On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art

by Elkins; James

• ISBN13: 9780415969895
• ISBN10: 0415969891
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-09-04
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Religion and serious art have grown apart. While Sister Wendy speaks eloquently about modern art as if it were all religious, art historians distance themselves from the very idea of spirituality. And yet there is a tremendous amount of religious art outside the art world. For millennia, art has been religious - even in times and places when there was no word for "art." Then, in the Renaissance, it became possible for art to glorify the artist, making viewers think more of his skills than of the subjects he portrayed. The modern artist faces a more complex dilemma - one that no art historian has talked about until now. Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? John Updike calls modern art "a religion assembled from the fragments of our daily life," but does that mean that contemporary art is spiritual? What might it mean to say that the art you make expresses your spiritual belief? On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Artis about the curious disconnectbetween spirituality and current art. This book will enable you to walk into a museum and talk about the spirituality that is or is not visible in the art you see.

Author Biography

James Elkins is Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Head of the History of Art at University College, Cork, Ireland

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
The Words Religion and Art	1	(4)
A Very Brief History of Religion in Art	5	(16)
How Some Scholars Deal with the Question	21	(8)
Five Stories	29	(10)
Kim	29	(2)
Rehema	31	(2)
Brian	33	(1)
Ria	34	(1)
Joel	35	(4)
Kim's Story Explained: The End of Religious Art	39	(12)
Rehema's Story Explained: The Creation of New Faiths	51	(14)
Brian's Story Explained: Art that Is Critical of Religion	65	(12)
Ria's Story Explained: How Artists Try to Burn Away Religion	77	(18)
Joel's Story Explained: Unconscious Religion	95	(10)
Some Words to Describe Spiritual Art	105	(10)
Conclusions	115	(2)
Notes	117	(16)
Index	133