The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract—Film and Literature

Clyde Taylor

Indiana University Press, Nov 22, 1998 - Art - 343 pages

"In this critique of aesthetics and the politics of representation, Taylor demonstrates astonishing breadth and depth in arguing for 'breaking the aesthetic contract' that excludes anything that does not conform to Eurocentric notions of beauty. . . . it brings to black studies and cultural critique an internationalism that emphasizes the richness of forms of creative expression outside the norms set by European aesthetics. Highly recommended . . ." —Choice

Cultural critic Clyde Taylor exposes the concept of "art" as a tool of ethnocentricity and racial ideology. By examining various texts including The Birth of a Nation and The Cotton Club, Taylor demonstrates how rationales of "art" are used to mask personal, class, and cultural biases. Other works such as those by Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, and Spike Lee are scrutinized in terms of resistance to the dominant system of aesthetics.

Contents

• CHAPTER: 8
• Figureground vasefaces per Rubin: 32
• The Control of Cultural Meaning: 53
• Salvaging the Aesthetic: 70
• CHAPTER 5: 103
• The Aesthetic the Movie: 124
• The Ironies of Aesopianism: 176
• Radical Ethiopicism: 197
• CHAPTER 10: 219
• The SelfAuthenticating Narrative: 240
• The Imperfect Narrative of Resistance: 254
• Daughters of the Terreiros: 274
• But Is It Art?: 289

About the author

Clyde R. Taylor, film scholar and literary/cultural essayist, is Professor at the Gallatin School and in Africana Studies, New York University. His publications include Vietnam and Black America and the script for Midnight Ramble, a documentary about early Black independent cinema.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract—Film and Literature; The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract--film and Literature, Clyde Taylor
• Author: Clyde Taylor
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0253211921, 9780253211927
• Length: 343 pages
• Subjects: Art / General; Literary Criticism / General; Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism; Philosophy / Aesthetics; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies