Synopses & Reviews
With this book, Thomas Crow contributes a refreshing analysis of the present state of art history, the practice of interpreting art and making it "intelligible." He aims to relocate the discussion of theory and method in art history away from models borrowed from other disciplines by presenting what he considers three of the most successful and challenging works in the literature of art history: Meyer Schapiro on the Romanesque portal sculpture of the abbey church of Sainte Marie in the French town of Souillac, Claude L„vi-Strauss on the Native American masks of the Northwest Coast, and Michael Baxandall on the limewood sculptors of Renaissance Germany.
Sketching the history of trends in art history--from description and biography, to more recent social-historical methods, to the latest wave of postmodernist approaches--Crow sets out a course that affirms the rich and valuable tools of language and methodology developed by generations of art historians while recognizing the important contribution of recent theory in raising the interpretive stakes. The Intelligence of Art offers nothing less than a concrete new way to grasp the infinitely complex operations of human intelligence in artistic form.
Review
Crow has presented a rare set of reflections that might be termed a Bildungsroman whose characters are works of art as interpreted by art historians and anthropologists. (Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism)
Review
This short but flawlessly written and intricately argued book offers a profoundly challenging critique of the current state of art history. (Times Literary Supplement)
Review
Thomas Crow is one of the most exacting and vigilant of art historians, never prone to following received opinions, methods, or practices. (CAA. Reviews, College Art Association)
Review
Thomas Crow has written an instant classic of historiography, one that will refuse to stay on its shelf. It will be open on our desks, issuing continual and daunting challenges to our discipline. (Leonard Folgarait, Vanderbilt University)
About the Author
Formerly Robert Lehman Professor and Chair of the Department of History of Art at Yale University, Thomas Crow is now director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.