History of beauty

Eco, Umberto. (Added Author). McEwen, Alastair. (Added Author).

Summary: From the Publisher: What is beauty? What is art? What is taste and fashion? Is beauty something to be observed coolly and rationally or is it something dangerously involving? So begins Umberto Eco's intriguing journey into the aesthetics of beauty, in which he explores the ever-changing concept of the beautiful from the ancient Greeks to today. While closely examining the development of the visual arts and drawing on works of literature from each era, Eco broadens his enquiries to consider a range of concepts, including the idea of love, the unattainable woman, natural inspiration versus numeric formulas, and the continuing importance of ugliness, cruelty, and even the demonic. Professor Eco takes us from classical antiquity to the present day, dispelling many preconceptions along the way and concluding that the relevance of his research is urgent because we live in an age of great reverence for beauty, "an orgy of tolerance, the total syncretism and the absolute and unstoppable polytheism of Beauty." In this, his first illustrated book, Professor Eco offers a layered approach that includes a running narrative, abundant examples of painting and sculpture, and excerpts from writers and philosophers of each age, plus comparative tables. A true road map to the idea of beauty for any reader who wishes to journey into this wonderful realm with Eco's nimble mind as guide.

Record details

ISBN: 9780847826469
ISBN: 0847826465 :
Physical Description: 438 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 25 cm.
print
Publisher: New York : Rizzoli, 2004.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 431) and indexes.

Formatted Contents Note:

Chapter 12: Romantic Beauty -- 1: Romantic beauty -- 2: Romantic beauty and the beauty of the old romances -- 3: Vague beauty of Je Ne Sais Quoi -- 4: Romanticism and rebellion -- 5: Truth, myth, and irony -- 6: Gloomy, grotesque, melancholic -- 7: Lyrical romanticism -- Chapter 13: Religion Of Beauty -- 1: Aesthetic religion -- 2: Dandyism -- 3: Flesh, death, and the devil -- 4: Art for art's sake -- 5: Against the grain -- 6: Symbolism -- 7: Aesthetic mysticism -- 8: Ecstasy within things -- 9: Impression -- Chapter 14: New Object -- 1: Solid Victorian beauty -- 2: Iron and glass: the new beauty -- 3: From Art Nouveau to Art Deco -- 4: Organic beauty -- 5: Articles of everyday use: criticism, commercialization, mass production -- Chapter 15: Beauty Of Machines -- 1: Beautiful machine? -- 2: From antiquity to the Middle Ages -- 3: From the fifteenth century to the Baroque -- 4: Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries -- 5: Twentieth century -- Chapter 16: From Abstract Forms To The Depths Of Material -- 1: Seek his statues among the stones -- 2: Contemporary re-assessment of material -- 3: Ready made -- 4: From reproduced to industrial material to the depths of material -- Chapter 17: Beauty Of The Media -- 1: Beauty of provocation or the beauty of consumption? -- 2: Avant-garde, or the beauty of provocation -- 3: Beauty of consumption -- Bibliographical references of anthology translations -- Index of anthology authors -- Index of artists.