COMPANION TO THE BBC DOCUMENTARY SERIES CIVILISATIONS, PRESENTED BY
MARY BEARD, DAVID OLUSOGA AND SIMON SCHAMA
The idea of 'civilisation' has always been debated, even fought over.
At the heart of those debates lies the big question of how people -
from prehistory to the present day - have depicted themselves and
others, both human and divine. Distinguished historian Mary Beard
explores how art has shaped, and been shaped by, the people who
created it. How have we looked at these images? Why have they
sometimes been so contentious?
In Part One, she examines how the human figure was portrayed in some
of the earliest art in the world - from the gigantic stone heads
carved by the Olmec of Central America to the statues and pottery of
the ancient Greeks to the terracotta army of the first emperor of
China. And she explains how one particular version of representing the
human body, which goes back to the ancient world, still influences
(and sometimes distorts) how people in the West see their own culture
and that of others. Throughout this story, she is concerned not only
with the artists who made images, but with those who have used them,
viewed them and interpreted them. In other words: HOW DO WE LOOK?
In Part Two, Mary Beard turns to the relationship between art and
religion. For centuries, religion has inspired art: from the Hindu
temple at Angkor Wat to the Christian mosaics of Ravenna to the
exquisite calligraphy of Islamic mosques. But making the divine
visible in the human world has never been simple. All religions have
wrestled with idolatry and iconoclasm, destroying art as well as
creating it - and asking how to look with THE EYE OF FAITH.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781782834205
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Vendor
Profile Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter