LEADER 04425nam 2200553Ia 450 001 996248330003316 005 20160906 010 $a0-520-94033-4 024 7 $a2027/heb33061 035 $a(CKB)3710000000955380 035 $a(dli)HEB33061 035 $a(MiU) MIU01100000000000000000665 035 $a(DE-B1597)649049 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780520940338 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000955380 100 $a20160906e20062004 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurmnummmmuuuu 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aLooking askance $eskepticism and American art from Eakins to Duchamp /$fMichael Leja 205 $a1st pbk. print. 210 $aBerkeley $cUniversity of California Press$d2006 215 $a1 online resource (xiii, 300 p. ) $cill. (some color) ; 225 1 $aAhmanson Murphy fine arts imprint 300 $aOriginally published: 2004. 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 249-287) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tList of Illustrations -- $tINTRODUCTION ? LOOKING ASKANCE -- $t1 MUMLER'S FRAUDULENT PHOTOGRAPHS -- $t2 EAKINS'S REALITY EFFECTS -- $t3 IMPRESSIONISM AND NATURE'S DECEPTIONS -- $t4 TOUCHING PICTURES BY WILLIAM HARNETT -- $t5 BUFFALO'S ILLUSIONS -- $t6 THE SELF'S DECEPTIONS -- $t7 HUMBUGS FOR HIGHBROWS: Duchamps Readymades in New York -- $tNotes -- $tIndex 330 $aIf seeing ever really was a reason for believing, it surely was not in New York around 1900. The rift between appearances and truth was widening: deceptive images flourished in advertising and mass media; science contradicted unaided vision; the spirit world gained credibility; and hucksters, frauds, and hoaxes proliferated. In Looking Askance, Michael Leja conducts a dazzling tour from fine art to mass culture and back again to chart the emergence of a new skepticism about seeing and to assess the roles played by the visual arts, both fine and commercial, in this cultural transformation. A lively exploration of the relationship between modern art, truth, and deception, Looking Askance offers a new paradigm for understanding American visual culture, from the art of Thomas Eakins, William Harnett, and Marcel Duchamp to such fascinating historical episodes as the trial of spirit photographer William Mumler, scientist Helen Abbott's interpretation of Monet's Impressionism, the myriad illusions featured at the Buffalo World's Fair of 1901, and William James's analysis of automatic drawing. Leja traces the roots of skeptical seeing in the culture of modernity and in national values of entrepreneurship, invention, competition, and unregulated marketing. This brilliantly pluralistic study will resonate with a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary interests. Tracking the way questions about the nature of seeing inform self-constructions of the modern subject, Leja moves flexibly through a wide range of surprisingly diverse materials, linking spirit photography, world fairs, circuses, automatic drawing, realist painting, and Marcel Duchamp. In true skeptical fashion, Leja trains his eye on the ambiguities of his materials, refusing to let them settle into either a celebratory or a cynical narrative. Opposites are revealed as similar (P. T. Barnum's humbug and George Washington's truth-telling both play on the motif of deception), while humbugs manifest difference (a radical fear of dishonesty versus a source of delight). The final illuminating shift in this complex study is thus from the modern need to negotiate multiple and layered realities to the manifold optical lenses of Leja's own kaleidoscopic approach. 410 0$aAhmanson Murphy fine arts imprint. 517 3 $aSkepticism and American art from Eakins to Duchamp 606 $aOptical illusions in art 606 $aVisual perception$xPsychological aspects 606 $aArt and society$zUnited States 606 $aArt, American$y19th century 606 $aArt, American$y20th century 615 0$aOptical illusions in art. 615 0$aVisual perception$xPsychological aspects. 615 0$aArt and society 615 0$aArt, American 615 0$aArt, American 700 $aLeja$b Michael$f1951-$01012977 801 0$bMiU 801 1$bMiU 906 $aBOOK 912 $a996248330003316 996 $aLooking askance$92353906 997 $aUNISA