Jean-Claude Lebensztejn\u2019s history of the urinating figure in art, Pissing Figures 1280\u20132014, is at once a scholarly inquiry into an important visual motif, and a ribald statement on transgression and limits in works of art in general. Lebensztejn is one of France\u2019s best-kept secrets. A world-class art historian who has lectured and taught at major universities in the United States, his work has remained almost entirely in French, his American audience limited to a small but dedicated group of cognoscenti. <\/p>\n
First introducing the Manneken Pis\u2014the iconic little boy whose stream of urine supplies water to this famous fountain and is also the logo for a Belgian beer company\u2014the author takes the reader through a semi-scatological maze of cultural history. The earliest example is a fresco scene located directly above Cimabue\u2019s Crucifixion from around 1280 at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, in which Lebensztejn\u2019s careful eye locates an angel behind a pillar who looks like he is about to urinate through a hole in his garment. He continues to navigate expertly through cultural twists and turns, stopping to discuss Pier Paolo Pasolini\u2019s 1968 film Teorema, for example, and Marlene Dumas\u2019s 1996\u20131997 homage to Rembrandt\u2019s pissing woman. At every moment, Lebensztejn\u2019s prose is lively, his thinking dynamic, and his subject matter entertaining. <\/p>\n
In this short and poignant cultural history, readers not only find the care for detail that has made Lebensztejn into one of the greatest European art historians, but also the rebelliousness that makes him one of the most interesting intellectuals of our time. The first widely distributed book of Lebensztejn\u2019s in English, Pissing Figures 1280\u20132014 is simultaneously published in France by \u00c9ditions Macula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Format: Pocket
\nUtgivelses\u00e5r: 2017
\nForlag: David Zwirner
\nSpr\u00e5k: Engelsk
\nAntall sider: 192
\nH\u00f8yde: 177 mm
\nBredde: 107 mm
\nLengde: 18 mm
\nVekt: 202 g
\nSerie: Ekphrasis
\nISBN: 9781941701546<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"afm_hide_title":false,"_afm_post_new_title":"","afm_terms_sep_product_language":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_post_translations":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_brand":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_type":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_visibility":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_cat":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_tag":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_product_shipping_class":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_pos_product_visibility":", ","afm_terms_sep_product_pa_cindy-sherman-art-bag":", "},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[173,92],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-64574","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","5":"product_cat-3106-anskaffede-boker","6":"product_cat-all-products","7":"product_shipping_class-plakat","9":"first","10":"outofstock","11":"taxable","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"group_of_quantity":0,"min_quantity":0,"max_quantity":"","exclude_order_quantity_value_rules":"no","exclude_category_quantity_rules":"no","combine_variations":"no","yoast_head":"\n