In The Rhetoric of Purity, Mark Cheetham explores the historical and theoretical relations between early abstract painting in Europe and the notion of purity. For Gauguin, Serusier, Mondrian and Kandinsky - the pioneering abstractionists whose written and visual works Cheetham discusses in detail - purity is the crucial quality that painting must possess. Purity, however, was itself only a password for what Cheetham defines as an 'essentialist' philosophy inaugurated by Plato's vision of a perfect, non-mimetic art form and ...
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In The Rhetoric of Purity, Mark Cheetham explores the historical and theoretical relations between early abstract painting in Europe and the notion of purity. For Gauguin, Serusier, Mondrian and Kandinsky - the pioneering abstractionists whose written and visual works Cheetham discusses in detail - purity is the crucial quality that painting must possess. Purity, however, was itself only a password for what Cheetham defines as an 'essentialist' philosophy inaugurated by Plato's vision of a perfect, non-mimetic art form and practised by the founders of abstraction. The essentialism of late nineteenth-century French discussion of 'abstraction', Cheetham argues, also infects the work of Mondrian and Kandinsky. These visions of abstraction are central to the development of Modernism and are closely tied to the philosophical traditions of Plato, Hegel and Schopenhauer. As a conclusion, Cheetham provides a postmodern reading of Klee's rejection of the rhetoric of purity and claims that Klee's refusal speaks to contemporary concerns in visual theory and culture. By acting as an antidote to the seductive appeal of purity in art and society, Cheetham's final critique of the trope of purity seeks to preserve the possibility of visual discourse itself.
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Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $27.00, very good condition, Sold by Moe's Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
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Very good in Good jacket. First edition. Jacket is lightly rubbed and worn along edges. Jacket spine is sunned, but text is legible. Spine is lightly bumped and shaken, but binding is secure. Inside is clean and unmarked.
Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $62.12, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $72.75, like new condition, Sold by Cardinalis Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, ON, CANADA, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
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Fine in Near Fine jacket. Book. 8vo-over 7¾-9¾" tall. Hardcover. Light wear to edges of dust jacket; otherwise clean, tight, and completely unmarked--a sound and handsome copy! 194pp.
Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $126.61, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $154.45, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
Add this copy of The Rhetoric of Purity: Essentialist Theory and the to cart. $74.00, new condition, Sold by Books and Music rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brighton, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Cambridge University Press.
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New in very good dust jacket. 216 p. Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism. Audience: Professional and scholarly; College/higher education. volume like new, clean unmarked pages, tight binding, slight curling of dust jacket at top, 1/8 tears spine corner. With 16 black/white reproductions of paintings by Gauguin, van Gogh, Serusier, and others. Shipped in bubble wrap with tracking. four-level 1-B
