The Destruction of Art: Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution: Icoloclasm and Vandalism Since the French Revolution

by Dario Gamboni

In January 2006, a man tried to break Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain sculpture with a small hammer. The sculpted foot of Michelangelo’s David was damaged in 1991 by a purportedly mentally-ill artist. With each incident, artists and intellectuals must confront the unsettling dynamic between destruction and art. Renowned art historian Dario Gamboni is the first to tackle this weighty issue in depth, exploring spectres of censorship, iconoclasm and vandalism that surround such acts.Initially galvanized by the sweeping obliteration of architecture and art under the Communist regimes of the Soviet Union and eastern bloc countries, Gamboni investigated other instances of destroyed art and architecture around the globe, uncovering a disquieting and surprisingly widespread phenomenon that still thrives today. As he demonstrates through analyses of incidents occurring in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in both the United States and Europe, a complex relationship exists among the evolution of modern art, contemporary destruction of art, and the long history of iconoclasm. Gamboni probes the concept of artists’ rights, the power of political protest and the ways in which iconoclasm offers a unique interpretation of society’s relationship to art and material culture.A compelling and thought-provoking study, The Destruction of Art forces us to rethink the ways that we interact with art and react to its power to shock or subdue.

Genres: Art, History, Art History, Nonfiction

575 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Alberto]

Ensayo sobre la destrucción artística centrado especialmente en las décadas posteriores a la Guerra Fría. Destaca entre todos el capítulo dedicado a la conceptualización y terminología y el capítulo dedicado a la desintegración de la URSS y el desmoche de monumentos y lugares de memoria soviética. El autor es un especialista en arte contemporáneo y los capítulos dedicados a la destrucción del arte moderno también son reseñables. En definitiva, un muy buen libro sobre un tema que, de repente, ha vuelto a la actualidad.

[Matthew Osborn]

Slavoj Žižek: Most of us think that we now live in totally atheist, post-ideological times, and cynically view the big 20th century movements like communism and fascism as totally failed and outdated. But it's exactly when we think we exist outside ideology that we are actually in it. It's inherent in the way that we construct our reality and stage our desires. And this is also reflected in cinema. In a consumerist capitalist society, you think you are free by being able to enjoy life and buy things like a Starbucks frappuccino, when actually, you are following an obscene and deep command to ”ENJOY.”

What's that got to do with The Destruction of Art? It's about ideology. What do we value? What offends us, and why does it make us feel that way?

I used to drive hundreds of miles to see art that I knew would piss me off. I was intrigued by my awareness that materials handing on a wall, or piled on the floor, would arouse such strong feelings in me - anger, disgust, desire to destroy. In the years since then, I much more rarely feel pissed off by art - now I think of it as art that challenges me.

But I was interested in how we are moved by art. When I see people behaving badly, I think "That's my species." I wanted to know more about why people destroy art. Clearly, I'm not the only person who could be pissed off by colors and shapes. How does that work?

This book helped me understand how that works, and elucidated many reasons behind the destruction of art. It helped me understand myself and my species. It helped me appreciate art more, and also understand it's destruction more.

The book is quite relevant today in the midst of the worldwide outrage over The Islamic State destroying ancient monuments and work art, and the simultaneous demand by many of those same people that art related to the Confederate States of America ought to be destroyed. It's not the destruction of art in itself that they object to - it's the choice of which art is to be destroyed that they demand.

[Maë]

En réalité je l'ai pas lu en entier mais survolé pour ce fichu mémoire
"Monument vanité détruit pour l'utilité" ça en jette, merci bien ça sera réutilisé

[Jack]

Excellent