Overview

Andrew Benjamin approaches the relationship between philosophy and art history through the concept of gesture. Critically engaging with Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg and Giorgio Agamben, by focusing on gesture he offers a novel philosophical intervention into the classical problem of 'meaning' in art, as well as addressing the new perspectives brought by political theology into art theory. Benjamin uses gesture to function as the continual point of orientation, allowing works of art and their detail to be central. Original interpretations of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Rosso Fiorentino and Piero dell Francesca show how Christian political theology has an operative presence within the works of art examined. A key theme running through the book is the question of time in the work of art, alongside the question of how art history, and the representation of history in art, are to be understood philosophically.

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9781399529631

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Reviews

What if a gesture could not only move or speak but think? From Pierro della Francesca to Aby Warburg, Andrew Benjamin offers a new history of artistic gesture as a — philosophically, theologically and politically -- ""informed"" form. In The Art of Gesture, Benjamin does not simply forge a highly original and erudite dialogue between philosophy and art history but reveals the work of art as itself a form of philosophy. This remarkable book will be required reading for anyone working in philosophy, theology and history of art. -- Arthur Bradley, Lancaster University Not since Warburg has there been such depth of analysis of Western painting in its modern Christian-pagan dialogue. Benjamin delivers a systemically developed philosophy of art with a theory of in-forming built on deep reading of artworks that suspend the division between formal analysis and iconological interpretation. A truly brilliant achievement. -- Griselda Pollock, University of Leeds

Author Information

Andrew Benjamin is an Honorary Professor in the School of Communication and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. He has held posts in a number of UK and Australian universities. He started his career at the University of Warwick rising to the position of Professor of Philosophy and until 2022 taught for one semester each year at Kingston University in London where he was associated with the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy. He is the author of numerous books including Working with Walter Benjamin: Recovering a Political Philosophy (2013) and Of Jews and Animals (2011) both published by Edinburgh University Press.

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