{"product_id":"picture-titles-ruth-bernard-yeazell-9780691165271","title":"Picture Titles: How and Why Western Paintings Acquired Their Names","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the practice of titling paintings has shaped their reception throughout modern history\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA picture's title is often our first guide to understanding the image. Yet paintings didn't always have titles, and many canvases acquired their names from curators, dealers, and printmakers--not the artists. Taking an original, historical look at how Western paintings were named, \u003ci\u003ePicture Titles\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the practice developed in response to the conditions of the modern art world and how titles have shaped the reception of artwork from the time of Bruegel and Rembrandt to the present. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRuth Bernard Yeazell begins the story with the decline of patronage and the rise of the art market in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as the increasing circulation of pictures and the democratization of the viewing public generated the need for a shorthand by which to identify works at a far remove from their creation. The spread of literacy both encouraged the practice of titling pictures and aroused new anxieties about relations between word and image, including fears that reading was taking the place of looking. Yeazell demonstrates that most titles composed before the nineteenth century were the work of middlemen, and even today many artists rely on others to name their pictures. A painter who wants a title to stick, Yeazell argues, must engage in an act of aggressive authorship. She investigates prominent cases, such as David's \u003ci\u003eOath of the Horatii\u003c\/i\u003e and works by Turner, Courbet, Whistler, Magritte, and Jasper Johns. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExamining Western painting from the Renaissance to the present day, \u003ci\u003ePicture Titles\u003c\/i\u003e sheds new light on the ways that we interpret and appreciate visual art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ruth Bernard Yeazell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691165270\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691165271\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/29\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 5.90w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2016","brand":"Ruth Bernard Yeazell","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":45896455848191,"sku":"9780691165271","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_bf9d7208-3379-4375-b344-4bee1a2a765c.jpg?v=1721371453","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/picture-titles-ruth-bernard-yeazell-9780691165271","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}