Jason Gaiger

Aesthetics and Painting (London and New York, Continuum Press, 2008)

Aesthetics and Painting introduces and opens up current debates and ideas in the aesthetics of painting. At the book's centre is an investigation of the complex relationship between what a painting depicts and the means by which it is depicted. The book looks at: classical theories of mimesis; the relationship between the painted surface and the depicted subject; problems of reference and denotation; the analysis of pictorial style; painting as an historically reflexive and self-critical practice; the emergence of fully abstract art; the most recent technological and aesthetic developments and their implications; the contemporary challenges to painting.
A sophisticated treatment of major ideas in art and philosophy, Aesthetics and Painting remains highly readable throughout, offering a clear and coherent account of the nature of painting as an art form.

“This book shines a much needed clear, intelligent light on the central questions of the meaning and value of painting, proving that philosophy and art can know and illuminate one another.” – John Armstrong, Melbourne University, Australia

Table Of Contents

1. Painting and Philosophy
2. A Window onto the World
3. Surface and Subject
4. Resemblance and Denotation
5. Pictorial Style
6. Modernism and the Avant-Garde
   Bibliography
   Index

Publishers' website

« back to Jason Gaiger's page