The destruction of art
Subtitle: iconoclasm and vandalism since the French Revolution
By: Dario Gamboni.
Series: Picturing history
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 1997
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 416
Subjects: Art -- Mutilation, defacement, etc.; Art -- Mutilation, defacement, etc. -- History.; Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Psychological aspects.
Other titles: Iconoclasm and vandalism since the French Revolution
Description: "This is the first comprehensive examination of modern iconoclasm. Dario Gamboni reassesses the motives and circumstances behind deliberate attacks carried out - by institutions as well as individuals - on public buildings, churches, sculptures, paintings and other works of art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Truly international in scope, The Destruction of Art examines incidents, some comic and other disquieting, in the USA, France, Britain, Switzerland, Germany, the former Soviet Union and its satellites, and elsewhere. Motivated in the first instance by the recent destruction of countless monuments in Europe's ex-Communist states, which challenged the assumption that iconoclasm was truly a thing of the past, the author has discovered just how widespread the destruction of art is today, whose forms include explicable and inexplicable vandalism, political protest and censorship of every kind." "The Destruction of Art asks what iconoclasm can teach us about the place of works of art and material culture in society. The history of iconoclasm is shown to reflect the changing and conflicting definitions of art itself."--Jacket.