Modern Art and the Grotesque

Examines how the grotesque has shaped the history, practice, and theory of art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Examining images by a range of artists, such as Gauguin, Höch, and de Kooning, the essays also encompass a variety of media, including medical illustration, paintings, prints, photography, and multimedia installations.

This volume examines how the grotesque has shaped the history, practice, and theory of art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The grotesque entered into the mainstream of modern expression during the romantic era. It has been adopted by a succession of artists as a way to push beyond established boundaries, to explore alternate modes of experience and expression, and to challenge the status quo. Examining specific images by a range of artists, such as Ingres, Gauguin, Höch, de Kooning, Polke, and Mona Hatoum, the essays also encompass a variety of media, including medical illustration, paintings, prints, photography, multimedia installations, and film. This study brings into focus a range of subjects, styles and theoretical viewpoints that have traditionally been marginalized in the standard narratives on modernism. It demonstrates how the grotesque in modern art directly ties into current debates regarding the representation of race and gender, abjection and the other, globalization, and appropriation.