The art of gesture: Classical and Renaissance expressions

Abstract

"A philosophy or art in contradistinction to aesthetics. A genuine philosophical engagement with the detail of works of art A highly original interpretation of Rosso Fiorentino and Piero Della Francesca in terms of the Christian political theologyThe use of the work of Walter Benjamin to develop a critical response to Agamben and Warburg on gestureThe presentation of philosophy of artDevelopment of an original conception of gesture 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"-- De Gruyter Brill.

Contents

Introduction : Gesture as informed form -- Part I. Towards the object -- 1. The object of expression -- 2. The emergence of the object : After Kant on genius -- Part II. Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin -- 3. The doubling of gesture : Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin -- 4. Gesture and expression : Interrupting lament's repetition, Walter Benjamin and Sophocles' Electra -- 5. Empathy and gesture : Aby Warburg in La Cappella Sassetti -- Part III. The art of Christian political theology -- 6. Rosso Fiorentino's "dead" Christs -- 7. Piero della Francesca's Resurrection -- Conclusion.