The book on the floor : André Malraux and the imaginary museum / Walter Grasskamp ; translated by Fiona Elliott.

Author
Grasskamp, Walter [Browse]
Uniform title
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Los Angeles : Getty Research Institute, [2016]
  • ©2016
Description
232 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

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Marquand Library - Remote Storage: Marquand Use OnlyN7483.M27 G7313 2016 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Translator
    Translation of
    Grasskamp, Walter. André Malraux und das imaginäre Museum [Browse]
    Summary note
    N 1954, the French writer, politician, and publisher Andre Malraux (1901-1976) posed at home for a photographer from the magazine Paris Match, surrounded by pages from his forthcoming book Le musee imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale. The enchanting metaphor of the musee imaginaire (imaginary museum) was built upon that illustrated art book, and Malraux was one of its greatest champions. Drawing on a range of contemporary publications, he adopted images and responded to ideas. Indeed, Malraux's book on the floor is a variation of photographer Andre Vigneau's spectacular Encyclopedie photographique de l art, published in five volumes from 1935 on years before Malraux would enter this field. Both authors were engaged in juxtaposing artworks via photographs and publishing these photographs by the hundreds, but Malraux was the better sloganeer. Starting from a close examination of the photograph of Malraux in his salon, art historian Walter Grasskamp takes the reader back to the dawn of this genre of illustrated art book. He shows how it catalyzed the practice of comparing works of art on a global scale. He retraces the metaphor to earlier reproduction practices and highlights its ubiquity in contemporary art, ending with an homage to the other pioneer of the museum without walls, the unjustly forgotten Vigneau.
    Notes
    Translated from the German.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (page 207-223) and index.
    Contents
    • The book on the floor
    • Thought transference
    • Imaginary museum and photographic encyclopedia
    • The layout of world art
    • Reception histories
    • Imaginary museusms
    • The museum as space of representation
    • Andre Vigneau
    • The floor as exhibition space.
    ISBN
    • 9781606065013
    • 1606065017
    LCCN
    2016010540
    OCLC
    947953932
    Statement on language in description
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