Baroque new worlds : representation, transculturation, counterconquest /

This compilation comprises 21 selected essays and book chapters that deal with the meaning of baroque as it branched out from German art history (the book includes an excerpt from Heinrich Wolfflin's Principles of Art History, 1915) to merge with recent cultural and postmodern approaches. The book has three sections: "Representations" provides foundational essays on the New World baroque and on contemporary neobaroque aesthetics and their American expressions; "Transculturation" offers theoretical perspectives featuring the transatlantic encounter; "Counterconquest" explores the meaning of the baroque in a postcolonial context. A number of essays appear here for the first time in English. Supporting this rich conversation among thinkers are 52 black-and-white illustrations of churches, interiors, sculptures, and paintings corresponding to the visual dimension of baroque space. Zamora (English, history, art, Univ. of Houston) and Kaup (comparative literature, Univ. of Washington, Seattle) offer concise introductions, each with a short bibliography, that lead the reader through any unfamiliar cultural background. Representing a step forward in understanding a tradition still productive in its multiplicity, this inclusive, sophisticated book highlights the trajectory of the baroque, which is sometimes submerged or ignored, but always developing into richer, more complex artifacts. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. O. B. Gonzalez Loyola University of Chicago