by Dr Malcolm Barnard (Author)
This text provides an accessible critical introduction to a variety of different analytic strategies for understanding the range of objects (paintings, sculpture, adverts, furniture, textiles, photography, fashion, etc.) that make up visual culture. Beginning with a discussion of what understanding can be taken to mean in relation to visual culture, it devotes separate chapters to different approaches to its study, using carefully chosen examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of these. The major figures associated with particular analytic strategies (Hebdige, Panofsky, Barthes, Wolff, etc.) are critically discussed throughout. Alternative, more advanced readings are also explored and crucial questions posed, such as 'Are we always, or ever, in control of our understanding?'
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 22 May 2001
ISBN 10: 0333772881
ISBN 13: 9780333772881
Book Overview: 'Its discussion of the range of major theoretical approaches earns Malcolm Barnard's Approaches to Understanding Visual Culture a place on the theory shelf beside Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory, a similarly-sized guidebook of much help for the perplexed.' - Leonardo