Neuroarthistory
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From Aristotle and Pliny to Baxandall and Zeki
John Onians
Out of Print
This provocative book offers a fascinating account of neuroarthistory, one of the newest and most exciting fields in the human sciences. In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in our knowledge of the visual brain. Knowledge of phenomena such as neural plasticity and neural mirroring is making it possible to answer with a new level of precision some of the most challenging questions about both the creative process and the response to art.
Exploring the writings of major thinkers (among them Montesquieu, Burke, Kant, Marx and Freud), and leading art historians (including Pliny, Winckelmann, Ruskin, Pater, Gombrich and Baxandall), as well as artists such as Alberti and Leonardo and scientists from Aristotle to Zeki, John Onians shows how an understanding of the neural basis of the mind contributes to an understanding of all human behaviors—including art.
John Onians recently retired as director of the World Art Research Programme in the School of World Art Studies at the University of East Anglia and is the former director of Research and Academic Programs at the Clark Art Institute.
'A book that changes everything' - David Carrier, Champney Family Professor, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art
Publication Date: March 19, 2008
50 b/w illus.