Overview

The purpose of this book is to reveal the antique pedigree of a now commonplace term, ""Inspiration,"" an essential creation-myth now propelling notions of ""self-expression"" in modern art-making. Knowledge of the ancient sources of such supposedly ""modernist"" fixations will make a significant contribution to historical-cultural thinking, particularly by showing in detail the facts of an unrecognized evolutionary continuity. In order to personify ""Inspiration,"" this study initially focuses upon Michelangelo's Bacchus of 1496, so revealing now-forgotten meanings once typically to be attached in a generic way to any ""Bacchus."" Then it demonstrates how these ""Dionysiac"" concepts arose in ancient Greece. Later developments--particularly from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance--are traced here for the first time. Due to further modifications by Friedrich Nietzsche, Dionysiac ""expressionism"" eventually became a staple of modern art theory and practice.

Full Product Details

Author:   John F. Moffitt
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   22
Dimensions:   Width: 16.60cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 24.80cm
Weight:   0.904kg
ISBN:  

9789004142794

ISBN 10:   9004142797
Pages:   416
Publication Date:   14 January 2005
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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Table of Contents

Dedication & Epigraphs List of Illustrations Introduction: A Personification of Inspiration PART I. INSPIRATION : ANCIENT DIONYSUS TO THE HUMANISTS' BACCHUS 1. The Modern Condition of Inspiration 2. Michelangelo's Bacchus as a Historical Metaphor 3. The Classical Sources of Inspiration 4. Post-Classical and Christian Inspiration 5. The Neoplatonic Bacchus of the Renaissance 6. The Emblematic Bacchus and Inspired Art-Making PART II. INSPIRATION FOR THE NEO-DIONYSIAC MODERNISTS 7. Post-Renaissance Inspiration, from the Enlightenment to the Romantics 8. A Dionysus Reborn for the Symbolist Era 9. Dionysiac Ecstasy and Modernist Art-Worship 10. Surrealist Dionysian Myth and Gestural Performance Art 11. The Inspired Shaman-Artist: The Case of Joseph Beuys 12. Something Like a Post-Modernist Finale Illustrations Bibliography Index

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Author Information

John F. Moffitt, Ph.D. (1966) in Art History, University of Madrid, is Professor Emeritus of Art at New Mexico State University. He has published extensively about the historic settings of major art works; among a dozen books, his latest is Caravaggio in Context (McFarland, 2004).

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