Full Description
This book offers a range of views on spolia and appropriation in art and architecture from fourth-century Rome to the late twentieth century. Using case studies from different historical moments and cultures, contributors test the limits of spolia as a critical category and seek to define its specific character in relation to other forms of artistic appropriation. Several authors explore the ethical issues raised by spoliation and their implications for the evaluation and interpretation of new work made with spolia. The contemporary fascination with spolia is part of a larger cultural preoccupation with reuse, recycling, appropriation and re-presentation in the Western world. All of these practices speak to a desire to make use of pre-existing artifacts (objects, images, expressions) for contemporary purposes. Several essays in this volume focus on the distinction between spolia and other forms of reused objects. While some authors prefer to elide such distinctions, others insist that spolia entail some form of taking, often violent, and a diminution of the source from which they are removed. The book opens with an essay by the scholar most responsible for the popularity of spolia studies in the later twentieth century, Arnold Esch, whose seminal article 'Spolien' was published in 1969. Subsequent essays treat late Roman antiquity, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Middle Ages, medieval and modern attitudes to spolia in Southern Asia, the Italian Renaissance, the European Enlightenment, modern America, and contemporary architecture and visual culture.
Contents
Introduction, Dale Kinney; Chapter 1 On the Reuse of Antiquity: The Perspectives of the Archaeologist and of the Historian, Arnold Esch; Chapter 2 Reading Spolia in Late Antiquity and Contemporary Perception, Paolo Liverani; Chapter 3 The Use of Older Elements in the Architecture of Fourth-and Fifth-Century Rome: A Contribution to the Evaluation of Spolia, Hugo Brandenburg; Chapter 4 Spolia: A Definition in Ruins, Michael Greenhalgh; Chapter 5 Ancient Gems in the Middle Ages: Riches and Ready-mades, Dale Kinney; Chapter 6 Appropriation as Inscription: Making History in the First Friday Mosque of Delhi, Finbarr Barry Flood; Chapter 7 1Many thanks to the editors for inviting me to attend the colloquium at the Clark Art Institute and to contribute this essay to the publication, as well as for their most welcome criticisms, which have improved what follows. Thanks as well to Chris Celenza, Walter Stephens, and Herica Valladares for advice regarding some of the translations, and to John Blazejewski (Marquand Library, Princeton University) for photographs., Michael Koortbojian; Chapter 8 Authenticity and Alienation, Richard Brilliant; Chapter 9 1I want to thank Professors Dale Kinney and Richard Brilliant for including me in the Clark Colloquium from which this collection arises. I am also grateful to Mary Jo Mandula, vice president and general manager of the Tribune Properties, for providing access to the fragment files in the Tribune Tower. I wish to express my appreciation to my colleagues in the John Hope Franklin Center of Duke University faculty seminar, "Recycle", in which I presented a brief version of this text, for their helpful observations. I am most deeply indebted to Professor Kalman Bland, who critically read and commented on various drafts of this paper., Annabel J. Wharton; Chapter 10 A Medieval Monument and its Modern Myths of Iconoclasm: The Enduring Contestations over the Qutb Complex in Delhi, India, Mrinalini Rajagopalan; Chapter 11 Spolia in Contemporary Architecture: Searching for Ornament and Place, Hans-Rudolf Meier; Chapter 12 Some Thoughts About the Significance of Postmodern Appropriation Art, Donald Kuspit; Epilogue Open Sesame: The Art Treasures of the World on Call, Richard Brilliant;
