What is a Picture? : Depiction, Realism, Abstraction

Newall, Michael (2010) What is a Picture? : Depiction, Realism, Abstraction. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 248 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-27655-0. (Full text available)

Abstract

What is a picture? Is it a symbol, a likeness, a trigger of certain visual experiences or cognitive states? Each of these ideas, wrongly placed in competition by earlier theorists, gives some insight into what a picture is. This book draws together, criticises and refines these ideas to develop a new theory of pictures, that understands pictures to be an intrinsically visual from of representation. Using an approach deeply informed by art history and perceptual psychology, it explores the ramifications such a theory has for the visual arts, developing a new theory of pictorial realism, reconsidering the special status often granted to perspective-based realism in art, and giving a powerful new analysis of abstraction in modern painting.

Item Type:	Book
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
Divisions:	Faculties > Humanities > School of Arts > History and Philosophy of Art
Depositing User:	Michael Newall
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2012 00:12 UTC
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2013 12:21 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/31670 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)