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Whose Art Is It? Jane Kramer

Whose Art Is It? By Jane Kramer

Whose Art Is It? by Jane Kramer


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Whose Art Is It? Summary

Whose Art Is It? by Jane Kramer

Whose Art Is It? is the story of sculptor John Ahearn, a white artist in a black and Hispanic neighborhood of the South Bronx, and of the people he cast for a series of public sculptures commissioned for an intersection outside a police station. Jane Kramer, telling this story, raises one of the most urgent questions of our time: How do we live in a society we share with people who are, often by their own definitions, different? Ahearn's subjects were not the best of the neighborhood. They were a junkie, a hustler, and a street kid. Their images sparked a controversy throughout the community-and New York itself-over issues of white representations of people of color and the appropriateness of particular images as civic art. The sculptures, cast in bronze and painted, were up for only five days before Ahearn removed them.
This compelling narrative raises questions about community and public art policies, about stereotypes and multiculturalism. With wit, drama, sympathy, and circumspection, Kramer draws the reader into the multicultural debate, challenging our assumptions about art, image, and their relation to community. Her portrait of the South Bronx takes the argument to its grass roots-provocative, surprising in its contradictions and complexities and not at all easy to resolve.
Accompanied by an introduction by Catharine R. Stimpson exploring the issues of artistic freedom, political correctness, and multiculturalism, Whose Art Is It? is a lively and accessible introduction to the ongoing debate on representation and private expression in the public sphere.

Whose Art Is It? Reviews

In Whose Art Is It? Jane Kramer provides a striking account of the debate surrounding a white artist's controversial bronze statues of three people from a particularly rough section in the South Bronx. * The American Prospect *

About Jane Kramer

Jane Kramer's books include Europeans, Unsettling Europe, and The Last Cowboy, which won the National Book Award in 1981. She is a writer for The New Yorker, where she contributes the acclaimed Letter from Europe. Whose Art Is It? first appeared in The New Yorker and was awarded the National Magazine Award.

Catharine R. Stimpson is University Professor at Rutgers University and director of the Fellows Program at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Her most recent book is Where the Meanings Are: Feminism and Cultural Spaces.

Table of Contents

Introduction / Catharine R. Stimpson 1
Whose Art Is It? / Jane Kramer 37

Additional information

CIN0822315491VG
9780822315490
0822315491
Whose Art Is It? by Jane Kramer
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Duke University Press
19941019
144
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 - Whose Art Is It?