New Books by Art History Faculty
Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples by Carol Mattusch
Between the first century BC and the first century AD, Roman aristocrats retreated to their vacation homes around the picturesque Bay of Naples to enjoy otium, or thoughtful relaxation, which meant to read and write, admire the landscape, and entertain. Their homes had carefully planned views, meticulously designed gardens, and seasonal dining rooms. Their guests had perfumed rubdowns, exotic foods, and acrobatic performances, as well as access to frescoes illustrating mythological scenes, sculpture collections, and Greek and Latin libraries. The magnificent contents of these sumptuously appointed villas and townhouses are the subject of the “Pompeii and the Roman Villas” exhibition. This exhibition catalogue presents a carefully selected group of works and luxury from Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae, and Pozzuoli. An epilogue treats these Roman sites from the perspective of their influence on the 18th- and 19th-century audiences who witness their rediscovery.
www.thamesandhudson.com/9780500514368.html
Beyond National Identity: Pictorial Indigenism as a Modernist Strategy in Andean At, 1920-1960 by Michele Greet
Indigenism is not folk art; it is a vanguard movement conceived of by intellectuals and artists conversant in international modernist idioms and defined in response to global trends. Beyond National Identity traces changes in Andean artists’ vision of indigenous peoples, as well as shifts in the critical discourse surrounding their work between 1920 and 1960. By challenging the notion of pictorial indigenism as a direct expression of national identity, Greet demonstrates the complexity of the indigenists’ critical engagement with European and pan-American cultural developments and presents the trend in its global context. Through case studies of works by three internationally renowned Ecuadoran artists, Camilo Egas, Eduardo Kingman Riofrío, and Oswaldo Guayasamín Calero, Beyond National Identity pushes the idea of modernism in new directions – geographically and conceptually – to challenge the definitions and boundaries of modern art.