A Short History of the Shadow

In this investigative tour de force, now available in a new format edition, Victor I. Stoichita untangles the history of one of the most enduring technical and symbolic challenges to confront Western artists - the depiction and meanings of shadows. Stoichita's compelling account of the shadow and Western art - which draws on texts by Renaissance artist-authors such as Vasari and Cennini, folk and fairy tales, classical myths, works by van Eyck, Poussin, Malevich, De Chirico,...
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In this investigative tour de force, now available in a new format edition, Victor I. Stoichita untangles the history of one of the most enduring technical and symbolic challenges to confront Western artists - the depiction and meanings of shadows. Stoichita's compelling account of the shadow and Western art - which draws on texts by Renaissance artist-authors such as Vasari and Cennini, folk and fairy tales, classical myths, works by van Eyck, Poussin, Malevich, De Chirico, Picasso, among other masters, German Expressionist cinema, photography and child psychology - is a wholly original investigation of a subject that for centuries has challenged the very meaning of art as representation.

'Discriminating, inspired interrogation. . . . Dazzling analysis.' -- Marina Warner, Tate Magazine

'Ambitious and a pleasure to read. . . . A thoroughly worthwhile book.' -- Times Higher Education

'[Stoichita] shows how shadows are deftly used, among other purposes, to suggest the ambiguity of the human psyche.' -- Lee Adair Lawrence, Washington Times