The Cultures of Collecting [Hardcover]

John Elsner (Editor), Roger Cardinal (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

This book traces the psychology, history and theory of the compulsion to collect, focusing not just on the normative collections of the Western canon, but also on collections that reflect a fascination with the "Other" and the marginal – the ephemeral, exotic, or just plain curious.

There are essays on the Neoclassical architect Sir John Soane, Sigmund Freud and Kurt Schwitters, one of the masters of collage. Others examine imperialist encounters with remote cultures – the consquitadors in America in the sixteenth century, and the British in the Pacific in the eighteenth – and the more recent collectors of popular culture, be they of Swatch watches, Elvis Presley memorabilia or of packaging and advertising.

With essays by Jean Baudrillard, Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Nicholas Thomas, Mieke Bal, John Forrester, John Windsor, Naomi Schor, Susan Stewart, Anthony Alan Shelton, John Elsner, Roger Cardinal and an interview with Robert Opie.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The editors have assembled a series of essays on the human propensity to collect and organize whose very diversity of style makes it hard to decide of what value it would be to most libraries. Written by scholars from both sides of the Atlantic, the essays wander superficially through art history, psychoanalysis, literature, world history, and pop culture. Some of the entries are interesting, but most are simply incomprehensible. Too often the bad ones are written in an opaque, academic style that tells little about how certain collections were amassed or what made them noteworthy as collections. Except for scholars used to struggling with "profes-sorspeak," most readers will find this book to be indecipherable and not particularly enlightening. Not recommended.
Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

a brilliant book ... a good read. Analysis of the relationship of collecting to identity, memory, and pyschosexual development raises fascinating questions. The Modern Review it is by challenging and expanding upon previous ideas and histories of collecting that the book offers ways of rethinking not only the nature of collecting but also the nature of museum practice. Art History Informative and thought-provoking stuff The Independent --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674179927
• ISBN-13: 978-0674179929
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,680,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant essays on collecting, September 22, 2005

By 

David Adams (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cultures of Collecting (Reaktion Books - Critical Views) (Paperback)

There are a number of essays in this book that makes it worth reading. My favorites are:

1. The System of Collecting by Jean Baudrillard - " (collections) constitute themselves as a system, on the basis of which the subject seeks to piece together his world . . ."

2. Collecting and Collage-making: The Case of Kurt Schwitters by Roger Cardinal

3. A Collector's Model of Desire: The House and Museum of Sir John Soane by John Elsner. If you are a rabid collector of anything, you will delight in this ULTIMATE collection in which a man turned everything he did and his very house into a museum. He made multiple catalogs of his "collection" throughout his life and arranged and rearranged until his death. It's an amazing story.

There are 12 essays in all, including one on Freud's statue collection, Cook's collection from his Pacific voyages, and collections of the Austrian Habsburgs. I found it a fascinating read.