Belleza Compulsiva. (Compulsive Beauty)
Reviewed by Laura Torres, Arlington, MA -- Críticas, 9/1/2008
Foster, Hal.
tr. by Tamara Stuby.Argentina: Adriana Hidalgo. 2008. 346p. photogs. ISBN 978-987-1156-88-7. pap. $46.95. ART/ART THEORY
Foster is an internationally-renowned art critic and theorist, whose writings primarily focus on post-modern and modernist artworks. In this book, originally published in English in 1993, Foster goes deep into the heart of surrealist artwork, using Fruedian theory as his theoretical backdrop, in particular Freud’s theories on the nature of the uncanny (in sum, that which is both eerily familiar yet unfamiliar at once). While surrealist founder Andre Breton may have asserted that surrealism was a “movement of love and liberation,” Foster recognizes and expounds on the unsettling uncanny visualization used in surrealist artworks, and their inevitable relationship with death. Most interesting is his discussion of the oft used machine imagery in conjunction with human bodies and parts as symptomatic of capitalist ills. The text includes black and white photographs and illustrations of the artworks discussed. This is an important work of art theory, and its translation to Spanish (by Stuby, an artist living in Argentina) deems it worthy for any library catering to a Spanish-speaking population.
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