by an extraordinary erudition."—Arthur C. Danto, The Art Bulletin"Freedberg's ethnographic and historical range is simply stunning. . . . The Power of Images is an extraordinary critical achievement, exhilarating in its polemic against aesthetic orthodoxy, endlessly fascinating in its details. . . . This is a powerful, disturbing book."—T. J. Jackson Lears, Wilson Quarterly"Freedberg helps us to see that one cannot do justice to the images of art unless one recognizes in them the entire range of human responses, from the lowly impulses prevailing in popular imagery to their refinement in the great visions of the ages."—Rudolf Arnheim, Times Literary Supplement

Focusing on the formative years of Albrecht Dürer, this book explores his significant drawings created between 1490 and 1495, particularly during his travels in Italy. It highlights the Courtauld Gallery's notable double-sided drawing and delves into Dürer's artistic development, examining his figure studies and the evolution of his individual style. Five expert essays provide insights into his motivations, self-portraits, influences from Nuremberg workshops, and the interplay between drawing and printmaking, enhancing the understanding of his early artistic journey.

The book delves into the complex dynamics of iconoclasm, a topic gaining renewed interest in today's turbulent climate. As a leading authority in the field, Freedberg presents a compilation of his most significant writings, featuring a new essay and a contemporary overview of the subject. The collection spans diverse themes, from the intense religious conflicts surrounding imagery during the Reformation to instances of government repression in modern South Africa and the culture wars in the United States during the early 1990s.

Aby Warburg is regarded as one of the great pioneers of modern cultural studies. This book brings together texts by many of the most renowned researchers in the field who have been influenced by his work. They address his extraordinary impact on the understanding of cultural transmission and the influence of images and texts across time and space. What emerges is the continuing significance of Warburg for our own times. No one concerned with the many forms of the survival of the past in the present and the infinitely complex relationships between images and society will want to miss this book. Published in cooperation with the Warburg Institute, London and with the assistance of a grant from the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, New York.

'Najnowszy apel o poszerzenie zakresu historii sztuki, który przypomina nam także, że sztuka, w odróżnieniu od literatury, działa na wyobraźnię w sposób o wiele bardziej bezpośredni'. Michael Kimmelman, 'New York Times'