Art And Human Consciousness

This survey of Western art from ancient Egypt to Picasso looks at visual art in a completely new and imaginative way. The lively and penetrating observations will inspire and enthuse the novice, while breathing new life into the thinking of art critics and historians. Gottfried Richter concerns himself broadly with architecture, sculpture, and painting --as well as mythology and legend --in presenting the creations of artist and architect as an expression of the evolution of human consciousness. In vivid images he offers the reader interpretive keys to understand this process in all areas of art history. With many examples the author illustrates how human life has undergone a qualitative transformation as humanity has gradually freed itself from a life determined by spiritual guidance in order to take hold of the sensory world and experience free individuality.

How human consciousness evolved to perceive and create art.

A central but rarely explored mystery of human existence and subjective consciousness was recognized by Blaise Pascal several centuries ago: Why am I me and not you or anyone else? Science can explain why there is (objectively) a person here, but not why that person is (subjectively) me. This relates to the more widely debated mind/body problem, more currently known as the "Hard Problem of Consciousness." Moving on to human culture, including religion and the arts, this book asks whether these are the direct result of Darwinian evolution or, rather, of the nature of human consciousness. Do the mysteries of our consciousness, of our existence, have a role to play?

The essays collected in this volume were initially presented at the Fourth International Conference on Consciousness, Theatre, Literature and the Arts, held at the University of Lincoln, May 28–30, 2011. The conference was organised on the basis of the success of its predecessors in 2005, 2007 and 2009, and on the basis of the success of the Rodopi book series Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, which has to date seen thirty volumes in print, with another twelve in press or in the process of being written. The 2011 conference and the book series highlight the continuing growth of interest within the interdisciplinary field of consciousness studies, and in the distinct disciplines of theatre studies, literary studies, film studies, fine arts and music in the relationship between the object of these disciplines and human consciousness. Fifty-five delegates from twenty-eight countries across the world attended the May 2011 conference in Lincoln; their range of disciplines and approaches is reflected well in this book.