My Father's House

On Will Barnet's Painting

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, General Art, Individual Artist, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Cover of the book My Father's House by Thomas Dumm, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Thomas Dumm ISBN: 9780822377283
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: September 29, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Thomas Dumm
ISBN: 9780822377283
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: September 29, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

In My Father's House, the political philosopher Thomas Dumm explores a series of stark and melancholy paintings by the American artist Will Barnet. Responding to the physical and mental decline of his sister Eva, who lived alone in the family home in Beverly, Massachusetts, Barnet began work in 1990 on what became a series of nine paintings depicting Eva and other family members, as they once were and as they figured in the artist's memory. Rendered in Barnet's signature quiet, abstract style, the paintings, each featured in full color, present the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of a twentieth-century American family.
 
Dumm first became acquainted with Barnet and his paintings in 2008. Given his scholarly focus on the lives of ordinary people, he was immediately attracted to the artist's work. When they met, Dumm and Barnet began a friendship and dialogue that lasted until the painter's death in 2012, at the age of 101. This book reflects the many discussions the two had concerning the series of paintings, Barnet's family, his early life in Beverly, and his eighty-year career as a prominent New York artist. Reading the almost gothic paintings in conversation with the writers and thinkers key to both his and Barnet's thinking—Emerson, Spinoza, Dickinson, Benjamin, Cavell, Nietzsche, Melville—Dumm's haunting meditations evoke broader reflections on family, mortality, the uncanny, and the loss that comes with remembrance.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In My Father's House, the political philosopher Thomas Dumm explores a series of stark and melancholy paintings by the American artist Will Barnet. Responding to the physical and mental decline of his sister Eva, who lived alone in the family home in Beverly, Massachusetts, Barnet began work in 1990 on what became a series of nine paintings depicting Eva and other family members, as they once were and as they figured in the artist's memory. Rendered in Barnet's signature quiet, abstract style, the paintings, each featured in full color, present the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of a twentieth-century American family.
 
Dumm first became acquainted with Barnet and his paintings in 2008. Given his scholarly focus on the lives of ordinary people, he was immediately attracted to the artist's work. When they met, Dumm and Barnet began a friendship and dialogue that lasted until the painter's death in 2012, at the age of 101. This book reflects the many discussions the two had concerning the series of paintings, Barnet's family, his early life in Beverly, and his eighty-year career as a prominent New York artist. Reading the almost gothic paintings in conversation with the writers and thinkers key to both his and Barnet's thinking—Emerson, Spinoza, Dickinson, Benjamin, Cavell, Nietzsche, Melville—Dumm's haunting meditations evoke broader reflections on family, mortality, the uncanny, and the loss that comes with remembrance.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Fixing Sex by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book The Intimacies of Four Continents by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Lenin Reloaded by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Selenidad by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Sapphic Slashers by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book New Approaches to Resistance in Brazil and Mexico by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Experimental Practice by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Freedom and Tenure in the Academy by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book In Search of the Rain Forest by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Into the Archive by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Warring Souls by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Managing African Portugal by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book The Fragility of Things by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Ten Books That Shaped the British Empire by Thomas Dumm
Cover of the book Culture of Class by Thomas Dumm
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy