This Is Not Just a Painting, An Inquiry into Art, Domination, Magic and the Sacred by Lahire, Bernard -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Front Matter Acknowledgements Plates Introduction: unravelling a canvas

Flights into Egypt: trajectories, rivalries and controversies The real: between material continuity and social discontinuity The objects of research: status, values and modes of behaviour Pulling on a loose thread Coda Notes

Book 1. History, domination and social magic

Chapter 1. Self-evident facts and foundations of beliefs

Notes

Chapter 2. Domination and social magic

The objective forms of domination A problem hidden beneath the fragmentation of points of view Capital or symbolic effects? Outline of a general theory of the magic of power Notes

Chapter 3. Linked oppositions: dominators/dominated and sacred/profane

A history of the linked transformations of power and the sacred Magic and power in stateless societies Magic and power in State societies The high and the low Political fictions or how man created God in his image Struggles for the appropriation of the sacred Secularization, sanctification and the sacred foundations of all society Notes

Book 2. Art, domination, sanctification

Poets and artists, sovereigns and demiurges The history of a collective sanctification From relics to works of art The separation of art and life Admire first, interpret later Beneath admiration, domination The magic of paintings Fables and hoaxes Copies and forgeries Notes

Chapter 5. Authentication and attribution

Where to look for scientific truths? The expert: doing things with words Performative act I: the catalogue raisonné Performative act II: the exhibition Attributions and disattributions: controversies and changes of opinion The history and logic of attributionism Science in the service of the sacred Taking the ‘obvious’ out of the authentic Notes

Book 3. On Poussin and some Flights into Egypt

Chapter 6. Sublime Poussin: master of French classicism

Journey of an artist against time and tide: independence and creative freedom Painter-philosopher and artist On Poussin’s success To art, a nation’s gratitude Notes

Chapter 7. The fabulous destiny of paintings attributed to Nicolas Poussin

Links, associations and changes in status Histories of paintings The painting of a great painter whose talent is declining On the trail of an admirable painting Three canvases resurface A growing controversy New developments: the request for the annulment of the 1986 sale The acquisition of a national treasure In search of sponsors The magic of a masterpiece The end of a controversy The conditions of enchantment and disenchantment A version without an expert Notes

Chapter 8. Poussin, science, law and the art market

Poussin in the laboratory Poussin in court The price of a painting Notes

Chapter 9. How each person plays their game

Art historians: who has the eye? The gallery owners: playing (and losing) the game A museum director playing (and winning) her game Notes

Conclusions

Working outside the fields At the root of beliefs Exposing the invisible monster A fragile learned game Notes

Post-scriptum: the conditions for scientific creation

Notes

Summary of information sources consulted Bibliography Supplementary bibliography Index End User License Agreement