- Paperback: 389 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (April 16 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0520229045
- ISBN-13: 978-0520229044
- Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 1.8 x 0.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 862 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #356,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"This is an important book, ambitious in the goals it sets itself and elegantly realized. It succeeds in demonstrating its major thesis, that Roman sociosexual role allocations, values and attitudes do not correspond to familiar modern ones but demand to be understood in their own radical otherness, and that visual imagery can be an invaluable aid to such an understanding. The controversy which Looking at Lovemaking will no doubt provoke cannot fail to have a stimulating effect upon the rapidly developing appreciation of the complexity of Roman visual culture." - Sheldon Nodelman, Art in America "Clarke has produced a major book which contains much that is new, useful, and stimulating in terms of analysis as well as evidence. He melds contemporary theoretical insights and fresh primary data with a hard look at contexts - not only the original settings of the art works he discusses, but also the intellectual climates which have produced modern analyses. The result is a book which points in significant and unexpected directions." - Dominic Montserrat, The Classical Review "Carefully written and lavishly illustrated. Clarke is refreshingly honest and straightforward, presenting his assumptions and aims in clear, jargon-free prose. This book offers a well-constructed and convincing analysis of both familiar and unfamiliar material. [It's] meticulously researched and intelligently argued... an engaging and stimulating book. [It] is not only a model of the ways in which a creative and ambitious project may be carried out with precision and care, but also a fine addition both to the study of Roman art and to the exploration of ancient sexual practice." - Kristina Milnor, American Journal of Archaeology"
Book Description
What did sex mean to the ancient Romans? In this lavishly illustrated study, John R. Clarke investigates a rich assortment of Roman erotic art to answer this question--and along the way, he reveals a society quite different from our own. Clarke reevaluates our understanding of Roman art and society in a study informed by recent gender and cultural studies, and focusing for the first time on attitudes toward the erotic among both the Roman non-elite and women. This splendid volume is the first study of erotic art and sexuality to set these works--many newly discovered and previously unpublished--in their ancient context and the first to define the differences between modern and ancient concepts of sexuality using clear visual evidence.
Roman artists pictured a great range of human sexual activities--far beyond those mentioned in classical literature--including sex between men and women, men and men, women and women, men and boys, threesomes, foursomes, and more. Roman citizens paid artists to decorate expensive objects, such as silver and cameo glass, with scenes of lovemaking. Erotic works were created for and sold to a broad range of consumers, from the elite to the very poor, during a period spanning the first century B.C. through the mid-third century of our era. This erotic art was not hidden away, but was displayed proudly in homes as signs of wealth and luxury. In public spaces, artists often depicted outrageous sexual acrobatics to make people laugh.
Looking at Lovemaking depicts a sophisticated, pre-Christian society that placed a high value on sexual pleasure and the art that represented it. Clarke shows how this culture evolved within religious, social, and legal frameworks that were vastly different from our own and contributes an original and controversial chapter to the history of human sexuality.
Roman artists pictured a great range of human sexual activities--far beyond those mentioned in classical literature--including sex between men and women, men and men, women and women, men and boys, threesomes, foursomes, and more. Roman citizens paid artists to decorate expensive objects, such as silver and cameo glass, with scenes of lovemaking. Erotic works were created for and sold to a broad range of consumers, from the elite to the very poor, during a period spanning the first century B.C. through the mid-third century of our era. This erotic art was not hidden away, but was displayed proudly in homes as signs of wealth and luxury. In public spaces, artists often depicted outrageous sexual acrobatics to make people laugh.
Looking at Lovemaking depicts a sophisticated, pre-Christian society that placed a high value on sexual pleasure and the art that represented it. Clarke shows how this culture evolved within religious, social, and legal frameworks that were vastly different from our own and contributes an original and controversial chapter to the history of human sexuality.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Roman visual representations of lovemaking owe much to the abundant imagery of sex that was integral to Greek culture(s) from sixth century to the first century B.C. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Roman visual representations of lovemaking owe much to the abundant imagery of sex that was integral to Greek culture(s) from sixth century to the first century B.C. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Boobs and phalluses et al.,
This review is from: Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 (Paperback)
Only one problem (I think): Clarke doesn't really follow up very well on his early-proposed problem, i.e. just how it is that textual representations of sex don't allow us the same latitude of insight into Roman practices as visual works might otherwise. Still, it might be argued that these thousand-word-speaking pictures do the talking for him, and if that's the case, then I'm fine with that. Get this, though. It's a very worthy study.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clearly Argued, Captivating Book on an Unusual Topic,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250 (Hardcover)
Clarke's book provides very clear analysis of the purpose and nature of ancient Roman erotica. He uses a wide range of sources--literature, instructive manuals, precedent in Greek and Roman art, setting, etc.--to back up his arguments, which he presents in a lucid style that is as pleasurable to read as it is easy to follow. I particularly recommend the chapter on erotic art in public locations in Pompeii.
18 of 27 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lavishly illustrated, unconvincingly argued,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250 (Hardcover)
Clarke claims he is going to reach down from the Roman elite (which produced the literature) to the masses and to reveal a totally alien (to a presumably homogeneous "us") sexuality. The illustrations are plentiful and may be interpreted in many ways--so many and with so little evidence that any Romans saw any of the ways Clarke does that the reader is left to choose with no real guidance from the author. (And rather a lot of the images come from luxury objects so we remain in the world of representations for the upper stratum of Augustan Rome.)
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Boobs and phalluses et al.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 (Paperback)
Only one problem (I think): Clarke doesn't really follow up very well on his early-proposed problem, i.e. just how it is that textual representations of sex don't allow us the same latitude of insight into Roman practices as visual works might otherwise. Still, it might be argued that these thousand-word-speaking pictures do the talking for him, and if that's the case, then I'm fine with that. Get this, though. It's a very worthy study.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
