Face and mask : a double history / Hans Belting ; translated by Thomas S. Hansen and Abby J. Hansen.

By:

Belting, Hans [author.]

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Original language: German Description: 270 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cmISBN:

9780691162355 (hardcover) ; (alkaline paper)
0691162352 (hardcover) ; (alkaline paper)

Uniform titles:

Faces. English

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

704.942 BEL

Contents:

Face and Mask: Changing Views -- Portrait and Mask: the Face as Representation -- Media and Masks: the Production of Faces.

Summary: This fascinating book presents the first cultural history and anthropology of the face across centuries, continents, and media. Ranging from funerary masks and masks in drama to the figural work of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman and Nam June Paik, renowned art historian Hans Belting emphasizes that while the face plays a critical role in human communication, it defies attempts at visual representation. Belting divides his book into three parts: faces as masks of the self, portraiture as a constantly evolving mask in Western culture, and the fate of the face in the age of mass media. Referencing a vast array of sources, Belting\'s insights draw on art history, philosophy, theories of visual culture, and cognitive science. He demonstrates that Western efforts to portray the face have repeatedly failed, even with the developments of new media such as photography and film, which promise ever-greater degrees of verisimilitude. In spite of sitting at the heart of human expression, the face resists possession, and creative endeavors to capture it inevitably result in masks--hollow signifiers of the humanity they\'re meant to embody. From creations by Van Eyck and August Sander to works by Francis Bacon, Ingmar Bergman, and Chuck Close, Face and Mask takes a remarkable look at how, through the centuries, the physical visage has inspired and evaded artistic interpretation.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	LSAD Library Main Collection	704.942 BEL (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		39002100630442

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A cultural history of the face in Western art, ranging from portraiture in painting and photography to film, theater, and mass media

This fascinating book presents the first cultural history and anthropology of the face across centuries, continents, and media. Ranging from funerary masks and masks in drama to the figural work of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman and Nam June Paik, renowned art historian Hans Belting emphasizes that while the face plays a critical role in human communication, it defies attempts at visual representation.

Belting divides his book into three parts: faces as masks of the self, portraiture as a constantly evolving mask in Western culture, and the fate of the face in the age of mass media. Referencing a vast array of sources, Belting's insights draw on art history, philosophy, theories of visual culture, and cognitive science. He demonstrates that Western efforts to portray the face have repeatedly failed, even with the developments of new media such as photography and film, which promise ever-greater degrees of verisimilitude. In spite of sitting at the heart of human expression, the face resists possession, and creative endeavors to capture it inevitably result in masks--hollow signifiers of the humanity they're meant to embody.

From creations by Van Eyck and August Sander to works by Francis Bacon, Ingmar Bergman, and Chuck Close, Face and Mask takes a remarkable look at how, through the centuries, the physical visage has inspired and evaded artistic interpretation.

Translated from the German.

First published in Germany under the title Faces: Eine Geschichte des Gesichts.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-266) and index.

Face and Mask: Changing Views -- Portrait and Mask: the Face as Representation -- Media and Masks: the Production of Faces.

This fascinating book presents the first cultural history and anthropology of the face across centuries, continents, and media. Ranging from funerary masks and masks in drama to the figural work of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman and Nam June Paik, renowned art historian Hans Belting emphasizes that while the face plays a critical role in human communication, it defies attempts at visual representation. Belting divides his book into three parts: faces as masks of the self, portraiture as a constantly evolving mask in Western culture, and the fate of the face in the age of mass media. Referencing a vast array of sources, Belting\'s insights draw on art history, philosophy, theories of visual culture, and cognitive science. He demonstrates that Western efforts to portray the face have repeatedly failed, even with the developments of new media such as photography and film, which promise ever-greater degrees of verisimilitude. In spite of sitting at the heart of human expression, the face resists possession, and creative endeavors to capture it inevitably result in masks--hollow signifiers of the humanity they\'re meant to embody. From creations by Van Eyck and August Sander to works by Francis Bacon, Ingmar Bergman, and Chuck Close, Face and Mask takes a remarkable look at how, through the centuries, the physical visage has inspired and evaded artistic interpretation.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Introduction: Defining the Subject (p. 1)
I Face and mask: changing views
1 Facial Expression, Masks of the Self, and Roles of the Face (p. 17)
2 The Cult Origin of the Mask (p. 32)
3 Masks in Colonial Museums (p. 42)
4 Face and Mask in the Theater (p. 48)
5 From the Study of the Face to Brain Research (p. 63)
6 Nostalgia for the Face and the Death Mask in Modernity (p. 77)
7 Eulogy for the Face: Rilke and Artaud (p. 84)
II Portrait and mask: the face as representation
8 The European Portrait as Mask (p. 91)
9 Face and Skull: Two Opposing Views (p. 106)
10 The "Real Face" of the Icon and the "Similar Face" (p. 118)
11 The Record of Memory and the Speech Act of the Face (p. 120)
12 Rembrandt's Self-Portraiture: Revolt against the Mask (p. 135)
13 Silent Screams in the Glass Case: The Face Set Free (p. 150)
14 Photography and Mask: Jorge Molder's Own Alien Face (p. 157)
Part III Media and Masks: The Production of Faces
15 The Consumption of Media Faces (p. 175)
16 Archives: Controlling the Faces of the Crowd (p. 192)
17 Video and Live Image: The Flight from the Mask (p. 205)
18 Ingmar Bergman and the Face in Film (p. 211)
19 Overpainting and Replicating the Face: Signs of Crisis (p. 221)
20 Mao's Face: State Icon and Pop Idol (p. 229)
21 Cyberfaces: Masks without Faces (p. 239)
Acknowledgments (p. 247)
Notes (p. 249)
Literature Cited (p. 263)
Index of Names (p. 267)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Hans Belting has held chairs in art history at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia, and Northwestern. He also cofounded and taught at the School for New Media in Karlsruhe, Germany. His many books include An Anthropology of Images (Princeton), Florence and Baghdad: Renaissance Art and Arab Science , Looking through Duchamp's Door , The Invisible Masterpiece , and Art History after Modernism .