Painting and Reality
eBook - PDF

Painting and Reality

  1. 392 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Painting and Reality

About this book

A classic study of the art of painting and its relationship to reality

In this book, Étienne Gilson puts forward a bold interpretation of the kind of reality depicted in paintings and its relation to the natural order. Drawing on insights from the writings of great painters—from Leonardo, Reynolds, and Constable to Mondrian and Klee—Gilson shows how painting is foreign to the order of language and knowledge. Painting, he argues, seeks to add new beings to nature, not to represent those that already exist. For this reason, we must distinguish it from another art, that of picturing, which seeks to produce images of actual or possible beings. Though pictures play an important part in human life, they do not belong in the art of painting. Through this distinction, Gilson sheds new light on the evolution of modern painting. A magisterial work of scholarship by an acclaimed historian of philosophy, Painting and Reality features paintings from both classical and modern schools, and includes extended selections from the writings of Reynolds, Delacroix, Gris, Gill, and Ozenfant.

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Yes, you can access Painting and Reality by Etienne Gilson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Art Theory & Criticism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Preface
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Contents
  8. List of Plates
  9. I. Physical Existence
  10. II. Individuality
  11. III. Duration
  12. IV. Ontology of Paintings
  13. V. The Causality of Form
  14. VI. The World of Paintings
  15. VII. Painting and Language
  16. VIII. Imitation and Creation
  17. IX. The Significance of Modern Painting
  18. Appendix
  19. Bibliography
  20. Index