Item #71 Andrea Pozzo and Video Art. Felix Burda-Stengel.

Andrea Pozzo and Video Art

Price: $70.00

Place Published: Philadelphia
Publisher: Saint Joseph's University Press
Date Published: 2013
ISBN: 9780916101787
Book ID: 71

Description:

Early Modern Catholicism and the Visual Arts Series, Vol. 8

179 pages + index and bibliography | 95 b/w and color images


Saint Joseph's University Press is pleased to publish the English translation of Andrea Pozzo and Video Art, by the late Felix Burda-Stengel (1967-2001), as the eighth volume in its "Early Modern Catholicism and the Visual Arts Series." Originally published in German in 2001 (Gebr. Mann Verlag), this study subsequently appeared in French translation in 2006 (Isthme éditions).

The Jesuit lay brother and baroque artist Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709) was a master of illusionist perspective art. Burda-Stengel's' pioneering book, Andrea Pozzo and Video Art, provides a case study in the history of art and media by focusing on Pozzo's art in relation to the modern video art of Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman, and Gary Hill. Before proceeding to this comparison, the author offers an overview of Pozzo's biography; situates the artist in the context of 17th-century interest in the natural sciences and optics and in relation to contemporaries such as Athanasius Kircher (1601/2-80), Jean-François Niceron (1613-46), and Emmanuel Maignan (1601-76); and presents a thorough analysis of three masterpieces of Pozzo's illusionist art: the church of St. Francis Xavier in Mondovì, the corridor to the rooms of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Roman Casa Professa, and the cupola and ceiling of the church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome. Profusely illustrated with more than 90 color and black-and-white images, the book is rounded off by a bibliography and index.


CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"In his book on Baroque art space and video installation, Felix Burda-Stengel opens up new avenues for approaching contemporary as well as past art. The comparison of Andrea Pozzo's illusionistic painting with today's video art aims above all at overcoming old barriers to thought and allows one to grasp the history of art as a coherent history of perception that cannot be reduced to historical classifications."

Hans Belting

From the foreword to Andrea Pozzo and Video Art

"[This] book provides a unique perspective on a remarkable man and his largely overlooked work, simultaneously bringing him out of the shadows and placing him in an entirely contemporary and unexpected context. . . . This is a complex and challenging book, which intelligently and thoroughly makes the case for a link between the Jesuit artist of the seventeenth century and the installation artist of the twenty-first century."

Jan Graffius, Stonyhurst College (The Way: A Review of Christian Spirituality published by the British Jesuits)

"Andrea Pozzo and Video Art is the eighth book in the series "Early Modern Catholicism and the Visual Arts" by Saint Joseph's University Press and proves a good complement to other titles in that series. . . . [The] relationship between Andrea Pozzo and modern video art provides new criteria for consideration of Baroque art and a new context for consideration of video art. This focus is both unusual and interesting, and should provide additional ways in which scholars of Pozzo (and illusionistic Baroque art more widely) may view and understand his works. In addition, it is often helpful to have a connection to contemporary art when attempting to engage students, and this book may provide a good approach."

Alison C. Fleming, Winston-Salem State University (Sixteenth Century Journal)