Ravaged: Art and Culture in Times of Conflict
Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2014. Hardcover. Bw-illustrated boards with white lettering. 306 pp. with illustrations throughout. VG. Item #148427
ISBN: 9780300204476
"The editors of this exhibition catalog thoughtfully expand the key subject of an exhibit mounted at the M-Museum in Leuven, Belgium, marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the deliberate destruction by German troops of Leuven University Library in 1914. Founded in 1425, Leuven University shone during the sixteenth century attracting renowned humanists, Erasmus among them. Fittingly, the allegory of Mars and Minerva introduces the theme of artistic response to the destruction of art and culture during times of social conflict. The short essays circle about the human and material losses suffered by Leuven and other Belgian towns during the Great War and then spin to contemplate perceptions of the calamities brought about by religious, military, and political clashes exemplified by disparate events such as reformist fury in sixteenth-century Amsterdam; the incineration of Hiroshima; and the radicalization of Mao’s China. The editors divide the essays into nine blocks organizing the movement of 400 years of artistic and literary expressions about the destructiveness of war from “Allegory” to “Modern Propaganda” and beyond. Topics include the lasting effects of damage caused by widespread destructive frenzies; the relationship between despoliation of cultural artifacts and the dehumanization of entire communities; the impetus for looting, iconoclasm, libricide, and genocide; the ethical, moral, and legal deliberation necessary to reduce the destruction of creative production that attends social cataclysms; the countervailing notions of cultural preservation and conservation; or the need to refresh classical allegories of intransigent gods, and more. The catalog includes over fifty reproductions of works exhibited at the M-Museum and 115 sourced images that illustrate the texts collected in the book. Brief author biographies appear at the end of the book and corresponding references follow each essay." - from the ARLIS/NA web site.
Price: $52.00