Looking askance
Subtitle: skepticism and American art from Eakins to Duchamp
By: Michael Leja.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 300
Subjects: Optical illusions in art; Visual perception -- Psychological aspects; Art and society -- United States; Art, American -- 19th century; Art, American -- 20th century
Description: "Looking Askance offers a new paradigm for understanding American visual culture, from the art of Thomas Eakins, William Harnett, and Marcel Duchamp to such fascinating historical episodes as the trial of spirit photographer William Mumler, scientist Helen Abbott's interpretation of Monet's Impressionism, the myriad illusions featured at the Buffalo World's Fair of 1901, and William James's analysis of automatic drawing. Leja traces the roots of skeptical seeing in the culture of modernity and in national values of entrepreneurship, invention, competition, and unregulated marketing." "This original book shows how "looking askance" has shaped American visual culture from the mid-nineteenth century to our own time."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: "Ahmanson Murphy fine arts imprint"--Prelim. p.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-287) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: looking askance; title: Mumler's fraudulent photographs; title: Eakins's reality effects; title: Impressionism and nature's deceptions; title: Touching pictures by William Harnett; title: Buffalo's illusions; title: The self's deceptions; title: Humbugs for highbrows: Duchamp's readymades in New York; title: Notes.