In Visible Touch: Modernism And Masculinity

In this collection, outstanding historians and theorists explore the representation of heterosexual masculinity embodied in modernist art.

Examining such major European modernists as Cézanne, Caillebotte, Matisse, Wyndham Lewis, and Boccioni, these writings offer a history of how artists sought to shape their sexuality in their work. In turn, the essays also show how the artists were shaped by the historical shifts in the gender order and by the exchanges between sexualities occurring in their social worlds. For example, the piece on Wyndham Lewis shows how he subscribed to an exaggerated masculinism, while the essays on Boccioni and Matisse bring out the efforts by these men to understand feminine sexuality.

In the theoretical essays, Bernard Smith questions modernism itself as a style category. And Richard Shiff and W.J.T. Mitchell trace the consequences for art theory of recognizing the physical presence of modernist artworks and the agency of imagery in our encounter with contemporary art.

Booknews

Art historians and theorists explore the representation of heterosexual masculinity embodied in modernistic art. They discuss how C<'e>zanne, Caillebotte, Matisse, Wyndham Lewis, and Boccioni shaped their sexuality in their work and in turn how they were shaped by shifts in the gender order and exchanges between sexualities that were occurring in their social lives. The nine essays were either delivered as lectures at the University of Sydney over the past few years, or are from other work of guest lecturers. Illustrated in black and white. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.