Main entry:

Focillon, Henri, 1881-1943, author.

Title & Author:

The life of forms in art / Henri Focillon.

Publication:

New York : Zone Books, 1989.
Cambirdge, MA ; London : Distributed by the MIT Press.

Description:

190 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Notes:
Translation of: Vie des formes.
Reprint. Originally published: New York : Wittenborn, Schultz, 1948.
Introduction / Jean Molino -- The world of forms -- Forms in the realm of space -- Forms in the realm of matter -- Forms in the realm of the mind -- Forms in the realm of time -- In praise of hands.
Also issued online.
Translated from the French.

Summary:

In this text, Focillon insists that art and its meanings are an inherently dynamic system and that the history of art is one of instabilities, fluctuations and discontinuities. Artworks are never static empirical entities or pure optical presences but rather the virtual traces of a ceaseless process of becoming.
"In this beautiful meditation on the art-historical problem of style, Henri Focillon (1881-1943) describes how art forms change over time. Although he argues that the development of art is irreducible to external political, social, or economic determinants, one of his great achievements was to lodge a concept of autonomous formal mutation within the shifting domain of materials and techniques. Focillon emphasizes the presence of nonsynchronous tendencies within styles that give artworks a manifold and stratified character. The Life of Forms in Art remains one of the most brilliant and important reflections on the morphology of art. It has been superbly translated by Yale art historian George Kubler, whose book The Shape of Time was influenced by Focillon. The book also contains a critical introduction by Jean Molino."

ISBN:

0942299566 (alk. paper)
9780942299564 (alk. paper)
0942299574 (pbk.)
9780942299571 (pbk.)

Subject:

Form (Aesthetics)
Form (Philosophy)
Hand.
Forme (Esthétique)
Forme (Philosophie)
Main.
format.
forms (type composition equipment)
forms (documents)
forms (benches)
Forma (Estética)
Esthetica.
Vorm.
Kunst.
Stijlen.
Visual arts Aesthetics

Holdings:

Location: Library main 111886
Call No.: ID BH301.F6F613; ID:94-B854
Status: Available