The Art of Reception

Book excerpt: This book deals with processes of reception in visual arts. Images (in the broadest sense) from different cultures and times are examined. The volume focuses on two key interpretations of reception. On the one hand, reception is understood as a concept of repetition and revision spanning different cultures and time periods. On the other hand, reception is also seen as the process of perceiving images. Both ways of understanding can be described by the metaphor of migration of images: in the first case, images migrate from one medium to another; in the second case, they migrate from the artefact into the human body. The contributions to this volume cover a variety of approaches coming from different disciplines such as Ancient Oriental philology, English and American studies, classical studies, classical archaeology, communication studies, cultural studies, art history, aesthetics, literature, media studies, philosophy, journalism, Romance studies, sociology, Near Eastern archaeology, prehistory, and classical studies.