The Art Public: A Short History (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781789146943)

A brief intellectual history of the idea of the art public.

The Art Public explores the history of efforts to imagine a collective, general audience for art in the world. Oskar B舩schmann explores both written and pictorial evidence of the development of the "art public" as an idea and disentangles connections between art production, audiences, and actual reception. Two aspects shape the narrative: the transformation of the audience from passive recipient to active agent as well as satirical jabs at audiences by the likes of Cruikshank, Rowlandson, and Daumier. This sweeping account connects the ancient Greeks with Renaissance painters, modern writers, and contemporary movie stars in a deft survey of the ways we imagine art's immediate impact on audiences and its afterlives in museums, galleries, and the world.


Author: Oskar B舩schmann
ISBN-10: 1789146941
ISBN-13: 9781789146943
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Language: English
Published: 08/15/2023
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.59w x 0.87d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/22/2023