Phantasiestueck: Über das Phantastische in der Kunst

by Werner Hofmann

For the first time in art history, Werner Hofmann's far-reaching book explores the phenomenon of fantasy as a counter world to supposed reality. Creative possibilities between experience and imagination show themselves to be the foundations of modern art. Fantasy is the counter-proposal to the norm, the familiar, and conscious. But all of that to which it wants to be antipodal is necessary to its essence, for fantasy lives from deviation, from the taboo, from the debauchery and offense of rules. Within these contradictions the irreconcilable is fused together, but it takes reality to be understood. Werner Hofmann's investigation is the foundation of a phenomenology of fantasy in the arts. The author does not address the works as a confirmation of a prefabricated definition, but through the analysis he for the first time reveals to the reader the modes of fantasy. Leonardo da Vinci is the legendary figure of this profession, and Hieronymus Bosch has created whole worlds using it. Whether Arcimboldo or Magnasco, Piranesi or Goya, Fuseli or Redon, the artists of fantasy almost always succeed with their eager audience. The 20th Century as the age of psychological insight opens intellectual spaces of unprecedented dimensions for the artists. Magritte and Max Ernst, Paul Klee and Dali are only the leading figures in the visual debate about the "other reality." German text.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2010