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Distributed for Reaktion Books

The Destruction of Art

Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution

Last winter, a man tried to break Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain sculpture. The sculpted foot of Michelangelo’s David was damaged in 1991 by a purportedly mentally ill artist. With each incident, intellectuals must confront the unsettling dynamic between destruction and art.  Renowned art historian Dario Gamboni is the first to tackle this weighty issue in depth, exploring specters of censorship, iconoclasm, and vandalism that surround such acts.

Gamboni uncovers here a disquieting phenomenon that still thrives today worldwide. As he demonstrates through analyses of incidents occurring in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and Europe, a complex relationship exists among the evolution of modern art, destruction of artworks, and the long history of iconoclasm. From the controversial removal of Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc from New York City’s Federal Plaza to suffragette protests at London’s National Gallery, Gamboni probes the concept of artist’s rights, the power of political protest and how iconoclasm sheds light on society’s relationship to art and material culture.

Compelling and thought-provoking, The Destruction of Art forces us to rethink the ways that we interact with art and react to its power to shock or subdue.


416 pages | 151 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2007

Picturing History

Art: Art--General Studies


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Reviews

“Well illustrated. . . . Gamboni brings together a great deal of fascinating information.”

The Independent

“Erudite and entertaining, Gamboni’s book is an excellent guide to the outrageous in art.”

Glasgow Herald

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Theories and Methods
2. A Historical Outline
3. The Fall of the ’Communist Monuments’
4. Political Iconoclasm in Democratic Societies
5. Outside the First World
6. Iconoclasm and Multiplication
7. Free Art and the ’Free World’
8. Legal Abuse
9. The Degradation of Art in Public Places
10. Museums and Pathology
11. ’Embellishing Vandalism’
12. Reformations of Church Art
13. Modern Art and Iconoclasm
14. Mistaking Art for Refuse
15. Disqualification and Heritage
References
Bibliography
Photographic Acknowledgements
Index

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