Laura Bieger
Laura Bieger is professor of American studies, political theory, and culture at the University of Groningen.
Bieger, Laura
Bieger, Laura
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Description: Humans
Human beings are organisms, but “the human being” is a term referring to a complicated, self-contradictory, and historically evolving set of ideas and practices. This volume explores the competing understandings of the human being that have figured in the history of American art. Its seven essays consider a range of artworks from the early modern period to the present in order to...
Author
Laura Bieger (Editor), Joshua Shannon (Editor), Jason Weems (Editor)
PublisherTerra Foundation for American Art
Related print edition pages: pp.10-39
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00289.1
Description: Humans
BOOKHumans
Laura Bieger (Editor), Joshua Shannon (Editor), Jason Weems (Editor)
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00289
Humans are organisms, but “the human being” is a term referring to a complicated, self-contradictory, and historically evolving set of concepts and practices. Humans explores competing versions, constructs, and ideas of the human being that have figured prominently in the arts of the United States. These essays consider a range of artworks from the colonial period to the present, examining how they have reflected, shaped, and modeled ideas of the human in American culture and politics. The book addresses to what extent artworks have conferred more humanity on some human beings than others, how art has shaped ideas about the relationships between humans and other beings and things, and in what ways different artistic constructions of the human being evolved, clashed, and intermingled over the course of American history. Humans both tells the history of a concept foundational to US civilization and proposes new means for its urgently needed rethinking.

*This eBook is available exclusively on the A&AePortal.*
Author
Laura Bieger (Editor), Joshua Shannon (Editor), Jason Weems (Editor)
Print publication date December 2021 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780932171726
EISBN 9780300267594
Illustrations 50
Print Status in print