Art of Anglo-Saxon England

Two particular perspectives inform this wide-ranging and richly illustrated survey of the art produced in England or by English artists between c. 600 and c.1100 in a variety of media manuscripts stone and wooden sculpture ivory carving textiles and architecture. Firstly from a post-colonial angle it examines the way art can both create and narrate national and cultural identity over the centuries during which England was coming into being moving from Romano-Britain to Anglo-Saxon England to Anglo-Scandinavian England to Anglo-Norman England. Secondly it treats Anglo-Saxon art as works of art works that have both an aesthetic and an emotional value rather than as simply passive historical or archaeological objects. This double focus on art as an aesthetic vehicle and art as an active political force allows us to ask questions not only about what makes something a work of art but what makes it endure as such as well as questions about the work that art does in the creation of peoples cultures nations and histories. Professor Catherine Karkov teaches in the School of Fine Art University of Leeds.