Image Theory - Wuming Translation Library

Author: W.J.T. Mitchell
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-09-01
Features: What is an image? What is the relationship between images and words? What is image theory? Where does image theory stand in the context of critical theory concerning culture, consciousness, and representation? One of the most important American visual art critics and theorists of images, W.J.T. Mitchell, answers all these questions with vivid theoretical elaborations and concrete textual analyses. Image Theory, together with its companion volume Iconology, declared the end of the "linguistic turn" in critical theory and pointed toward a new direction of the "iconic turn," laying a solid theoretical foundation for the emerging field of visual culture studies. The writing method of this book is somewhat similar to an album. It is a collection of snapshots addressing the inherent concrete problems of representation, tailored for specific occasions and particular historical moments, which the author refers to as the late postmodern period, or the "image turn" period. If this book has a unifying theme, it is the firm assertion that multiple answers should be given to several simple questions. These questions are: What is an image? What is the relationship between images and language? Why do these questions hold theoretical or practical significance?