A01=David Morgan
aesthetics
american christianity
american culture
american religions
american society
Author_David Morgan
Category=ABA
Category=AGA
Category=AGR
Category=QRAX
Category=QRM
catholic art
catholicism
christianity
constructivism
devotional images
devotional practices
domestic devotion
empathy
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
head of christ
jesus christ and masculinity
last supper
memory and the sacred
philosophy
popular religious images
prayer cards
protestant art
protestantism
religious imagery
religious images
sociology
sympathy
theology
visual culture
visual images
visual piety
Product details
- ISBN 9780520219328
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 25 Sep 1999
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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This fascinating study of devotional images traces their historical links to important strains of American culture. David Morgan demonstrates how popular visual images--from Warner Sallman's "Head of Christ" to velvet renditions of DaVinci's "Last Supper" to illustrations on prayer cards--have assumed central roles in contemporary American lives and communities. Morgan's history of popular religious images ranges from the late Middle Ages to the present day and analyzes what he calls "visual piety," or the belief that images convey. Rather than isolating popular icons from their social contexts or regarding them as merely illustrative of theological ideas, Morgan situates both Protestant and Catholic art within the domain of devotional practice, ritual, personal narrative, and the sacred space of the home. In addition, he examines how popular icons have been rooted in social concerns ranging from control of human passions to notions of gender, creedal orthodoxy, and friendship. Also discussed is the coupling of images with texts in the attempt to control meanings and to establish markers for one's community and belief.
Drawing from the fields of music, sociology, theology, philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics,Visual Piety is the first book to bring to specialist and lay reader alike an understanding of religious imagery's place in the social formation and maintenance of everyday American life.
David Morgan is Associate Professor of Art History at Valparaiso University and the editor of Icons of American Protestantism: The Art of Warner Sallman (1996).
