Byzantium Rediscovered - Hardcover

Bullen, JB

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0714839574 ISBN 13: 9780714839578

Publisher: Phaidon Press, 2003

Synopsis

Although the Byzantine style was never widely popular, it was nevertheless important and influential. The legacy of Byzantium was interpreted in many different ways and used to promote different aims. Professor Bullen's original and pioneering interdisciplinary study presents the first coherent account of the varied manifestations of Byzantinism in Germany, Austria, France, Britain and America. The book is richly illustrated not only with original Byzantine models and the works they inspired, but also with reproductions from the finely illustrated publications that played an important role in their own right in promoting Byzantium as an ideal. Covering politics, religion and literature as well as the arts, this is an exemplary study in cultural history, providing real insight into the interplay of ideas and forms.

About this title

About the Author:

J. B. Bullen is Professor of English at the University of Reading.

Review:

"An explosive, luscious book, with sparkling gold walls on almost every page; and it is also an extremely useful one, making sense of the work of, say, Klimt and Tiffany by placing in a fresh historical context."-Timothy Brittain-Catlin, World of Interiors "Enjoyable... Bullen's thesis triggers new reactions to buildings and connections that you thought you understood, or perhaps had never considered... Written in a lively and accessible style... Handsomely designed, with opulent photography."-The Victorian (Magazine of the Victorian Society "Brilliant... The range is amazingly wide: we meet Yeats and Ruskin, Morris and Tiffany; touch on Ingres, Cezanne, Moreau and Klimt... This book is a model of how history should be written."-The Good Book Guide "A fascinating survey."-Notes & Queries (bulletin of ASTENE, Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East "A landmark work... The production values of this spectacular book deserve high praise: lavish is the only appropriate word for the illustrations, with more than two hundred wonderfully sharp colour plates. For a work which has full scholarly paraphernalia, including footnotes and bibliography, it will also delight and impress a wider audience. If there is a whiff of the coffee table, it is straight from the shores of the Bosphorus."-Stephen Wildman, Ruskin University, University of Lancaster, Art History "Marvellously wide-ranging... Bullen writes elegantly and deploys his scholarship without pedantry. To state that Richard Wagner, Gustav Klimt and William Morris all emerge from this book is to give only a glimpse of its interest... Physically, the book is an object to be prized: the illustrations are uniformly excellent, and perfectly integrated with the text... A book which combines beauty with intelligence, and sophistication with grace. It deserves a wide readership."-Gervase Rosser, St Catherine's College, Oxford, The Art Book "Any number of texts outline the Classical and Gothic influences in 19th Century art, but this is the first in-depth survey of the impact of Byzantium... In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Germany, Austria, France, Britain and America all looked to the East for inspiration that turned up in architecture, painting and decorative arts. For artists, think Gustave Moreau, Gustav Klimt and Louis Comfort Tiffany to start. There are many more, persuasively explicated and beautifully illustrated, in this pioneering volume."-Chicago Tribune, Sunday "Manifestations of the exotic and theatrical complexities of neo-Byzantine influences on the 19th- and 20th-century architecture and art are the focus of this studious interdisciplinary survey... The author excels in interweaving Byzantine-inspired architecture and art with writings by Goethe, Yeats, and other authors... [T]he most comprehensive survey currently available in English."-Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0714839574
• ISBN 13: 9780714839578
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240