Visual Culture

<p>In <em>Visual Culture</em> the 'visual' character of contemporary culture is explored in original and lively essays. The contributors look at advertising, film, painting and fine art journalism, photography, television and propaganda. They argue that there is only a social, not a formal relation between vision and truth. A major preoccupation of modernity and central to an understadning of the postmodern, 'vision' and the 'visual' are emergent themes across sociology, cultural studies and critical theory in the visual arts. Visual Culture will prove an indispensable guide to the field.</p> List of figures, List of contributors, Acknowledgements, 1 THE CENTRALITY OF THE EYE IN WESTERN CULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION, 2 ADVERTISING: THE RHETORICAL IMPERATIVE, 3 REPORTING AND VISUALISING, 4 FRACTURED SUBJECTIVITY, 5 THE CITY, THE CINEMA: MODERN SPACES, 6 FABULOUS CONFUSION! POP BEFORE POP?, 7 AN ART OF SCHOLARS: CORRUPTION, NEGATION AND PARTICULARITY IN PAINTINGS BY RYMAN AND RICHTER, 8 WATCHING YOUR STEP: THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF THE FLANEUR, 9 REICH DREAMS: RITUAL HORROR AND ARMOURED BODIES, 10 TELEVISION: NOT SO MUCH A VISUAL MEDIUM, MORE A VISIBLE OBJECT, 11 FOUCAULT'S OPTICS: THE (IN) VISION OF MORTALITY AND MODERNITY, 12 MANAGING 'TRADITION': THE PLIGHT OF AESTHETIC PRACTICES AND THEIR ANALYSIS IN A TECHNO SCIENTIFIC CULTURE, 13 PHOTOGRAPHY AND MODERN VISION: THE SPECTACLE OF 'NATURAL MAGIC', 14 THREE IMAGES OF THE VISUAL: EMPIRICAL, FORMAL AND NORMATIVE, Index