Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm – the alteration, destruction, or displacement of icons – is usually considered taboo or profane. But, on occasion, the act of destroying the sacred unintentionally bestows iconic status on the desecrated object. Iconoclasm examines the reciprocity between the building and the breaking of images, paying special attention to the constructive power of destructive acts. Although iconoclasm carries with it inherently religious connotations, this volume examines the shattering of images beyond the spiritual and the sacred. Presenting responses to renowned cultural anthropologist and theorist Michael Taussig, these essays centre on conceptual iconoclasm and explore the sacrality of objects and belief systems from historical, cultural, and disciplinary perspectives. From Milton and Nietzsche to Paul Newman and Banksy, through such diverse media and genres as photography, the popular romance novel, pornography, graffiti, cinema, advertising, and the dictionary, this book questions how icons and iconoclasms are represented, the language used to describe them, and the manner in which objects signify once they are shattered. An interdisciplinary, disconnected, and non-linear consideration of the historical and contemporary relationship between the sacred and the profane, Iconoclasm disrupts entrenched views about the revered or reviled idols present in most aspects of daily life. Contributors include T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko (Toronto), Christopher van Ginhoven Rey (Pomona College), Helen Hester (West London), Emily Hoffman (Arkansas Tech), Natalie B. Pendergast (Yukon College), Beth Saunders (Maryland), Adam Swann (Glasgow), Michael Taussig (Columbia), Angela Toscano (Iowa), Brendon Wocke (Perpignan).

Contemporary theorizing about art is dominated by a clash between two approaches: philosophers have characteristically taken the view that art is a vehicle of some universal meaning or truth, while art historians, and others working in the humanities, emphasize the concrete nature and historical particularity of the work of art. Is art capable of sustaining these two approaches? Or, as Kelly argues, is art rather determined by its historical particularity? If so, then if philosophers continue to pursue mainly the universality of art, they inadvertently end up exhibiting a disinterest and distrust in art. Kelly calls such disinterest and distrust 'iconoclasm', and in this book he discusses four philosophers - Heidegger, Adorno, Derrida, and Danto - who are ultimately iconoclasts despite their deep philosophical engagement with the arts. He concludes by suggesting ways in which iconoclasm in aesthetics can be avoided in the future.

Julie Spraggon offers a detailed analysis of Puritan iconoclasm in England during the 1640s, which led to a resurgence of image breaking a century after the break with Rome. She examines parliamentary legislation, its enforcement & the parallel action undertaken by the army to rid the land of superstition.

In the history of Jewish, Christian and Muslim culture, religious identity was not only formed by historical claims, but also by the usage of certain images: "images of God," "images of the others," "images of the self."This book includes a discussion of the role of these images in society and politics, in theology and liturgy, yesterday and today.

With new surges of activity from religious, political, and military extremists, the destruction of images has become increasingly relevant on a global scale. A founder of the study of early modern and contemporary iconoclasm, David Freedberg has addressed this topic for five decades. His work has brought this subject to a central place in art history, critical to the understanding not only of art but of all images in society. This volume collects the most significant of Freedberg’s texts on iconoclasm and censorship, bringing five key works back into print alongside new assessments of contemporary iconoclasm in places ranging from the Near and Middle East to the United States, as well as a fresh survey of the entire subject. The writings in this compact volume explore the dynamics and history of iconoclasm, from the furious battles over images in the Reformation to government repression in modern South Africa, the American culture wars of the early 1990s, and today’s cancel culture. Freedberg combines fresh thinking with deep expertise to address the renewed significance of iconoclasm, its ideologies, and its impact. This volume also provides a supplement to Freedberg’s essay on idolatry and iconoclasm from his pathbreaking book, The Power of Images. Freedberg’s writings are of foundational importance to this discussion, and this volume will be a welcome resource for historians, museum professionals, international law specialists, preservationists, and students.

In eight- and ninth-century Byzantium there arose a heated controversy over religious art, known as the "Iconoclastic Controversy." Analyzing hundreds of pages of art-texts, laws, letters, and poems, this book examines the wider context of the debate by providing the first comprehensive study of the Western response to Byzantine iconoclasm.

Within little more than ten years in the early nineteenth century, inhabitants of Tahiti, Hawaii and fifteen other closely related societies destroyed or desecrated all of their temples and most of their god-images. In the aftermath of the explosive event, which Sissons terms the Polynesian Iconoclasm, hundreds of architecturally innovative churches — one the size of two football fields — were constructed. At the same time, Christian leaders introduced oppressive laws and courts, which the youth resisted through seasonal displays of revelry and tattooing. Seeking an answer to why this event occurred in the way that it did, this book introduces and demonstrates an alternative “practice history” that draws on the work of Marshall Sahlins and employs Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, improvisation and practical logic.

The word 'iconoclasm' is most often used in relation to sculpture, because it is sculptures that most visibly bear witness to physical damage. But damage can also be invisible, and the actions of iconoclasm can be subtle and varying. Iconoclastic acts include the addition of objects and accessories, as well as their removal, or may be represented in text or imagery that never materially affects the original object. This book brings together a collection of essays each of which fundamentally questions the meaning of the word iconoclasm as a descriptive category. Each contribution examines the impact of iconoclastic acts on different representational forms, and assesses the development and historical implications of these various destructive and transformative behaviours.