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July 8, 2010 | History

Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory 1 edition

Cover of: Art and Agency by Alfred Gell

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About the Book

Alfred Gell in his influential book Art and Agency defined abduction, as “a case of synthetic inference 'where we find some very curious circumstances, which would be explained by the supposition that it was a case of some general rule, and thereupon adopt that supposition”. Gell criticizes existing 'anthropological' studies of art, for being too preoccupied with aesthetic value and not preoccupied enough with the central anthropological concern of uncovering 'social relationships' specifically the social contexts in which artworks are produced, circulated, and received. Abduction is used as the basis of one gets from art to agency in the sense of a theory of how works of art can inspire a sensus communis, or the commonly-held views that a characteristic of a given society because they are shared by everyone in that society. The question Gell asks in the book is, ‘how does initially to ‘speak’ to people?’ He answers by saying that “No reasonable person could suppose that art-like relations between people and things do not involve at least some form of semiosis.”

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Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory

Published 1998 by Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press in New York, USA .

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24325767M
ISBN 10
0198280149

History Created July 8, 2010 · 6 revisions
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July 8, 2010 Edited by 109.168.12.74 Added new cover
July 8, 2010 Edited by 109.168.12.74 Update covers
July 8, 2010 Edited by 109.168.12.74 Added new cover
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July 8, 2010 Created by 109.168.12.74 Created new work record.