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The Foundations of Christian Art
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Foundations of Christian Art, The: Illustrated
Foundations of Christian Art, The: Illustrated
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Author(s): 
Subjects(s): 
Art
Christianity

Price:  $18.95

ISBN:  1-933316-12-8
Book Size:  8 × 10
# of Pages:  128
Language:  English



Description

The art historian and philosopher of religion, Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984), was one of the 20th century’s most renowned experts on sacred art. The reader is drawn into a pilgrimage through the history of Christian art to architecture, iconography, and illumination; always returning to the fundamental genius of Christianity. Through a luminous interplay of Burckhardt’s text, this book becomes a work of art in itself, inviting the reader to “taste and see” the glories of the artistic and spiritual heritage of Christianity.

  Gold Midwest Book Award for “Interior Layout”  

  Silver Benjamin Franklin Award "Arts"  
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Detailed Description of The Foundations of Christian Art

Titus Burckhardt was a renowned expert on the art of traditional worlds. This book takes the reader through the history of Christian art, focusing especially upon architecture, iconography, and illumination.

The art historian and philosopher of religion, Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984), was one of the 20th century’s most renowned experts on the art of many traditional worlds, as well as the religions that illuminated the art of the civilizations which flowered from them. This book takes the reader on a pilgrimage through the history of Christian art, focusing especially upon its architecture, iconography, illumination, and the arts and crafts guilds, but always returning to the fundamental genius of Christianity, which gave meaning to the art.

Through a luminous interplay of Titus Burckhardt text and carefully selected illustrations this book becomes a work of art in itself, inviting the reader to “taste and see” the glories of the artistic and spiritual heritage of Christianity, a legacy which has had an inestimable impact upon all Western thought and culture.

  Gold Midwest Book Award for “Interior Layout”  

  Silver Benjamin Franklin Award "Arts"  


About the Author(s)

Titus Burckhardt

Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was one of the leading perennialist writers of the twentieth century. His writings showed remarkable scope. Burckhardt wrote on pure metaphysics, on tradition and modern science, on sacred art, on history and political science, and on various other aspects of traditional civilizations. Burckhardt was also a translator (from Arabic into French), an editor and publisher, and a respected consultant on restoring traditional cities to their former beautiful states. World Wisdom has published the following books by Burckhardt:

    

In addition, numerous Titus Burckhardt essays have appeared in various World Wisdom anthologies. Our free online Library has many essays and excerpts from Burckhardt's writings.


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Keith Critchlow

Prof. Keith Critchlow is the cofounder of the journal Temenos, as well as the author of numerous books on sacred geometry, including Order in Space and Time Stands Still. He is Professor Emeritus at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, and a former professor of Islamic Art at the Royal College of Art. Dr. Critchlow, a leading expert in sacred architecture, also founded Kairos, a society that investigates, studies, and promotes traditional values of art and science.

For World Wisdom, Dr. Crithchlow has written the forewords to:


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Michael Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald is an author, editor, and publisher of books on world religions, sacred art, tradition, culture, and philosophy. He has written and edited many publications on American Indian spirituality, including Yellowtail: Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief, and was adopted into Yellowtail's tribe and family. Fitzgerald has also taught university classes on religious traditions of North American Indians and lectured widely. His contributions to World Wisdom books and DVDs include:

Edited/Authored   Co-edited with others:   DVD projects:
   

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Reviews of The Foundations of Christian Art



This sumptuously illustrated collection brings together two of Burckhardt's major essays–'The Foundations of Christian Art' and 'The Decadence and Renewal of Christian Art'–along with several shorter pieces… the generous and well-chosen illustrations add a further dimension to these fundamental texts–studies in which, as Keith Critchlow observes, art is revealed as being 'at its best in revealing permanent truth; at its worst it is a betrayal of humanity in worldly hedonism and nihilism'.
-Temenos Academy Review, issue 10



 
"Titus Burckhardt’s The Foundations of Christian Art provides a fine illustrated edition of Burckhardt’s writings on Christian sacred art, pairing over a hundred color illustrations of such art with his expertise and insights. The entire history of Christian art is surveyed with a focus on its manuscripts and arts and crafts guilds and their connections to Christian spiritual concepts. This lovely presentation is a top pick for newcomers to Christian art history or theory."

Library Bookwatch



"…the time spent in these pages is well worth the effort, since persistent readers are rewarded with thoughtful and novel ideas about early Christian art. Furthermore, the 120 color illustrations are most instructive and bolster Burckhardt’s arguments. Not an art guide filled with quick facts, this book is fascinating for readers who want to delve seriously into one man’s passionate and intelligent theories about the origins of an important period in art history."

—Beth Hemke Shapiro, writing in ForeWord Reviews





Table of Contents for The Foundations of Christian Art

Editor’s Preface
Foreword
Introduction to the Sacred Art of Christianity
The Role of Illuminated Manuscripts in Christian Art
The Heavenly Jerusalem
The Foundations of Christian Art
The Royal Portal of Chartres Cathedral
Two Examples of Christian Symbolism
The Portal of St. Gall
Simone Martini
The Theological Message of Russian Icons
The Decadence and the Renewal of Christian Art
Late Renaissance and Baroque: “The Tragedy of Christian Art”
List of Illustrations
List of Sources
Index
Biographical Notes


Excerpts from The Foundations of Christian Art

“Titus Burckhardt is an exponent of the permanent, the timeless; a domain which makes the use of the word ‘historian’ redundant in a modern context. Burckhardt has done more than any other single author in the past 50, if not 100, years to recover the essential principles of the purpose of the arts—that is, if you accept the premise that the arts are more than mere hedonism and ‘individual expression’.… Due to his intrinsically spiritual nature, Burckhardt has revealed insight after insight into Christian symbolism and craft practice.”—from the foreword

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