{"title":"Alex Potts","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"flesh-and-the-ideal-book-alex-potts-9780300058130","title":"Flesh and the Ideal","description":"Winckelmann was not just an historian of considerable stature. He was also a very powerful writer who offered an unusually eloquent account of the aesthetic and imaginative charge of the Greek ideal in art. He is particularly revealing as to the political and the homoerotic, sexual content of the fantasies that gave the antique ideal male nude its larger resonance. This book re-examines Winckelmann's canonical status as the so-called father of modern art history, showing how his systematic definitions of style and historical development can cast a new light on present-day understanding of these notions. The complexities of his new historical perspective on the art of antiquity both prefigure and undermine the more strictly historicising views of the Greek ideal put forward in the 19th century. The force of Winckelmann's writing can only be fully understood if it is seen in the context of the distinctive preoccupations and values of Enlightenment culture. It has acquired a new significance, however, as the darker aspect of Enlightenment ideals - such as the fantasy of a completely free sovereign subjectivity associated with Greek art - come more and more to the fore. Winckelmann's writing has a richness and density that take it well beyond the bounds of the simple rationalist art history and Neo-classical art theory with which it is usually associated. He often seems to speak disturbingly directly to our present awareness of the discomforting ideological and psychic contradictions inherent in supposedly ideal symbolic forms.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49591945756945,"sku":"GOR005382475","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50491675115793,"sku":"CIN0300058136VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52326318506257,"sku":"CIN0300058136G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0300058136.jpg?v=1751291616"},{"product_id":"it-s-cold-in-the-river-at-night-book-alex-potts-9781910395318","title":"It's Cold In The River At Night","description":"In an isolated corner of Western Europe, Carl and Rita rent a house on stilts in a river. But as they spend so much time only in each other's company, cracks in their relationship start to appear. Secretly hoping to meet someone he can look up as Rita finishes her dissertation, Carl embarks on a search for the last remaining traditional local boat-builder. His quest brings him to a stern craftsman whose harsh, critical approach erodes Carl's self-esteem. And meanwhile, the river gets higher and higher, threatening to sweep the house away. . . .  Animator and illustrator Alex Pott's futuristic graphic novel is a psychological drama and a coming-of-age tale, where the protagonist is is pushed to the brink of his own sanity. . . .","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49608303083793,"sku":"GOR009071614","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1910395315.jpg?v=1751347170"},{"product_id":"flesh-and-the-ideal-book-alex-potts-9780300087369","title":"Flesh and the Ideal","description":"Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), one of the most important figures ever to have written about art, is considered by many to be the father of modern art history. This book is an intellectual biography of Winckelmann that discusses his magnum opus, History of the Art of Antiquity, in the context of his life and work in Germany and in Rome in the eighteenth century.  Alex Potts analyzes Winckelmann's eloquent account of the aesthetic and imaginative Greek ideal in art, an account that focuses on the political and homoerotic sexual content that gave the antique ideal male nude its larger resonance. He shows how Winckelmann's writing reflects the well-known preoccupations and values of Enlightenment culture as well as a darker aspect of Enlightenment ideals--such as the fantasy of a completely free sovereign subjectivity associated with Greek art. Potts explores how Winckelmann's historical perspective on the art of antiquity both prefigures and undermines the more strictly historicizing views put forward in the nineteenth century and how his systematic definition of style and historical development casts a new light on the present-day understanding of these notions. According to Potts, Winckelmann goes well beyond the simple rationalist art history and Neoclassical art theory with which he is usually associated. Rather, he often seems to speak directly to our present awareness of the discomforting ideological and psychic contradictions inherent in supposedly ideal symbolic forms.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49653873770769,"sku":"GOR002402667","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50480362389777,"sku":"CIN0300087365VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50874882457873,"sku":"GOR005507368","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51686642614545,"sku":"CIN0300087365G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52142626472209,"sku":"NLS9780300087369","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0300087365.jpg?v=1750974353"},{"product_id":"sculptural-imagination-book-alex-potts-9780300088014","title":"The Sculptural Imagination","description":"A study of the sculptural imagination. Alex Potts explores the special qualities of sculpture as a free-standing, three-dimensional entity, and he considers the distinctive demands sculpture places on the viewer. The book begins with the 18th century and proceeds to the end of the 20th.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50237558423825,"sku":"GOR013895606","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50904237179153,"sku":"GOR006437151","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0300088019.jpg?v=1750941201"},{"product_id":"sir-francis-chantrey-1781-1841-book-alex-potts-9780904017373","title":"Sir Francis Chantrey, 1781-1841","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50298265469201,"sku":"GOR006046676","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0904017370.jpg?v=1751012167"},{"product_id":"was-that-normal-book-alex-potts-9781917355254","title":"Was That Normal?","description":"\"It was like he'd missed the main part of the story and arrived between the big climax and the end credits. A new order had established itself and everyone, apart from him, was living happily ever after. Nothing interesting could possibly happen between now and the ending.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Philip is searching.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e For meaning. For connection. For someone to share a moment with.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e By day, he works from a rented room. By night, he drifts through cafés and bars, dodging awkward chats with his landlady and hoping for something more. When he meets Gina, a local musician, things begin to shift. But relationships are messy, and Philip's discomfort grows as he stumbles through miscommunications, emotional misfires, and the looming presence of Gina's intense ex.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Add in a crumbling tower, gong baths (whatever they are), and the quiet ache of modern life, and you have a story that's tender, funny, and deeply human.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A beautifully observed graphic novel about connection, confusion, and the spaces in between.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52694658351377,"sku":"NGR9781917355254","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53114817806609,"sku":"NIN9781917355254","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781917355254.jpg?v=1766141069"},{"product_id":"allan-kaprow-art-as-life-book-alex-potts-9780892368907","title":"Allan Kaprow - Art as Life","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53242706624785,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53242707116305,"sku":"CIN089236890XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780892368907.jpg?v=1773317875"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-alex-potts.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}