Written in Water: The Ephemeral Life of the Classic in Art
If nothing is a classic, art cannot challenge anyone, which is the problem Gurstein sets out.
Rochelle Gurstein traces how shared standards for judging art were built and then dismantled, from the Renaissance through to the collapse of confidence in any common canon. Her argument is that without agreed classics there is no ground from which art can improve or unsettle us, and she is honest that the ground may not be recoverable.
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Tyler Cowen
Rochelle Gurstein, Written in Water: The Ephemeral Life of the Classic in Art. On the importance of classics, and common standards for classics, if art is going to challenge and improve us. The book is also sufficiently appreciative of Canova, one of the most impressive artists of all time but somehow these days underdiscussed.
Source · July 2024
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