Vermeer's Wager (Essays in Art and Culture) [Paperback]

Ivan Gaskell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000 | ISBN-10: 1861890729 | ISBN-13: 978-1861890726 0

Vermeer's Wager stands at the intersection of art history and criticism, philosophy and museology. Using a familiar and celebrated painting by Johannes Vermeer as a case study, Ivan Gaskell explores what it might mean to know and use a work of art. He argues that art history as generally practiced, while successfully asserting certain claims to knowledge, fails to take into account aspects of the unique character of works of art. Our relationship to art is mediated, not only through reproduction – particularly photography – but also through displays in museums. In an analysis that ranges from seventeenth-century Holland, through mid-nineteenth-century France, to artists' and curators' practice today, Gaskell draws on his experience of Dutch art history, philosophy and contemporary art criticism. Anyone with an interest in Vermeer and the afterlife of his art will value this book, as will all who think seriously about the role of photography in perception and the core purposes of art museums.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ivan Gaskell is Margaret S. Winthrop Curator at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. He is the co-editor of Vermeer Studies, and his most recent book is Politics and Aesthetics in the Arts (1999).

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Reaktion Books (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861890729
• ISBN-13: 978-1861890726
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Changing the world, December 6, 2000

By 

Audrey Statham (Durham, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vermeer's Wager (Essays in Art and Culture) (Paperback)

'An artefact is a fragment of world alteration'. In an effort to change the way people view works of art, Ivan Gaskell - curator and lecturer at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard - opens up a discussion of one 17th century painting by Vermeer, suggesting how art conveys complex ideas via purely visual, non-linguistic means. He also describes the interface between fine art and photographic reproductions, the relationship between art and museums and proposes that museums serve a therapeutic function.