Looking In: The Art of Viewing

One of the premier cultural theorists at work in Europe today, Mieke Bal brings to her writing a keen visual sense coupled with a probing understanding of the interplay between ethics and aesthetics in the museum context. This collection of her essays includes an analysis of the myth of Rembrandt and her current work on Baroque and neo-Baroque practices in contemporary art. Proceeding from concerns with gender identity, the role of desire in vision, and art as an instrument of power, Bal develops a notion of rhetoric that opens up a radically new conception of cultural politics. Respected critic Norman Bryson also explores why Bal's original approach to the interdisciplinary study of art and visual culture had such wide-reaching influence.