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Nostalgic and plaintive, this title's examination of the work of art historians is an enjoyable literary exercise that will foster discussion among art historians and their students. Library Journal

Enchanting. --Holland Cotter, New York Times Nostalgic and plaintive, this title's examination of the work of art historians is an enjoyable literary exercise that will foster discussion among art historians and their students. -- Library Journal To consider melancholy in art beyond the limits of despondency, loss, and grief is a refreshing way to induce a different space and energy between the past of the artwork and the viewer's present. In these erudite essays, art historian Michael Ann Holly makes case for works of art--'these beautiful orphans'--that reinvest in melancholia as the signifier and the signified. --Greta Aart, Cerise Press In support of her argument, Holly marshals a wealth of erudition indicative of formidable trans-historical, interdisciplinary expertise... With the utmost refinement, Holly's own poetic resonance echoes from artful analogy and suggestive imagery. --Giovanna Costantini, Leonardo Reviews While the driving power of melancholy remains unclear, many readers will be intrigued by this highly personal take on the profession. -- Choice Holly's elegant and thoughtful book focuses on the encounter of the viewer with the work of art. --Kathryn Murphy, Apollo Magazine Exemplary. --Ivan Gaskell, Brooklyn Rail

Nostalgic and plaintive, this title's examination of the work of art historians is an enjoyable literary exercise that will foster discussion among art historians and their students. --Library Journal To consider melancholy in art beyond the limits of despondency, loss, and grief is a refreshing way to induce a different space and energy between the past of the artwork and the viewer's present. In these erudite essays, art historian Michael Ann Holly makes case for works of art--'these beautiful orphans'--that reinvest in melancholia as the signifier and the signified. --Greta Aart, Cerise Press

Nostalgic and plaintive, this title's examination of the work of art historians is an enjoyable literary exercise that will foster discussion among art historians and their students. --Library Journal To consider melancholy in art beyond the limits of despondency, loss, and grief is a refreshing way to induce a different space and energy between the past of the artwork and the viewer's present. In these erudite essays, art historian Michael Ann Holly makes case for works of art--'these beautiful orphans'--that reinvest in melancholia as the signifier and the signified. --Greta Aart, Cerise Press In support of her argument, Holly marshals a wealth of erudition indicative of formidable trans-historical, interdisciplinary expertise... With the utmost refinement, Holly's own poetic resonance echoes from artful analogy and suggestive imagery. --Giovanna Costantini, Leonardo Reviews While the driving power of melancholy remains unclear, many readers will be intrigued by this highly personal take on the profession. --Choice

Enchanting. --Holland Cotter, New York Times Nostalgic and plaintive, this title's examination of the work of art historians is an enjoyable literary exercise that will foster discussion among art historians and their students. --Library Journal To consider melancholy in art beyond the limits of despondency, loss, and grief is a refreshing way to induce a different space and energy between the past of the artwork and the viewer's present. In these erudite essays, art historian Michael Ann Holly makes case for works of art--'these beautiful orphans'--that reinvest in melancholia as the signifier and the signified. --Greta Aart, Cerise Press In support of her argument, Holly marshals a wealth of erudition indicative of formidable trans-historical, interdisciplinary expertise... With the utmost refinement, Holly's own poetic resonance echoes from artful analogy and suggestive imagery. --Giovanna Costantini, Leonardo Reviews While the driving power of melancholy remains unclear, many readers will be intrigued by this highly personal take on the profession. --Choice Holly's elegant and thoughtful book focuses on the encounter of the viewer with the work of art. --Kathryn Murphy, Apollo Magazine Exemplary. --Ivan Gaskell, Brooklyn Rail The Melancholy Art is both an apt embodiment of contemporary disciplinary conundrums and a deeply moving account of one art historian's personal attempt to reckon with the impossibility - the futility - of 'closing the gap between words and images.'... Holly clearly exemplifies both senses of the term in this memorable and indeed rather haunting text... The value of The Melancholy Art is precisely in simultaneously manifesting such a conundrum and in refusing to fall into the fundamentalist trap of either attributing or denying real agency to artworks. All our 'art history' books should be so brave. --Donald Preziosi, CAA Reviews

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Michael Ann Holly is the Starr Director of the Research and Academic Program at the Clark Art Institute and teaches in the Graduate Program in the History of Art at Williams College. Her books include Past Looking: Historical Imagination and the Rhetoric of the Image and Panofsky and the Foundations of Art History.

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