Whitney Davies
"Hauser's work repays reading because it was and remains the only comprehensive scholarly synthesis of the history of art from the perspective of historical materialism."
Book Description
First published in 1951, Arnold Hauser's commanding work presents an account of the development and meaning of art, from its origins in the Stone Age through to the "Film Age." This new edition of a classic work explores historical and social movements and the effects these have had on the production of art--the centrality of class and class struggle, the cultural roles of ideologies and the determining influence of modes of economic development. There are 144 illustrations within the four volumes and each volume has a new general introduction by Jonathan Harris which traces the history of Hauser's project, discusses the relevance of the work for art history today, provides a synopsis of Hauser's narrative, and offers a critical guide that highlights major themes, trends and arguments.
About the author
Arnold Hauser was born in Hungary and studied literature and the history of art at the universities of Budapest, Vienna, Berlin and Paris. In 1921 he returned to Berlin to study economics and sociology under Ernst Troeltsch. From 1923 to 1938 he lived in Vienna where he began work on The Social History of Art. He lived in London from 1938 until 1977, when he returned to his native Hungary. He died in Budapest in 1978. Jonathan Harris is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Critical Theory at the University of Keele. He is the author of Federal Art and National Culture: The Politics of Identity in New Deal America (1995), co-author of Modernism in Dispute: Art Since The Forties (1993) and co-editor of Art in Modern Culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts (1992).
