Art and Agency

Review

This book changes the very basis of the way art has been viewed in the human sciences. It presents what is the first fundamental theory for an anthropology of art. Its publication is a major event. Maurice Bloch, FBA, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics. This is a remarkable work ... witty, elegant, broad in its compass and scintillating in its detail. ...

Review

This book changes the very basis of the way art has been viewed in the human sciences. It presents what is the first fundamental theory for an anthropology of art. Its publication is a major event. Maurice Bloch, FBA, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics. This is a remarkable work ... witty, elegant, broad in its compass and scintillating in its detail. It is characteristically polemical ... alive with his sense of purpose and his quite original and captivating account of how we are captivated by relations between forms ... The book know what to do with the limits of form--one suddenly sees how anthropology might surpass itself. Marilyn Strathern, FBA, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge An extraordinary achievement. Gell offers a profound new understanding of collective agency which completely reshapes the anthropology of art, redefines its objects of study, and inspires new conclusions. Caroline Humphrey, Reader in Asian Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Review

"[This] is not only a contribution to anthropology but a subtle and original counterweight to the banalities of globalization theory."--Times Literary Supplement

Reading this book modified my self-image and expanded my understanding of the image-making industry. The text is a little disjointed because it's a rough draft (the author did not live to see it edited or published), but Gell's brilliance and humor are nonetheless transmitted by the book. Hang in there. Although some conflicting portions of the text have since been pointed out ...

Reading this book modified my self-image and expanded my understanding of the image-making industry. The text is a little disjointed because it's a rough draft (the author did not live to see it edited or published), but Gell's brilliance and humor are nonetheless transmitted by the book. Hang in there. Although some conflicting portions of the text have since been pointed out by scholars, Gell's case is solid enough to serve as a springboard for a theory of "understanding" art that could be applicable globally. Who else has done that? The lowest common denominator Gell found looks pretty math-like (we put math models in space capsules because it's a "universal" language), but the book is NOT math-boring. Delightful, eclectic examples illustrate his ideas. I recommend this book for humanities students, artists, art historians and those who are searching for a connection between math and the arts.