Transgressions: The Offences of Art

by Anthony Julius

Since the mid-nineteenth century, artists have compulsively rejected received ideas in order to test and subvert morality, law, society, and even art itself. But what happens when all boundaries have been crossed, all taboos broken, all limits violated?

Transgressions is the first book to address this controversial subject. Here Anthony Julius traces the history of subversion in art from the outraged response to Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe to the scandal caused by the grant programs of the National Endowment for the Arts a century and a half later. Throughout the book, and supported by the work of such artists as Marcel Duchamp, the Chapman brothers, Andres Serrano, Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George, Paul McCarthy, Jeff Koons, Hans Haacke, and Anselm Kiefer, Julius shows how the modern period has been characterized by three kinds of transgressive art: an art that perverts established art rules; an art that defiles the beliefs and sentiments of its audience; and an art that challenges and disobeys the rules of the state.

The evidence assembled, Julius concludes his hard-hitting dissection of the landscapes of contemporary art by posing some important questions: what is art's future when its boundary-exceeding, taboo-breaking endeavors become the norm? And is anything of value lost when we submit to art's violation?

Transgressions is not a comfortable—still less a comforting—read, but it has a powerful urgency that makes it an essential document for anyone involved in our cultural life at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2002

About the author

Anthony Julius (born 1956) is a prominent British lawyer and academic, best known for his actions on behalf of Diana, Princess of Wales and Deborah Lipstadt. He is a senior consultant for the London law firm Mishcon de Reya.

Julius is known for his opposition to new antisemitism, the alleged expression of antisemitic prejudice couched in terms of criticism of Israel, and gives frequent talks on the subject all over the world to raise awareness. He is a founding member of both Engage and the Euston Manifesto.

He is a son of a successful London textile merchant, educated at the City of London School. His father died young of a brain tumour. Julius studied English literature at Jesus College, Cambridge graduating in 1977 with a first class degree and completed a Ph.D. in English literature at University College London under the novelist and academic Dan Jacobson. He joined Mishcon de Reya, a Bloomsbury law firm in 1981 becoming a partner in 1984. Currently he is a senior consultant to that firm.

He married in 1979 and had four children with his first wife (Max, Laura, Chloë and Theo). In 1999, following his divorce, he married journalist Dina Rabinovitch who died in 2007. They have one son together (Elon). He remarried in July 2009.

Reviews

[Francis Jarman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dense, intellectually dazzling, complexly argued book. Not an easy read! My main reservation about Transgressions is the material that Julius describes and defends (and much of which is illustrated). Like the child who sees the Emperor in his "new clothes", you feel tempted to shout out "This is crap!" - which occasionally the "works of art" literally are (Gilbert & George, Chris Ofili, Piero Manzoni), though that doesn't stop collectors and public galleries from spending small fortunes to acquire them. O tempora o mores.
Since I'm currently writing an article on a related theme, I'll leave my comments at that for the moment.

[Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting, dense book on the fashions of making art while exceeding scholar, social and political boundaries, a praxis that has come to the foreground in modern and contemporary art. Highly recommended to better understand not only this but the evolution of art aesthetics and our responses to them.

[Laura-Diana]

This reads like a very pretentious textbook. It was extremely dense and I was not impressed.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great resource to defend controversial art. Also, the picture of Bruce Nauman on the cover is pretty hot.