The Claude Glass: Use and Meaning of the Black Mirror in Western Art - Couverture souple

Maillet, Arnaud

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 189095148X ISBN 13 : 9781890951481

Editeur : Zone Books, 2009

Synopsis

In this first full-length study of a largely forgotten optical device from the eighteenth century, Arnaud Maillet reconfigures our historical understanding of visual experience and meaning in relation to notions of opacity, transparency, and imagination. Many are familiar with the Claude glass as a small black convex mirror used by artists and spectators of landscape to reflect a view and make tonal values and areas of light and shade visible.

In a groundbreaking account, Maillet goes well beyond this particular function of the glass and situates it within a richer archaeology of Western thought, exploring the uncertainties and anxieties about mirrors, reflections, and their potential distortions. He takes us from the magical and occult background of the "black mirror," through a full evaluation of its importance in the age of the picturesque, to its persistence in a range of technological and representational practices, including photography, film, and contemporary art. The Claude Glass is a lasting contribution to the history of Western visual culture.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Arnaud Maillet is an art historian who received his doctorate at the University of Paris I. The Claude Glass is his first book.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Zone Books
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 189095148X
• ISBN 13: 9781890951481
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible