Seduced: Art & Sex from Antiquity to Now [Hardcover]

Marina Wallace (Author), Martin Kemp (Author), Joanne Bernstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

"Seduced" is a provocative and ambitious survey of representations of sex across cultures from ancient times to the modern day. Featuring such diverse works as Roman marbles, Japanese woodcuts, Indian manuscripts, Renaissance and Baroque paintings, nineteenth-century photographs and contemporary videos, this fascinating book reveals how art with a sexual content has been collected, openly displayed, concealed or prohibited over time. It provokes us to question the lines drawn between art and pornography and to examine our own boundaries of acceptability and censorship. This is the first major study of the visual representation of sex and changing attitudes towards explicit imagery throughout history. It includes works spanning 2000 years by over 70 artists, among them Rembrandt, Kitagawa Utamaro, J.M.W. Turner, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe and Jeff Koons.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marina Wallace is a professor at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London. Martin Kemp is Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford. Joanne Bernstein is an independent curator.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Merrell Publishers; 1St Edition edition (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858944163
• ISBN-13: 978-1858944166
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars College-level art libraries will relish this stand-alone catalog, February 3, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seduced: Art & Sex from Antiquity to Now (Hardcover)

This survey of sex in art spans some 2000 years and considers the boundaries between art and pornography as it probes sexually explicit works and accompanies a London gallery exhibition on the subject. College-level art libraries will relish this stand-alone catalog, which holds works and discussions of over 70 artists and historical figures and examines history, culture and artistic considerations alike. Color and black and white illustrations abound.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, October 21, 2010

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Laurel "Crowning Laurel" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seduced: Art & Sex from Antiquity to Now (Hardcover)

I was pleasantly surprised at how much actual history is included in the book. I has a small suspicion it would be more smut-oriented than anything, but it's very classy and I would in no way consider it to be in bad taste.