Painting and Reality

Etienne Gilson

Published by Princeton University Press 1958

Painting and Reality

Etienne Gilson

Volume 35 in the series The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

In the series Bollingen Series (General)

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691251875

Overview
Contents

About this book

A classic study of the art of painting and its relationship to reality

In this book, Étienne Gilson puts forward a bold interpretation of the kind of reality depicted in paintings and its relation to the natural order. Drawing on insights from the writings of great painters—from Leonardo, Reynolds, and Constable to Mondrian and Klee—Gilson shows how painting is foreign to the order of language and knowledge. Painting, he argues, seeks to add new beings to nature, not to represent those that already exist. For this reason, we must distinguish it from another art, that of picturing, which seeks to produce images of actual or possible beings. Though pictures play an important part in human life, they do not belong in the art of painting. Through this distinction, Gilson sheds new light on the evolution of modern painting. A magisterial work of scholarship by an acclaimed historian of philosophy, Painting and Reality features paintings from both classical and modern schools, and includes extended selections from the writings of Reynolds, Delacroix, Gris, Gill, and Ozenfant.

Author / Editor information

Étienne Gilson (1884–1978) was cofounder of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto and a leading scholar of medieval philosophy. His books include Forms and Substances in the Arts, The Arts of the Beautiful, and The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts Publicly Available Download PDF	iv
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface to the Second Printing Publicly Available Download PDF	xiv
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xvi
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
List of Plates Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
I. Physical Existence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
II. Individuality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
III. Duration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
IV. Ontology of Paintings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
V. The Causality of Form Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
VI. The World of Paintings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
VII. Painting and Language Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
VIII. Imitation and Creation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
IX. The Significance of Modern Painting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	331
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345