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Mr. Collier's Letter Racks Dror Wahrman (Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University)

Mr. Collier's Letter Racks By Dror Wahrman (Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University)

Summary

Uncovers an artistic puzzle in the illusionist paintings by Edward Collier, a Dutch-British still-life painter who moved to London at the end of the seventeenth century and encoded a sophisticated critique of the information revolution that ushered in the modern information age.

Mr. Collier's Letter Racks Summary

Mr. Collier's Letter Racks: A Tale of Art and Illusion at the Threshold of the Modern Information Age by Dror Wahrman (Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University)

For 300 years, a unique and complex artistic puzzle has been hidden, the solution of which reveals an extraordinary critique of what can be described as the first modern media revolution. The mind behind this puzzle was a Dutch/British still-life painter named Edward Collier. Working around 1700, Collier has been neglected, even forgotten, precisely because his secret messages have never been noticed, let alone understood. Until now. In this book, Dror Wahrman recovers the tale of an extraordinary illusionist artist who engaged in a wholly original way with a major transformation of his generation: an unprecedented explosion in cheap print - newspapers, pamphlets, informational publications, artistic prints - that was produced for immediate release and far-flung circulation faster and in larger quantities that ever before. Edward Collier developed a secret language within his still-life paintings - replete with minutely coded messages, witty games, intricate allusions, and private jokes - in order to draw attention to the potential and the pitfalls of this new information age, uncannily prefiguring the modern perspectives of the media-savvy 21st century. This heretofore obscure artist embedded in his paintings an ingenious commentary on the media revolution of his period, on the birth of modern politics, and on art itself.

Mr. Collier's Letter Racks Reviews

Wahrman guides the reader through the details of the evidence as he finds it on dozens of canvases and, where possible, in Dutch archives with such a sure hand that most readers will not feel that a better story is possible.... * Journal of Modern History *

About Dror Wahrman (Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University)

Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University and Professor of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Table of Contents

Introduction: Puzzles ; Chapter 1: Print 2.0 c. 1700: A New Media Regime ; Chapter 2: Life Not Still ; Chapter 3: The Nature of Print ; Chapter 4: Marking Time ; Chapter 5: Monarchy in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction ; Chapter 6: Eye Con ; Chapter 7: A Man with an Impossible Temper ; Chapter 8: Tom, Dick, and Henry ; Chapter 9: The Collier Club? ; Chapter 10: Death of the Author? ; Chapter 11: Which Revolution? Or the Memory of Mr. Lory ; Chapter 12: A Signature Gone Wild ; Epilogue ; Notes ; Acknowledgments ; Index

Additional information

GOR007895785
9780199738861
0199738866
Mr. Collier's Letter Racks: A Tale of Art and Illusion at the Threshold of the Modern Information Age by Dror Wahrman (Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University)
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press Inc
20121122
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Mr. Collier's Letter Racks