Author: Patricia Leighten File Type: pdf The years before World War I were a time of social and political ferment in Europe, which profoundly affected the art world. A major center of this creative tumult was Paris, where many avant-garde artists sought to transform modern art through their engagement with radical politics. In this provocative study of art and anarchism in prewar France, Patricia Leighten argues that anarchist aesthetics and a related politics of form played crucial roles in the development of modern art, only to be suppressed by war fever and then forgotten. Leighten examines the circle of artistsPablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Frantisek Kupka, Maurice de Vlaminck, Kees Van Dongen, and othersfor whom anarchist politics drove the idea of avant-garde art, exploring how their aesthetic choices negotiated the myriad artistic languages operating in the decade before World War I. Whether they worked on large-scale salon paintings, political cartoons, or avant-garde abstractions, these artists, she shows, were preoccupied with social criticism. Each sought an appropriate subject, medium, style, and audience based on different conceptions of how art influences societyand their choices constantly shifted as they responded to the dilemmas posed by contradictory anarchist ideas. According to anarchist theorists, art should expose the follies and iniquities of the present to the masses, but it should also be the untrammeled expression of the emancipated individual and open a path to a new social order. Revealing how these ideas generated some of modernisms most telling contradictions among the prewar Parisian avant-garde, The Liberation of Painting restores revolutionary activism to the broader history of modern art. **Review The Liberation of Painting is the real thing a mature work by a paradigm-shifting scholar who has been publishing leading-edge scholarship on several of the artists discussed here over the course of her distinguished professional career. This book will make its mark in studies of the relationship between avant-garde art and radical politics, as the groundwork has already been put down by two decades of work by Patricia Leighten in her consistently strong and persuasive voice. (Elizabeth Childs, Washington University, St. Louis) By shrewdly setting avant-garde attitudes alongside caricature and descriptive naturalism, Patricia Leighten powerfully restates the dangerousness of modernism in pre-1914 Paris. Her exciting study reveals how progressive styles engaged with other idealisms, whether anarchist or scientific, philosophical or anti-colonial, sexual or spiritual, in a medley of persuasive arguments. (Richard Thomson, University of Edinburgh) The Liberation of Painting is a groundbreaking study of the relationship between art and radical politics in prewar France. Rooted in exemplary scholarship, Patricia Leighten shows how artists acted as historical agents, negotiating complex relationships with the political sphere. Drawing on the work of artists such as Picasso, Vlaminck, Van Dongen, and Kupka she deftly explores the many ways in which anarchist politics animated ideas of avant-garde art and informed the creation of innovative formal languages. Leighten both complicates and enriches the dominant narratives of modernism, inviting the reader to address the real complexity of major movements or so-called isms. Key notions of primitivism, autonomy, caricature, and collage are the subjects of careful, historical scrutiny modernisms history is reconceived here as a heterogeneous field of cultural, aesthetic and political intersections. This book is essential reading for students and researchers seeking to understand the complex, shifting relationship between avant-garde art, art criticism and radical politics in avant-guerre Paris. (Gill Perry, The Open University) [R]ich and multifaceted....The book is particularly valuable in illuminating and contextualizing the art and careers of underrated modernists like Kupka and Gris, and in the wealth of research it offers on the satirical graphics that they and other avant-garde painters of this period produced. (Bridget Alsdorf, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide) Stereotypical views of modern art long have associated its complex visual languages with radical politics, variously calling modern paintings anarchic and revolutionary. In this path-forging book, Leighten illuminates the truths that underscore such truisms. . . Leightens serious treatment of the French satirical press is reason enough for this book to have a transformative impact on the study of modern art. . . . Essential. (Choice) Leighten re-examines a series of major figures and works, including Pablo Picassos Les Demoiselles dAvignon (1907), cubist collage, and Frantisek Kupkas cosmic abstraction. Even these supposedly familiar and canonized touchstones call out for emancipation. Leighten radicalizes this and related work anew. . . . [C]ompelling research. (Mark A. Cheetham Art History) [An] eye-opening study of the political nature of pre-war modernism. . . . The Liberation of Painting is indispensable for anyone interested in the inter-relatedness of art and politics during the late modern era. Leightens commitment to the subject is as impressive as the conviction of her argument and the depth of her sources. Her confident writing style, free of jargon and entirely accessible, also makes for thoroughly enjoyable reading. (H-France Review) The ambiguous positioning of cubism in relation to both popular and anti-colonial imagery of empire is skilfully delineated. . . . This study persuasively articulates its vision of the politics of form at work in pre-First World War art. It is also a beautifully produced publication. (Douglas Smith French Studies) About the Author Patricia Leighten is professor of art history and visual studies at Duke University. She is the author of Re-Ordering the Universe Picasso and Anarchism, 18941914coauthor of Cubism and Culture and coeditor of A Cubism Reader Documents and Criticism, 19061914.

Author: Heraclitus File Type: pdf Behind the superficial obscurity of what fragments we have of Heraclitus thought, Professor Kahn claims that it is possible to detect a systematic view of human existence, a theory of language which sees ambiguity as a device for the expression of multiple meaning, and a vision of human life and death within the larger order of nature. The fragments are presented here in a readable order translation and commentary aim to make accessible the power and originality of a systematic thinker and a great master of artistic prose. The commentary locates Heraclitus within the tradition of early Greek thought, but stresses the importance of his ideas for topical theories of language, literature and philosophy. **

Author: Michael W. Austin File Type: pdf Over the past forty years, football has surpassed baseball as Americas favorite game. The game has become an institution of our national culture the Super Bowl is regarded as an unofficial national holiday, and our annual Thanksgiving Day celebrations would be incomplete without it. The sport brings in massive amounts of revenue to high schools and both public and private universities as spectators enjoy a unique and celebratory social scene. Professional football teams across the country cultivate and foster a sense of community in urban areas. Surely a game this influential, with its hallowed traditions, treasured festivities, and clearly defined cultural presence, resonates far beyond recreational importance. Football and Philosophy Going Deep, edited by Michael W. Austin, reveals how a sport followed by millions reflects our deeper values, beliefs, and priorities. Austin and other contributing writers bring unique perspectives to this thought-provoking collection of essays. Divided into four quarters of reflective writing, the book covers many topics frequently debated by football fans. Sharon Ryan asks Whats So Bad about Performance Enhancing Drugs?, while the books editor argues for a playoff system in college football. Daniel Collins-Cavanaugh ponders whether the salary cap makes the NFL a fairer league, and Joshua Smith offers his own review of the instant replay. Football and Philosophy also forays into some time honored issues as it considers the philosophy of winning in light of the NFLs most legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, and contemplates the concepts of sportsmanship, virtue, friendship, and failure. While the book is unafraid to tackle serious topics, touching on ethics, religion, and the nature of reality itself, the collection is designed to be accessible for any interested reader and was written, first and foremost, for fans of the game. As Austin notes, football fans and philosophers definitely have one quality in common they both love to argue. Football and Philosophy engages in the debates of both groups, illuminating how the fields are intertwined. So whether they love or hate the college bowl system or disagree on whether the NFL has an ego problem, readers of this book will undoubtedly find much to ponder about Americas favorite game.From BooklistVince Lombardiwho relished his undergraduate studies in philosophywould have loved this book. Where else can a reader find Lombardis own winning-is-everything approach to the gridiron assessed against the doctrines of Nietzsche and Marx? Where else will a defensive end blindsiding a quarterback prompt Kantian reflections on ethics? And where else does Augustines vision of rightly ordered love inform a critique of the civil religion practiced in American football stadiums? The19 contributors to this engaging volume bring strong academic credentials to their diverse analyses. But it is their intense love of the sport that will attract most readers. Typical football fans may pause before taking Epictetus or Aristotle as a guide to their favorite game. However, the insights here developed on the justice of a playoff system for college football, on the problems created by instant replay, and on the right criteria for selecting an MVP will make this a valuable book for anyone who engages in arguments about sports with a Lombardi-like desire to win. --Bryce Christensen ReviewAustin and his fellow contributors give new meaning to the phrase going deep. Fans will enjoy this lively and thought-provoking collection. explores philosophical themes and ideas. --Gregory Bassham -- This is a brilliant collection of essays, engaging in philosophical reflection on issues and arguments that arise in American football. The essays are insightful and informative, as well as provocative and entertaining. A deeply satisfying read. -- Charles Taliaferro, author of Consciousness and the Mind of God -- The authors apply philosophical thinking to some current issues in football -- whether winning is the only thing, whether we should have a playoff system in college football, whether instant replay is a good idea, whether using steroids is cheating... --Books & Culture -- Football and Philosophy forays into some time honored issues as it considers the philosophy of winning in light of the NFLs most legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, and contemplates the concepts of sportsmanship, virtue, friendship, and failure. While the book is unafraid to tackle serious topics, toughing on ethics, religion, and the nature of reality itself, the collection is designed to be accessible for any interested reader and was written, first and foremost, for fans of the game. --GreatLiteraryWorks.com --

Author: David Ricardo File Type: pdf span id=freeText3906905166148455114 This landmark treatise of 1817 formulated the guiding principles behind the market economy. Author David Ricardo, with Adam Smith, founded the classical system of political economy, a school of thought that dominated economic policies throughout the nineteenth century and figured prominently in the theories of John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. Its foundation of the tenets of diminishing returns and economic rent led to the doctrines known today as distribution theory and international trade theory, and the Ricardian system continues to influence and inform modern economic thought.span