What do you think?
Rate this book
No Idols of Art : The Missing Theology
The first in the new Power Polemics series, Thomas Crow’s No Idols: The Missing Theology of Art tackles a pervading blindspot in today’s art-historical inquiry: religion.
Crow pursues a perhaps unpopular notion of Christianity’s continued presence in modern abstract art and in the process makes a case for art’s own terrain of theology: one that eschews idolatry by means of abstraction. Tracking from anti-idolatry controversies that stirred the Jansenists, through exploration of a humble still life by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, No Idols sets the scene for the development of an art of reflection rather than representation, and divinity without doctrine. Crow’s plea for a reconsideration of the metaphysical in art is made through analysis of the work of New Zealand artist Colin McCahon and American artists Mark Rothko, Robert Smithson, James Turrell and Sister Mary Corita Kent. While a tightly selected group of artists, in their collective statute the author explores the proposal that a spiritual art, as opposed to ‘a simulacrum of one’, is conceivable for our own time.
Crow pursues a perhaps unpopular notion of Christianity’s continued presence in modern abstract art and in the process makes a case for art’s own terrain of theology: one that eschews idolatry by means of abstraction. Tracking from anti-idolatry controversies that stirred the Jansenists, through exploration of a humble still life by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, No Idols sets the scene for the development of an art of reflection rather than representation, and divinity without doctrine. Crow’s plea for a reconsideration of the metaphysical in art is made through analysis of the work of New Zealand artist Colin McCahon and American artists Mark Rothko, Robert Smithson, James Turrell and Sister Mary Corita Kent. While a tightly selected group of artists, in their collective statute the author explores the proposal that a spiritual art, as opposed to ‘a simulacrum of one’, is conceivable for our own time.
- GenresArt
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2017
1 person is currently reading
48 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 28, 2023
The most helpful and critical book when it comes to the infusion of theology in contemporary art. It's a little jargon-y, so if you don't know art history, it's going to be a harder read. But this book is now seminal to my understanding of artists like Robert Smithson, James Turrell, and Mark Rothko, and introduced me to new Christian artists like Sister Corita Kent or Colin McCahon.
Displaying 1 of 1 review