What Drawing and Painting Really Mean

Drawings and paintings are made, and the process of making creates unique meanings that transform our perception of space-time and our sense of finitude. By using a phenomenological approach, the understanding of art practice and its relation to particular historical and cultural contexts can be significantly enhanced.

Paul Crowther is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He was formerly Reader in Aesthetics and the History of Art at Oxford University. Of his many monographs, the most recent is How Pictures Complete Us: The Beautiful, the Sublime, and the Divine.

List of fi gures List of plates Acknowledgments Introduction: Drawing and Painting in the Age of Networks 1. The Cognitive Function of the Image 2. Origins of Drawing and Painting: the Hominid Creation of Aesthetic Space 3. The Phenomenology of Drawing and Painting 4. A Bigger Picture: Drawing, Painting, and the Structure of Aesthetic Space 5. Art's Eternalization of the Moment 6. The Aesthetic Space of Abstract Art 7. Conditions of Creativity: Drawing and Painting with Computers Conclusion: Drawing and Painting at the Limits of Art Bibliography Index