A brief history of the masses : [three revolutions] / Stefan Jonsson.

By: Jonsson, Stefan, 1961- [author. ]Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Publisher: New York : Columbia University Press, 2008Copyright date: ©2008Description: viii, 231 pages : illustrations, photographs ; 24 cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780231145268 (hardback) Subject(s): Art and history -- Europe | History, modern in art | Social classes in art | Social movements | Social movements -- Europe | Revolutions | Revolutions -- Europe | EuropeLOC classification: N72.H58 J6613 2008
Contents:
1789: Jacques-Louis David, The Tennis Court Oath. 1 Seizing the Floor -- 2 The Shadow of Democracy -- 3 The Number of People -- 4 The Swinish Multitude -- 5 Social Depths -- 6 The Hydra -- 7 Marianne -- 8 Les Misérables -- 9 The Barricade -- 10 Making Money -- 11 Smokescreens -- 12 Mass Grave.
1889: James Ensor, Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889. 13 The Crucified -- 14 The Belgian's Glory -- 15 Divorce -- 16 Hallucinations -- 17 Society Degree Zero -- 18 The Nigger --19 The Modern Breakthrough -- 20 Songs of the Fool -- 21 Homo Sacer.
1989: Alfredo Jaar, They Loved It So Much, the Revolution. 22 The Beloved -- 23 The Backside of State -- 24 The Empty Throne -- 25 Political Violence -- 26 With Nails of Gold -- 27 Of Men and Beasts -- 28 Desperados -- 29 Autoimmunity -- 30 Saints -- 31 Complaints -- 32 The Baggage of the Barbarians -- 33 Departure.
Subject: Stefan Jonsson uses three monumental works of art to build a provocative history of popular revolt: Jacques-Louis David's The Tennis Court Oath (1791), James Ensor's Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889 (1888), and Alfredo Jaar's They Loved It So Much, the Revolution (1989). Addressing, respectively, the French Revolution of 1789, Belgium's proletarian messianism in the 1880s, and the worldwide rebellions and revolutions of 1968, these canonical images not only depict an alternative view of history but offer a new understanding of the relationship between art and politics and the revolutionary nature of true democracy. Drawing on examples from literature, politics, philosophy, and other works of art, Jonsson carefully constructs his portrait, revealing surprising parallels between the political representation of "the people" in government and their aesthetic representation in painting. Both essentially "frame" the people, Jonsson argues, defining them as elites or masses, responsible citizens or angry mobs. Yet in the aesthetic fantasies of David, Ensor, and Jaar, Jonsson finds a different understanding of democracy-one in which human collectives break the frame and enter the picture. Connecting the achievements and failures of past revolutions to current political issues, Jonsson then situates our present moment in a long historical drama of popular unrest, making his book both a cultural history and a contemporary discussion about the fate of democracy in our globalized world.--backover. https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Masses-Revolutions-Philosophy/dp/0231145268
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-220) and index (pages 221-231).

1789: Jacques-Louis David, The Tennis Court Oath. 1 Seizing the Floor -- 2 The Shadow of Democracy -- 3 The Number of People -- 4 The Swinish Multitude -- 5 Social Depths -- 6 The Hydra -- 7 Marianne -- 8 Les Misérables -- 9 The Barricade -- 10 Making Money -- 11 Smokescreens -- 12 Mass Grave.

1889: James Ensor, Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889. 13 The Crucified -- 14 The Belgian's Glory -- 15 Divorce -- 16 Hallucinations -- 17 Society Degree Zero -- 18 The Nigger --19 The Modern Breakthrough -- 20 Songs of the Fool -- 21 Homo Sacer.

1989: Alfredo Jaar, They Loved It So Much, the Revolution. 22 The Beloved -- 23 The Backside of State -- 24 The Empty Throne -- 25 Political Violence -- 26 With Nails of Gold -- 27 Of Men and Beasts -- 28 Desperados -- 29 Autoimmunity -- 30 Saints -- 31 Complaints -- 32 The Baggage of the Barbarians -- 33 Departure.

Stefan Jonsson uses three monumental works of art to build a provocative history of popular revolt: Jacques-Louis David's The Tennis Court Oath (1791), James Ensor's Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889 (1888), and Alfredo Jaar's They Loved It So Much, the Revolution (1989). Addressing, respectively, the French Revolution of 1789, Belgium's proletarian messianism in the 1880s, and the worldwide rebellions and revolutions of 1968, these canonical images not only depict an alternative view of history but offer a new understanding of the relationship between art and politics and the revolutionary nature of true democracy.

Drawing on examples from literature, politics, philosophy, and other works of art, Jonsson carefully constructs his portrait, revealing surprising parallels between the political representation of "the people" in government and their aesthetic representation in painting. Both essentially "frame" the people, Jonsson argues, defining them as elites or masses, responsible citizens or angry mobs. Yet in the aesthetic fantasies of David, Ensor, and Jaar, Jonsson finds a different understanding of democracy-one in which human collectives break the frame and enter the picture.

Connecting the achievements and failures of past revolutions to current political issues, Jonsson then situates our present moment in a long historical drama of popular unrest, making his book both a cultural history and a contemporary discussion about the fate of democracy in our globalized world.--backover.

https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Masses-Revolutions-Philosophy/dp/0231145268