Pictures & Tears - Monoskop

Pictures & Tears

Pictures & Tears

A History of People Who Have Cried

in Front of Paintings

James Elkins

Routledge

New York and London

Excerpts from ��A Rake��s Progress�� by W.H.Auden. Copyright ? 1951 by W.H.Auden.

��On the Death of His Wife�� by Mei Yao Ch��en, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, and ��A Dream

at Night�� by Mei Yao Ch��en, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, from One Hundred Poems from

the Chinese, edited by Kenneth Rexroth, copyright ? 1971 by Kenneth Rexroth. Reprinted by

permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Published in paperback in 2004 by

Routledge

270 Madison Avenue

NewYork, NY 10016

routledge-

Published in Great Britain by

Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane

London EC4P 4EE

routledge.co.uk

Copyright ? 2001 by James Elkins

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

��To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge��s collection of

thousands of eBooks please go to eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.��

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form

or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Elkins, James, 1955�C

Pictures and tears: a history of people who have cried in front of paintings/

James Elkins.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-415-97053-9 (pbk)

1. Painting��Appreciation. 2. Visual perception��Psychological aspects.

I. Title.

ND1143.E442001

750��,1��1�Cdc21

2001019659

ISBN 0-203-99032-3 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-415-97053-9 (pbk)

Contents

Colorplates

v

Preface

vi

Acknowledgments

viii

1

Crying at nothing but colors

1

2

Crying no one can understand

15

3

Crying from chromatic waves

30

4

Crying because you��ve been hit by a lightning bolt

42

5

Weeping over bluish leaves

57

6

The ivory tower of tearlessness

70

7

False tears over a dead bird

84

8

Crying because time passes

100

9

Weeping, watching the Madonna weep

124

10

Crying at God

136

11

Sobbing in lonely mountains

148

12

Crying at the empty sea of faith

159

Envoi: How to look and possibly even be moved

166

Appendix: Thirty-two letters

176

Sources

197

Index

203

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