Like a game of images that flow through our mind and become not only a memory but also an interpretation of a vision that seduces us every day. In this new book written by Camille Paglia and published by editions of the Mill, we find pages written with energy and erudition, but also humour, which involve the reader in a fascinating dialogue destined to change our visual world.
The only way to freedom is self-education in art. Art is not a luxury for advanced civilizations. It is a necessity: in its absence the creative intelligence withers and dies.
How to survive the dizzying and often anguished flow of images that invade our eyes and minds every day? Relearning and the only way to do so is through the contemplation of art "to look at". In the book, a series of prestigious images takes the reader on a journey through artistic masterpieces of all time, from the "Auriga di Delfi" to Donatello's Magdalene, Picasso's "Demoiselles d'Avignon" or Andy Warhol's Marilyn. Famous or lesser-known images: paintings, sculptures, architectures and performances that tell how man in various eras has taken possession of reality, in a continuous tension between expression, creation, foresight.
Camille Straw teaches Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
