The National Museum of Montenegro and the CID Publishing House have published the book "Jean-Claude Lebenstein: Selected Writings on Art", which represents the most comprehensive published collection of reflections by one of the most important living French art historians to date.
The book was edited by an art theorist Milovan Novakovic, by selecting 20 of the most relevant texts by this thinker, written between the 70s and the present day.
“Followed by the editor’s introductory study that points out the importance and specific position of Jean-Claude Lebenstein in the history and theory of modern art, the selected texts on 460 pages cover topics ranging from XNUMXth century art movements (Fauvism, Cubism and Abstraction), through artists such as Alexander Cozens, Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Frank Stella, Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, to broader phenomena or concepts such as museum space, frame, parergon, understanding color as makeup, sprezzatura, philosophical-artistic concept of the sublime, understanding art as magic in thought Denis Diderot, lost center, plagiarism and appropriation, etc.,” the statement said.
The views were translated Kristina Bojanović and Milovan Novaković, and the book was graphically designed by Ivana Vujošević, The publication of the book was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro.
Jean-Claude Lebensztejn (born 1942) is a French art historian and professor emeritus at the University of Paris - Panthéon-Sorbonne. He holds a master's degree in classical philology and a doctorate in art history from the Ecole normale superieure. He is one of the most prominent and recognized living French writers on art.
"Although his approach is often described as deconstructivist, Lebenstein has successfully evaded classifications throughout his long career. His writings represent one of the most distinctive and consistent recent attempts at revision, reform, and deeper synthesis of art historical discourse. In addition to essays dedicated to artists, he also wrote erudite reviews of modern art movements. A special part of his oeuvre is represented by research and interpretations of concepts and phenomena that elude clear definitions. He supplemented his continuous and still active writing on art with numerous essays on literature, music, and experimental film," the statement reads.
Milovan Novaković is an art theorist, painter and translator, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Transdisciplinary Humanities and Theory of Contemporary Art and Media at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade. He is the author of the scientific monograph “Pneumatic Painting: The Breathing of Henri Matisse” (2019), a series of scientific articles in the field of art history/theory, and has translated numerous important publications.
Bonus video:
