Read more
While many acknowledge that Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault have redefined our notions of time and history, few recognize the crucial role that "the infinite relation" between seeing and saying (as Foucault put it) plays in their work. Gary Shapiro reveals, for the first time, the full extent of Nietzsche and Foucaults concern with the visual.
Shapiro explores the whole range of Foucaults writings on visual art, including the theory of visual resistance, the concept of the phantasm or simulacrum, and his interrogation of the relation of painting, language, and power in artists from Bosch to Warhol.
He also shows through an excavation of little-known writings that the visual is a major theme in Nietzsches thought. In addition to explaining the significance of Nietzsches analysis of Raphael, Durer, and Claude Lorrain, he examines the philosophers understanding of the visual dimension of Greek theater and Wagnerian opera and offers a powerful new reading of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
"Archaeologies of Vision will be a landmark work for all scholars of visual culture as well as for those engaged with continental philosophy.
About the author
Gary Shapiro is a professor of philosophy and Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities at the University of Richmond. He is the author of three previous books, including "Alcyone: Nietzsche on Gifts, Noise and Women" and "Earthwards: Robert Smithson and Art after Babel."
Summary
Shapiro explores the whole range of Foucault's writing on visual art, including the theory of visual resistance. He also examines the significance of Nietzsche's understanding of visual dimensions in the theatre and opera,
