Richard Wollheim on the Art of Painting: Art as Representation and Expression

Description

Richard Wollheim is one of the dominant figures in the philosophy of art, whose work has shown not only how paintings create their effects but why they remain important to us. His influential writings have focused on two core, interrelated questions: how do paintings depict? And how do they express feelings? In this collection of essays a distinguished group of thinkers in the fields of art history and philosophical aesthetics offers a critical assessment of Wollheim's theory of art. Among the themes under discussion are Wollheim's explanation of pictorial representation in terms of seeing-in, his views of artistic expression as a type of complex projection, and his notion of the internal spectator. In the final essay Wollheim himself responds to the contributors. This book will be eagerly sought out by all serious students of the theory of art, whether in departments of philosophy or art history.

"No large library collection will be complete without commentary on this major aesthetician, and small collections will benefit from the inclusion of this handy, single volume to address inquiries on art, art history, methodology, painting theory, and criticism." Art Documentation "Wolheim's discipline of philosophical aesthetics and art history is honored and scrutinized in this highly profound book... In spite of the fact that the book is almost imageless, it will engage every serious art historian and philosopher of art... Highly recommended." Choice "This is an important volume." Philosophy in Review