After Critical Realism - (Historical Materialism Book) (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Borrowed from the critic Georg Lukács, the term critical realism first came to prominence in the artworld during the early 2000s with the emergence of the documentary and social turns. Although many of the political and aesthetic commitments that characterised this moment continue to shape contemporary forms of realism, today, many of these practices have become increasingly journalistic or evidence-based. Bringing together new essays from an international group of scholars, After Critical Realism offers a reassessment of the aims and stakes of critical realism, whilst also examining the new wave of challenges that have begun to plague the field, from the emergence of a post-truth media climate to the professionalisation of research-based art. The outcome is an account of critical realism as a crucial, yet ultimately unstable term for Marxist art history.

About the Author

Fiona Allen, Ph.D. (2016), University of Leeds, is Lecturer in History of Modern and Contemporary Art and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter. Her research has been published in various journals and edited collections, including Selva, Oxford Art Journal and Southeast of Now.

Simon Constantine is Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds and Editor of Philosophy of Photography. His writings on street and documentary photography have been published in the Oxford Art Journal, Arts and The Burlington Magazine, among others.

Luisa Lorenza Corna is Lecturer at UWE Bristol. Her research has been published in various journals and edited collections, including Selva, Oxford Art Journal and Radical Philosophy. She is a regular contributor to Art Monthly.