Although contemporary art may sometimes shock us, more alarming are recent attempts to regulate its display. Drawing upon extensive interviews, a broad sampling of media accounts, legal documents and his own observations of important events, sociologist Steven Dubin surveys the recent trend in censorship of the visual arts, photography and film, as well as artistic upstarts such as video and performance art. He examines the dual meaning of arresting images--both the nature of art work which disarms its viewers and the social reaction to it. Arresting Images examines the battles which erupt when artists address such controversial issues as racial polarization, AIDS, gay-bashing and sexual inequality in their work.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Dubin (sociology, SUNY) combines sociological and aesthetic approaches in this survey of major altercations in the ongoing culture wars. He examines cases chiefly from the visual arts and photography, beginning with the heated dispute over the portrait of Mayor Washington of Chicago in 1988. His selections all exhibit the crucial elements of a social controversy: a sense of threatened values and subsequent attempts by power groups to mobilize in response to these threats. Dubin views censorship as a social process initiated by both the political right and the political left and takes a hard look at the infighting and conflict among artists themselves over freedom of expression. Although it covers familiar territory, Arresting Images provides a fresh look at the social, political, and psychological forces influencing the American art world today. Recommended.
- Jacqueline Adams, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Jacqueline Adams, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
. . . Dubin has impressively documented a decade's developments, until now chronicled mostly in bits and pieces. His facts are well researched and marshaled; he writes with a sense of historical background, and he has all the players knowledgeably pegged. His account, for instance, of the feckless John Frohnmayer, the embattled former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, trapped in the pressure cooker that the job has become, is masterly. And as a map of the minefields that beset artists who would venture beyond the boundaries of conventional taste, this book is important. -- New York Times Book Review
Dubin's new book . . . is a highly readable, scholarly and compelling case against limiting expression. -- New City Times
[Dubin] recaps the furor raised by such well-publicized works as David K. Nelson's inflammatory portrait of late Chicago mayor Harold Washington in women's underwear, Robert Mapplethorpe's homoerotic photographs, and Andres Serrano's `blasphemous' Piss Christ. . . . Accessible and paced with page-turning immediacy--an excellent overview of what happens when the avant-garde art world meets the conservative right. -- Kirkus Reviews
. . . Arresting Images provides a fresh look at the social, political and psychological forces influencing the American art world today. Recommended. -- Library Journal
A thoughtful, comprehensive survey of our ongoing culture wars. Dubin interweaves lively narrative of bitterly fought censorship battles with provocative exploration of the social and psychological forces at work. -- Marjorie Heins, Director and Staff Counsel, Arts Censorship Project, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
With exemplary clarity and insight, Steven Dubin assesses the growing maelstrom over `correct' art, censored art, and contentious art. Essential reading for anyone interested in these debates and controversies, and an important contribution to the sociology of the arts. -- Judith R. Blau, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
It is very good to have this thoughtful sociological approach to balance the mass of books by critics and philosophers. -- Choice
Arresting Images is at once a timely inventory of the social resonance of art and an illumination of the forces that seek to limit the range of expression in the putative heartland of democracy. With its crisp prose and enormous scope, Dubin's book will prove an effective resource in support of informed public discussion over the direction of art and society. -- Randy Martin, Pratt Institute
Steven Dubin's book should be read by everyone and anyone who follows the weft and warp of the political weave as it winds through the nasty carnival of late twentieth-century America. -- Chicago Artists' News
Dubin's detailed and finely nuanced study is vital to an understanding of why certain artworks have becomeso controversial in recent years . . . this is a major contribution to the burgeoning field of cultural studies, by one of the sharpest observers of the current scene. -- Judith H. Balfe, City University of New York Graduate Center
Arresting Images places recent art controversies in their social setting. In Dubin's work, we see artists speaking out or questioning their world through their images, while politicians and other groups seek to protect their version of what is respectable. -- Free Expression, A Quarterly for the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
...the kind of analysis we've needed for some time, namely a macro-level examination of recent art-political troubles that would help us understand the disparate events of the period as a whole. -- Mitchell Stevens, Art in America
A comprehensive critical account of censorship and political alliance. -- High Performance
Dubin has evolved into one of the country's most eloquent and forceful advocates of open expression. -- New City Times
Drawing upon extensive interviews, a broad sampling of media accounts, legal documents and his own observations of important events, Steven Dubin surveys the censorship issues surrounding visual art, pornography and film, as well as artistic upstarts such as video and performance art. He examines both the nature of the art work which disarms its viewers and the social reaction to it. Combining the eye of an aesthete and the rigor of a social scientist, Dubin offers provocative insights into contemporary society and politics. -- Canadian Journal of Communication, V20, 1995
Dubin's new book . . . is a highly readable, scholarly and compelling case against limiting expression. -- New City Times
[Dubin] recaps the furor raised by such well-publicized works as David K. Nelson's inflammatory portrait of late Chicago mayor Harold Washington in women's underwear, Robert Mapplethorpe's homoerotic photographs, and Andres Serrano's `blasphemous' Piss Christ. . . . Accessible and paced with page-turning immediacy--an excellent overview of what happens when the avant-garde art world meets the conservative right. -- Kirkus Reviews
. . . Arresting Images provides a fresh look at the social, political and psychological forces influencing the American art world today. Recommended. -- Library Journal
A thoughtful, comprehensive survey of our ongoing culture wars. Dubin interweaves lively narrative of bitterly fought censorship battles with provocative exploration of the social and psychological forces at work. -- Marjorie Heins, Director and Staff Counsel, Arts Censorship Project, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
With exemplary clarity and insight, Steven Dubin assesses the growing maelstrom over `correct' art, censored art, and contentious art. Essential reading for anyone interested in these debates and controversies, and an important contribution to the sociology of the arts. -- Judith R. Blau, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
It is very good to have this thoughtful sociological approach to balance the mass of books by critics and philosophers. -- Choice
Arresting Images is at once a timely inventory of the social resonance of art and an illumination of the forces that seek to limit the range of expression in the putative heartland of democracy. With its crisp prose and enormous scope, Dubin's book will prove an effective resource in support of informed public discussion over the direction of art and society. -- Randy Martin, Pratt Institute
Steven Dubin's book should be read by everyone and anyone who follows the weft and warp of the political weave as it winds through the nasty carnival of late twentieth-century America. -- Chicago Artists' News
Dubin's detailed and finely nuanced study is vital to an understanding of why certain artworks have becomeso controversial in recent years . . . this is a major contribution to the burgeoning field of cultural studies, by one of the sharpest observers of the current scene. -- Judith H. Balfe, City University of New York Graduate Center
Arresting Images places recent art controversies in their social setting. In Dubin's work, we see artists speaking out or questioning their world through their images, while politicians and other groups seek to protect their version of what is respectable. -- Free Expression, A Quarterly for the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
...the kind of analysis we've needed for some time, namely a macro-level examination of recent art-political troubles that would help us understand the disparate events of the period as a whole. -- Mitchell Stevens, Art in America
A comprehensive critical account of censorship and political alliance. -- High Performance
Dubin has evolved into one of the country's most eloquent and forceful advocates of open expression. -- New City Times
Drawing upon extensive interviews, a broad sampling of media accounts, legal documents and his own observations of important events, Steven Dubin surveys the censorship issues surrounding visual art, pornography and film, as well as artistic upstarts such as video and performance art. He examines both the nature of the art work which disarms its viewers and the social reaction to it. Combining the eye of an aesthete and the rigor of a social scientist, Dubin offers provocative insights into contemporary society and politics. -- Canadian Journal of Communication, V20, 1995
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By M. Rose
Dubin presents controversy between the art world and the political and religious realms in a way that is objective and enlightening. A few of these readings, mainly the chapters on Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe, were assigned in a "Contemporary Art in America since 1945" Art History class I took last year. I found this information incredible and I believe it has a poignant place in our history. The discussions that these works generated are amazing and says a great deal about the status of art in our society and the politics unavoidably surrounding it in American contemporary culture.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
How did so many "shocking" photographers and performance artists become wildly famous (albeit, underpaid) towards the end of the Reagan era? By pissing off religious and polical leaders, that's how! Tedious in places, but rewarding overall.
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 64
books:
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54
books
cite this book:
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- The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom on page 263, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Mandate for Leadership Policy Management by Heatherly in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Fear of Art: Censorship and Freedom of Expression in Art by Moshe Carmilly in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Focus on the Family: Study Guide by James C. Dobson on page 251, and Index
- Artist Descending a Staircase by Tom Stoppard on page 22, and Back Matter
See all 64 books this book cites
- Actors and Activists: Performance, Politics, and Exchange Among Social Worlds by David A. Schlossman on 6 pages
- Paying the Piper: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF ART PATRONAGE by Judith Balfe on 4 pages
- Closet Devotions (Series Q) by Richard Rambuss in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- UNCIVIL RITES: American Fiction, Religion, and the Public Sphere (Public Express Religion America) by Robert Detweiler on page 143, page 147, and page 148
- Critical Moves: Dance Studies in Theory and Politics by Randy Martin in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 54 books citing this book
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