Figuring it out. What are we? Where do we come from?: The parallel visions of artists and archeologists by Colin Renfrew

by Colin Renfrew

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? These questions were posed by Paul Gauguin in a famous canvas painted in Tahiti that heralded the beginning of the modernist era. But they are also the questions asked by modern prehistorians in their quest to reconstruct the human story. In Figuring It Out , Colin Renfrew investigates the profound convergence between the two disciplines, drawing illuminating parallels between the way the modern artist seeks to understand the world by acting upon it, and the way the archaeologist seeks to understand the world through the material traces of such actions.What does the "sapient paradox"—the fact that 30,000 years passed before anatomically modern humans began to change their world—have to tell us about the unfolding of the history of our species? Why do we now find Cycladic sculpture beautiful when, merely a century ago, such work would not have been thought suitable for display in an art museum? And how is it that, in the light of Marcel Duchamp's revolutionary gallery-based gestures, the prehistoric footsteps at Laetoli have been admitted as art too, albeit of an involuntary kind? Professor Renfrew uses these questions as a springboard for his examination of the history of the human condition, a subject that can only be properly understood, he argues, through the idea of process, of Homo sapiens' active material engagement with their world.Central to his exploration is a group of leading contemporary artists, including Richard Long, Mark Dion, Antony Gormley, Eduardo Paolozzi, and David Mach, whose works are notable for just such an engagement with their physical surroundings. Figuring It Out takes sculpture off the plinth and archaeology out of the trench, and situates the contemporary artist and archaeologist together at the center of an active endeavor to re-evaluate what it is to be human. 175 illustrations, 55 in color

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published April 17, 2003

About the author

Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn was a British archaeologist, paleolinguist and Conservative peer noted for his work on radiocarbon dating, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, neuroarchaeology, and the prevention of looting at archaeological sites.
Renfrew was also the Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and was a Senior Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Reviews

[Shriya · Rating 5 out of 5]

My biggest ever regret is Sir Renfrew died just a month before Iw as to finally meet him at TAG Bournemouth 2023!

Oh my God this book! Oh my God, the way he equates archaeologist to an amateur gallery goer and the perspective it gives you on art, archaeology and all things material culture!


Read it to understand art. Read it to understand how humans create, think and leave an impact through what they create. Read it if you fancy yourself to be that "artsy kind" the pseudo-intellectual late millennial whose sheer wannabe-ness and Instagram inspired literary intellect makes me want to barf!

Read and infuse some sense into that airy head of yours! Read to educate yourself, you literate!

[Kailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Maria Hrickova · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly fascinating discussion about the similarity between art and archaeology; the desire to know ourselves. Great photos, accessible prose. A legend in the field that deserves his reputation.