Customer Reviews

The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art

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Joseph Leo Koerner must rank as one of the most able and compelling figures writing in the field of Art History today. As with his previous work on Caspar David Friedrich this work is a masterpiece of interpretative criticism and research. Koerner proceeds always from close readings of individual works, but then sets them at the centre of a nexus of complex philosophical and socio historical questions. He invokes not only the writings of Durer's contemporaries, but such figures as Foucault and Adorno in drawing out the profoundest implications from the works cited. If proof were neeeded that art history can be urgent and disturbing rather than pedantic and arcane, then this book should offer it. As one reaches the end of this book one understands that the complex issues of identity which Durer and his circle grappled with are as vital and disturbing at the turn of the millenium as the were when Durer worked on the brink of the half millenium.

As neither an art historian nor an artist, I don't know how I was lucky enough to find this book. It is an intellecutally and aesthetically enriching experience from start to finish. The author presents Durer in a full historical context, dramatically explaining his importance in time and place. Many illustrations are included, the style is very readable, and the fascination of watching Durer emerge from the pages of the book and the mists of the Middle Ages in Germany, is just terrific! You will learn more than you perhaps thought possible about Durer and you may also wonder, as I did, why I had not appreciated his art more.