Book review on Art and Agency
Posted on July 11, 2008
Filed Under Book Review
Art and agency : an anthropological theory / Alfred Gell
In this book, Alfred Gell formulates a visual art anthropological theory which focuses on the social context of art production, circulation, and reception. Gell shows how art objects embody mediate social agency as he explores the psychology of patterns and perceptions, art and personhood, the control of knowledge, and the interpretation of meaning, drawing upon a diversity of artistic traditions–European, Indian, Polynesian, Melanesian, and Australian. Gell also argues how the anthropology of art should address the workings of art in general.
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