In A Brief History of the Artist from God to Picasso, Paul Barolsky explores the ways in which fiction shapes history and history informs fiction. It is a playful book about artistic obsession, about art history as both tragedy and farce, and about the heroic and the mock-heroic. The book demonstrates that the modern idea of the artist has deep roots in the image of the epic poet, from Homer to Ovid to Dante. Barolsky’s major claim is that the history of the artist is inseparable from historical fiction about the artist and that fiction is essential to the reality of the artist’s imagination.
- ISBN10 0271036753
- ISBN13 9780271036755
- Publish Date 5 February 2010
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 April 2014
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Pennsylvania State University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 168
- Language English